RSS
A New Book Shows the Path Forward for the US-Israel Alliance
An Israeli flag and an American flag fly at Abu Dhabi International Airport before the arrival of Israeli and U.S. officials, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates August 31, 2020. REUTERS/Christoper Pike
Eight days before Hamas’ barbaric invasion of Israel, President Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, declared, “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades.”
That single statement epitomized an administration that never understood that Israel’s national security is directly related to that of the United States, and that US foreign policy can directly – and negatively – impact Israel’s security as it did on October 7, 2023.
This is one of the premises of former Deputy National Security Council Advisor Victoria Coates’ The Battle for the Jewish State: How Israel – and America – Can Win. Senator Ted Cruz penned the forward for the book noting, “[Hamas’] war is not just being waged against the United States, our citizens, and our national security interests. The objective of Israel’s enemies is not just the elimination of the Jewish state, but also Western civilization, led by America writ large.”
The Battle for the Jewish State serves as a reminder of why a strong US-Israel alliance is not only critically important to both countries’ national security interests, but also stability in the region more generally. When a strong alliance is the basis for US policy, as was the case under Donald Trump, relative quiet is accompanied by new alliances among Israel and her neighbors. When US policy is based on daylight between the two nations, as implemented by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who sought to realign the region by elevating, enriching, and empowering the Islamic Republic of Iran, war results.
Coates sets out to address how we got to October 7th, where we are now, and what our policy options are going forward, understanding that the values of both countries are at stake in this existential war.
As to how we got here, she says that Obama/Biden foreign policy is the main culprit. Post-10/7, US policy has consisted of equivocation and suggestions of moral equivalence between Israelis and Palestinian terror groups and terror-supporting leaders, calls for a ceasefire, unprecedented demands that Israel provide humanitarian aid to its enemies, absurd talk of creating a Palestinian state despite the attack, and a partial arms embargo — on Israel.
The media regurgitates Hamas talking points on civilian death tolls and starving civilians, and legitimizes terrorism as a tactic of resistance. Hamas-support networks, international non-governmental organizations, and the flagrantly antisemitic United Nations have all played active roles in delegitimizing Israel’s right to exist while bolstering Palestinian propaganda and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But throughout the book, Coates weaves in the role of cultural Marxism which begins with the 30-year march of Critical Race Theory (CRT) through higher education. She recognizes that the indoctrination from childhood into the cultural-Marxist construct of the “oppressors” versus the “oppressed” has reflexively supported the Palestinians as the oppressed party in the conflict with Israel, consigning the Jewish State, but also Jews around the world, to the category of “oppressors.”
Thus, do we see generations of brainwashed extremists infiltrating American institutions that begin in academia but permeate the media, corporate board rooms, and local, state, and federal governments. As Coates points out, it’s not surprising that Hamas invents propaganda to demonize Israel; what is shocking, however, is that senior members of the Biden administration including the president himself amplify and legitimize the lies. Coates compares the perpetuation of this warped narrative by campus radicals to the “Vietnam playbook of counterculture resistance” which is being used today to destroy the US-Israel alliance.
CRT proponents may repudiate history as they wrap themselves in Keffiyeh-adorned anti-Zionism, but Coates’ book makes a strong case for an incoming Trump administration to cease the indoctrination destroying the hearts and minds of American students. Recognizing that the “progressive rejection of ‘Judeo-Christian values’ in recent years…threatens both the legacy of our greatest American leaders and our alliance with the state of Israel,” she writes, “The great lesson of the Holocaust should be that antisemitism is a noxious cancer that can corrupt and consume a great culture. It is tolerated and justified at our peril.”
The second chapter of The Battle for the Jewish State tells the story of a long-standing tradition of American sympathy for Judaism and support for the Jewish State. The understanding that the US and Israel, the “Start-Up Nation” with scientific geniuses like Chaim Weizmann, face common enemies has led to a strong alliance that includes intelligence sharing, military collaboration, and economic partnerships.
If only the Palestinians realized the reality that alliance presents. Referring to Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s 1923 essay “The Iron Wall,” which recognized that until the Palestinians accept that the Jewish state is not going away, their “Plan A” will always be the eradication of Israel, Coates concludes, “If a president of the United States ever decides to acknowledge the actual truth and unequivocally declare Israel’s victory, the sad history of US engagement in Vietnam may not need to play out again in the Middle East.”
And yet US administrations continue the futility of failed attempts at a two-state solution which ultimately led to the disastrous Oslo Accords and other misguided mistakes under both Republican and Democrat administrations. But it’s Obama’s legacy that brought us to where we are today, with his pivot to Iran and claims in a speech in 2013 that “the only way to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine.” With Biden’s foreign policy team comprised of Obama alumni, the Palestinians’ Plan A seemingly became US foreign policy. October 7th was the result.
What’s next? In the final chapter, Coates sets forth policy recommendations the basis of which can best be summarized in a quote from a 2016 Trump’s speech: “[W]hen the United States stands with Israel, the chances of peace really rise and rises exponentially…we will send a clear signal that there is no daylight between America and our most reliable ally, the state of Israel. The Palestinians must come to the table knowing that the bond between the United States and Israel is absolutely, totally unbreakable.”
One can only imagine what would have transpired over the past four years if Trump had won a second term: peace with expansion of the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia and others, the fall of the Islamic Republic through continued maximum pressure, weakened Houthis and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, 1200 Israeli civilian lives saved, and the Palestinians moving on to “Plan B.”
