Is Israel America’s Friend? Or America’s Enemy?

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has selected as his Minister of Justice a woman who has expressed hatred against all Palestinians, and he has appointed as his negotiator with the Palestians a man who said, and who has always followed though with, “We are all against a Palestinian state, there is no question about it.”

These policies are direct rejections of the U.S.-overseen 1978 Camp David Accords, and of consistent U.S. policy since. The Camp David Accords were so bad for the Palestinians that the signatory on their behalf, Egypt’s leader Anwar Sadat, was despised by virtually all Muslims and was assassinated for having done this. But Egypt abided by the Accords, while Israel for decades since has been constantly hemming and hawing about when they will some day fulfill their obligations under them; and, now, we finally have been given the answer: It’s never. They signed an agreement that was so bad for Palestinians it was rejected by them and by the U.N., but now it’s finally clear: to Israel, it’s not bad enough to Palestinians. So: Israel insists upon continued (and now upon never-ending) military occupation.  

Netanyahu has proven by actions, not mere words, that Israel is America’s enemy, refusing to do even what Israel had signed an American-sponsored accord in 1978 promising to do — and, now, at last, installing a government that is deeply committed to never complying with it.

In 2011, someone posted to facebook an article, “List of Politicians with Israeli Dual Citizenship,” and gave no links to sources but merely his own untrustworthy allegations, that the following U.S. Government officials possess dual U.S. and Israeli citizenships:

Elliott Abrams, Kenneth Adelman, Stuart Bernstein, Brad Blakeman, Lincoln Bloomfield, Samuel Bodman, John Bolton, Joshua Bolten, Nancy Brinker, Michael Chertoff, Bonnie Cohen, Eliot Cohen, Ruth Davis, Douglas Feith, Ari Fleischer, Lawrence Franklin, David Frum, Christopher Gersten, Joseph Gildenhorn, Adam Goldman, Steve Goldsmith, Marc Grossman, Richard Haass, Henry Kissinger, Daniel Kurtzer, Frank Lavin, Jay Lefkowitz, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Edward Luttwak, Ken Melman, Michael Mukasey, Richard Perle, Robert Satloff, James Schlesinger, Mel Sembler, Martin Silverstein, Cliff Sobel, Mark Weinberger, Ron Weiser, Paul Wolfowitz, David Wurmser, Dov Zakheim, Robert Zoellick.

Subsequently, other (and some even lengthier) lists with equally undisclosed souces, were published.

Such lists circulate mainly in right-wing circles, like Joseph R. McCarthy’s lists of “communists in the State Department” did in the 1950s. Yet most of the names on these alleged dual-citizenship lists are themselves right-wing and far-right, not left-of-center.

The very idea of dual-citizenship, especially for a government official, is repugnant in any real democracy. Certainly, there ought to be a requirement for all individuals who are employed by the U.S. Government or by any U.S. Government contractor, to publicly renounce any other citizenship before being hired. That’s just basic.

But, in any case, now that we know that Israel is an outright enemy of the United States, the public should be demanding the U.S. President and Congress to side with the Palestinians against Israel.

Countries throughout history have changed from allies to enemies and back again. Nothing is permanent in history. Israel is now an enemy, and apparently has been for a long time, and should be treated as such. They’ve been given more than enough time to cease being an apartheid State like South Africa used to be. Whereas South Africa evolved to a democracy, Israel remains racist. Unless the United States wishes to return to the era of Reagan and before — the era of accepting racism as State policy in an allied country — the U.S. has no moral choice but to switch to supporting, openly, the Palestinians. The Palestinians have every right to reject, and rebel against, Israel’s racism. Israel’s clear determination to continue the military occupation over them gives the Palestinians the right to do what they must to establish their own state, even to take over all of Israel if that’s the only option that the military occupiers offer as an alternative to permanent military occupation and oppression.

Even if it were the case that this would not be the best thing for Jews who live in Israel, the U.S. is obliged only for the welfare and decency of Americans. We are not responsible for the welfare or decency of the people of any other country. This doesn’t mean that we can’t be concerned about that; we’re concerned about a lot of things that aren’t our basic national obligations to be concerned about. But Israel is now clearly an enemy country, and should be treated as such.

There should be such consequences for any country that has lied to the United States for so long a time, and finally shown that they intend to remain permanently non-compliant with a U.S. treaty or U.S.-sponsored treaty. That’s like a declaration of war against the U.S. It’s a declaration by means of action, not by means of mere words. Israel’s mere words, to the United States, are now clearly shown to have been lies, for decades. Actions are what matter. Actions are what show authentic intentions. Israel’s authentic intentions are now clear — and extremely hostile.

Israel has decared itself an enemy not only of the Palestinians, but of the Americans. If there are any dual-citizenship U.S. Government officials, they should be fired, even if they cannot be prosecuted. And, if any of those dual-citizenships are with Israel, then they’ve been foreign agents all long and are now agents of an enemy nation.

Or, is the United States instead itself occupied by Israel? Let’s hope that that’s not the case. We’ll soon know if it is, and has been.

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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of  They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of  CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity, and of  Feudalism, Fascism, Libertarianism and Economics.