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The
so-called special relationship between the governments
of the US and Israel is well-known. It goes without
saying that the vast majority of Americans
wholeheartedly support their nation’s love-fest with the
Jewish state.
Most Americans feel
an affinity with Israelis to the detriment of Arabs. How
mistaken they are! The fact is that while Americans
benefit hugely from the Arab world little do they know
they are on the losing end when it comes to Israel.
The US-Israel bond
has become so incestuous that few Americans even
question its value. Even fewer ask themselves what the
US gets out of its financial, military and moral support
of a foreign entity that their government believes can
do no wrong. At the same time they remain suspicious of
the Muslim world.
The misguided
post-September 11 policies promoted by the Bush
administration have reinforced the anti-Arab,
anti-Muslim stance of most Americans. A recent Gallop
poll suggests four out of ten Americans feel “prejudice”
towards Muslims.
These attitudes are
nothing short of a slap in the face to Arab nations that
have invested trillions of dollars in the US economy and
consider themselves as Washington’s strategic partners.
What
the Arab world gives America
In reality the Arab
World is far more beneficial to the US than Israel.
Here’s why:
Members of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),
which are all Arab or Muslim (with the exception of
Venezuela) exchange their oil for petrodollars, which
means non-producing countries must keep vast sums of
dollars in reserve, thus bolstering the dollar and the
US economy.
The Gulf supplies
the US with approximately one third of its total oil
requirements or some 2.5 million barrels per day.
The 22 Arab League
member countries import more goods and services from the
US than any other country, especially vehicles,
machinery, equipment, building materials, chemicals,
medicines and aircraft. Saudi Arabia alones buys more
than Israel and Egypt combined.
US sales of goods
and services to the GCC have totaled more than US$ 20
billion annually” and “create or sustain more than
half-a-million jobs in the United States”, according to
the American Business Council of the Gulf Countries.
The GCC states
invest billions of dollars annually into US
acquisitions, property and bonds. Saudi Arabia alone
invests an estimated 60 per cent of its global
investment in the US, according to Tanya C. Hsu, a
senior analyst of Middle East political economy at the
Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy.
She says “this
commitment has enabled the United States to finance an
ongoing trade deficit and produce new economic growth
opportunities”.
Many Arab
countries, in particular Jordan, Egypt and various GCC
countries are strategic partners of America within the
region, hosting US bases and working closely with the
American government in the ‘war on terror’.
Morocco and several GCC countries have signed up to Free Trade
Agreements with the US, which the US hopes will lead to
a Middle East Free Trade Agreement (MEFTA).
More than 50,000
American civilians live in the GCC, representing the
largest America expatriate community in the world.
What
Americans sacrifice for Israel
What about the
American people? What are they obliged to sacrifice for
the sake of maintaining America’s favored relation
Israel?
First on the list
is the official figure of US$ 3 billion each year, which
American taxpayers donate to Israeli coffers whether
they like it or not.
This is split up
into US$1.2 billion in economic aid and US$ 1.8 billion
in military aid, two-thirds of which must be spent on
American-made military hardware and planes.
In reality, Israel
receives much more than that because there are extra
sums, which The Washington Report on Middle East
Affairs reports “are buried in the budgets of
governments departments such as the Defense Department”.
The US also gives
Israel billions of dollars in loans and often writes off
these amounts so that it can say with hand over heart
honesty that Israel has never defaulted on a loan. It
further guarantees loans to Israel to the tune of US$ 2
billion annually.
By conservative
estimates by the end of a US citizen’s life he or she
will have contributed US$ 25,000 in taxes to support
Israel, which for some signifies an entire year’s pay.
Since 1949, the US
has given the Jewish state a whopping US$ 140 billion or
more. To put this in context this represents almost
one-and-a-half times the annual GDP of the United Arab
Emirates, which in 2005 stood at US98.1 billion.
Is
Israel grateful?
Are Israelis
grateful for all this financial support? Do they feel
loyalty to their kindly big brother across the ocean?
The answer is no.
Many Israelis I’ve spoken over the years feel positively
hostile towards the US. They both resent having to rely
on Washington’s generosity as well as having to abide by
its orders. This is anecdotal rather than science but
the proof that Israel is deeply suspicious of the US is
the fact that Israel continually spies on its number one
ally.
Fox News, which is
generally to be perceived as a propaganda arm of the
Bush administration, detailed these spying activities in
a four-part series hosted by one of its investigate
reporters Carl Cameron.
Cameron was told by
investigators within the FBI and other intelligence
agencies that to pursue or even suggest that Israel was
spying on Americans via is nothing less than “career
suicide”.
