ISRAEL ATTACKS, AMERICA PAYS THE BILL

Israel has attacked a Turkish fleet with humanitarian help in its way to Gaza. Together with the goods, this fleet intended to make a pacific resistance to the blocking imposed by Israel to the Palestinian territories. In doing that, Israel has challenged many objectives of the American foreign policies:

1. Turkey is a NATO member, and a very strategic one. It has helped significantly American interests in the Gulf war, and is one of the eastern territories composing that Treaty.

2. The convoy was unarmed, and was showing a pacific resistance to Israel blocking. By attacking the fleet Israel reinforces the power of extremist within the Palestinian cause.

3. The attack itself was done in international seas, with no prior provocation. This action may justify attacks to ships of any nationality in open seas. This is very questionable as may be compared to the piracy acts held in Africa in the last few years, and to the last Korean crisis.

4. People in the fleet came from close to 40 different countries, including several US citizens. This put the U.S. in contradiction with its own public opinion and other countries one.

If any other Country would have done such aggression, the international community, and the countries potentially affected, would have reacted fiercely, demanding the immediate restoration of law and the freedom of people imprisoned by Israel. Indeed, the reaction was mild. Traditionally, the U.S. has supported Israel, blocking the demands of the international community for the restoration of law in its relations with neighbors and Palestinians.

Historical, social and political reasons have determined the U.S. governments to act in defense of Israel:

1. The U.S. was one of the main promoters of the creation of the State of Israel. This situation makes America obligated to secure its viability as an own task.

2. The large Jewish community in the U.S.is a crucial political factor for whatever policy is implemented in the middle-east.

3. The role of Israel during the cold war. Israel was an important ally of American interest during it. An important part of its neighbors were aligned with the URSS, in that period, like Egypt, Iraq and Syria. From this point of view, Israel was seen as a military platform for the U.S. in the area.

4. The role of some fundamentalist churches in America, that see the creation of the state of Israel as the fulfilling of prophesies.

5. The cultural closeness between Israel and the West. After all, Jewish came mostly from Europe and America to Israel, so they manage western codes, dressing way, culture. An American, in this way, seems to have much more in common with them than with Arabs, who have been caricaturized by the media in the last century.

Indeed, the financial and military support given to Israel has many costs to the US. The main aspects we can mention are:

1. The support to Israel grants the U.S. a massive disapproval in the Middle East, which is the main source of the world energy.

2. The pressure that Israeli actions put on important military alleys, like Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

3. The relativization of American democratic values due to the underestimation of the local democracies, like Iran, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories.

4. The policy of avoiding the proliferation of nuclear weapons is jeopardized under the publicly known situation of Israel as a nuclear power.

5. The huge costs of the direct support to Israel, together with the war costs derived from wars held in the last decades, and their financial consequences.

Some of the reasons why America accepts this are cultural and social, as said above, but a minimum rationale analysis shows that for taxpayers continuous support to Israel has been one of the moist expensive challenges for American policies in the last decades. Moreover, Israel plays the game, gambling with U.S. authorities that may challenge this unconditionality. President Obama suffered this situation in his first visit to Middle East.

But people should notice that the cold war is ended. There is no need to challenge another superpower. Israel is not needed in this aspect. Indeed, America is facing new kind of challenges. In the last decades, the U.S. has fight wars that are very difficult to win. If it wants to prevail, a new strategy of approximation and closeness to the east is needed. America can’t ask Arab and Islamic countries to believe in it, with a background of distance and opposition. A new deal can be made, but America should take the challenge of winning the heart of the east if it wants to succeed. It is in the benefit of its own taxpayers.