Cameron quotes a
defense intelligence report explaining why Israel would
want to spy on its ally. It reads:
“The Israelis are
motivated by strong survival instincts which dictate
every possible facet of their political and economical
policies. It aggressively collects military and
industrial technology and the US is a high priority
target”.
Put simply, each US
citizen pays an average of US$ 25,000 in tax to Israel,
which, in turn, is spying on his country. It’s
inconceivable that most ordinary Americans are even
aware of Israeli treachery on such a large scale.
Israel’s
strategic worth
The question is:
What does the American government get in return for its
unerring devotion to Israel? From the US government’s
perspective Israel stands as the guardian of its
strategic interests throughout the Middle East.
It uses Israel to
stir up trouble throughout the region, fight its proxy
wars, test out cutting edge US-made weaponry, and create
a regional demand for American fighter jets,
helicopters, tanks and missiles.
In previous years,
Israel has served its master well by shipping illegal
arms to prop up pro-US Central American dictatorships,
apartheid South Africa and groups within the Arab world
out to topple anti-American nationalist regimes.
In turn, the US is
committed to fighting Israel’s wars.
A former advisor to
George W. Bush Philip Zelikow tells us the invasion of
Iraq had nothing to do with Saddam’s weapons of mass
destruction but was rather conducted to eliminate a
growing threat to Israel.
The investigative
journalist Seymour Hersh, who first broke the Abu Ghraib
scandal, quotes insider sources as saying the recent war
between Israel and Lebanon was planned by Israel and the
US last spring. This was to protect Israel from
Hezbollah as a prelude to a possible US preemptive
strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Americans should
take note. Almost 2,000 American soldiers have died in
Iraq, while billions of US dollars have been spent
maintaining the America’s occupation not to make America
safe, not to spread democracy, but to protect Israel.
Cheered on by the
US government, Israel furthers regional disunity in the
Arab world with some Arab government having signed peace
treaties with Tel Aviv while others remain vehemently
hostile.
A feuding Arab
world allows minority groups within the region supported
by the US to stir dissent so as to weaken Arab
leaderships. This is particularly true in Iraq where
Shiites have been set against Sunnis.
In this way, the US
gets to control the region’s resources and ensure they
don’t fall into the hands of rising superpowers, such as
China and India.
The Bush
administration plays lip service to a Palestinian state
but if there ever was a comprehensive peace process
sealed between all the 22 members of the Arab League and
Israel, eventually a united and prosperous Middle East
that included Israel would have no further need for
Washington.
So, just as Israel
is no true friend to America, Washington is no friend to
Israel. The difference between Israelis and Americans is
this. Israelis are aware of the “I’ll scratch your back
if you scratch mine” game, while most Americans are not.
This is because
Washington and the powerful pro-Israel lobby rely on
media propaganda to indoctrinate the American people
into believing that Israeli and American policies
coincide.
The US government
needs Americans to believe that Israelis are the good
guys, so they will be happy to open their purses to keep
Israel armed to the teeth even if this means the US
becomes a target for extremists prepared to use heinous
methods to vent their genuine grievances.
“Why
do they hate us?”
When it comes to
Arabs and Muslims, a small percentage of which are seen
on television burning US flags, Americans are fond of
asking “why do they hate us?”
Until five years
ago, the US was held up throughout the Arab world as a
beacon of human rights and civil liberties; American
technology and culture was admired while Arab youth
dreamt of studying and working in the US. This changed
post 9-11 when the Bush administration used this pretext
to invade Afghanistan and Iraq and began detaining
Muslims without charge or trial.
For his own agenda,
George Bush wants us to believe extremist elements “hate
democracy and freedom”.
However, a 2004
Pentagon report that was placed on its website, tackles
this subject with rather more honesty. It reads:
“Muslims do not hate our
freedom but rather they hate our policies. The
overwhelming majority voice their objections to what
they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and
against Palestinian rights. Thus, when American public
diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic
societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving
hypocrisy.”
This is true. Arabs
and Muslims are angered by American bias in favor of
Israel highlighted each time the UN Security Council
attempts to pass a resolution censoring Israel. On
almost every occasion the US uses its power of veto and
is often the lone dissenting voice.
It is time for the
US to revert to the honest broker it once was and for
the American people to reassess their country’s
relationship with Israel.
The day will
certainly come when Americans will begin to question the
US-Israel relationship and ask whether Israel is truly
America’s best friend or a state that only pretends to
be as long as the US props it up financially, wages wars
in its interest and turns a blind eye to its growing
catalogue of war crimes.
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