Notably, the antisemitism genie would still be locked inside its bottle, and on this front, Coates has much to recommend understanding how this corrosive ideology harms both Israel and the United States. Understanding that “American antisemitism isn’t just hatred of Jews, it is hatred of the very essence of the United States as well,” Coates lays out several prescriptions to address the scourge.
The Battle for the Jewish State provides a roadmap for Israeli victory but also for a stronger US that returns to its Judeo-Christian values and that once again leads the West in navigating these dangerous and tumultuous times. That begins by abandoning generations of failed policies that emboldened Palestinians while once again recognizing that Israel is a vital ally helping to project American power throughout the region and bringing peace in its wake.
Lauri B. Regan is the Vice Chair of the Endowment for Middle East Truth, Vice President and Treasurer of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, and board member of Polaris National Security.
The post A New Book Shows the Path Forward for the US-Israel Alliance first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Ritchie Torres Announces Intent to Vote for Sanctions Against ICC, Citing Anti-Israel ‘Ideological Crusade’
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS
US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) announced on Wednesday that he intends to vote in favor of imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
In statements posted on X/Twitter, Torres lambasted the ICC over its “weaponization of international law,” arguing that the Hague-based court has waged an ideological propaganda campaign against Israel and unfairly maligned Israeli leaders for “daring to defend” their country against terrorist groups.
“The ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants against the leadership of Israel represents the weaponization of international law at its most egregious,” Torres said. “The ICC has set a precedent for criminalizing self-defense: any country daring to defend itself against an enemy that exploits civilians as human shields will face persecution posing as prosecution.”
Torres accused the ICC of brushing aside Israel’s motives for prosecuting its war against the Hamas terrorist group. He also castigated the ICC as a “kangaroo court,” criticizing it for ignoring Hamas’s intentional use of the Palestinian people as human shields to maximize civilian casualties — a tactic employed by the terrorist group to tarnish Israel’s international reputation.
“The ICC ignores the cause and context of the war. Israel did not initiate the war. The war was imposed upon Israel by the unbridged barbarism of Hamas on Oct. 7 [of 2023],” Torres said. “Not only did Hamas wage war on Israel, causing the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, it carefully constructed a battlefield designed to maximize the loss of civilian life. None of that context seems to matter to the kangaroo court of the ICC, which cannot let facts get in the way of its ideological crusade against the Jewish State. The ICC should be sanctioned not for enforcing the law but for distorting it beyond recognition.”
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which has provided significant humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave throughout the war.
US and Israeli officials issued blistering condemnations of the ICC move, decrying the court for drawing a moral equivalence between Israel’s democratically elected leaders and the heads of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that launched the ongoing war in Gaza with its massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, initially made his surprise demand for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on the same day in May that he suddenly canceled a long-planned visit to both Gaza and Israel to collect evidence of alleged war crimes. The last-second cancellation infuriated US and British leaders, according to Reuters, which reported that the trip would have offered Israeli leaders a first opportunity to present their position and outline any action they were taking to respond to the war crime allegations.
Following the official issuing of arrest warrants in November, a slew of US lawmakers vowed to seek retribution against the ICC after President-elect Donald Trump takes office later this month.
“These allegations have been refuted by the US government,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), Trump’s pick to serve as White Hous national security adviser in the incoming administration, wrote on X. “Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January.”
Incoming US Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has also threatened to push legislation imposing sanctions on the ICC if it does not halt its efforts to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israeli military.
Another challenge for Israel has been Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel as it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court. Other countries including the US have similarly not signed the ICC charter. However, the ICC has asserted jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, despite no such state being recognized under international law.
The post Ritchie Torres Announces Intent to Vote for Sanctions Against ICC, Citing Anti-Israel ‘Ideological Crusade’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Biden Administration Shifts $100 Million in US Military Aid From Israel and Egypt to Lebanon
Lebanese army soldiers gesture as they secure the area near the US embassy in Awkar, Lebanon, June 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
In the final days of US President Joe Biden’s time in office, his administration has redirected over $100 million in military aid from Israel and Egypt to Lebanon, citing a need to strengthen a ceasefire agreement to halt fighting between the Jewish state and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
The US State Department issued two separate notices to Congress dated Jan. 3, announcing that it would shift $95 million in military aid intended for Egypt and $7.5 million intended for Israel toward the Lebanese military and its government, the Associated Press reported.
The move came after some lawmakers in Congress expressed concerns about Egypt’s human rights record, particularly the arrests of thousands of political prisoners.
Most of the money will go to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which has a central role in enforcing the November ceasefire that stopped nearly 14 months of war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Islamist terrorist organization that wielded significant political and military influence in Lebanon.
“Successful implementation [of the ceasefire] will require an empowered LAF, which will need robust assistance from the United States and other partners,” the State Department said in its letters.
Hezbollah relentlessly pummeled northern Israeli communities with daily barrages of missiles, rockets, and drones in the months following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel from Gaza in the south. Roughly 80,000 Israelis were forced to evacuate Israel’s north due to the unrelenting attacks.
Israel intensified its military efforts against Hezbollah in September, using airstrikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon — bolstered by sophisticated intelligence operations — to decimate much of the terrorist group’s leadership and weapons stockpiles.
In late November, both Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire, which in part requires Israeli forces to gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon over 60 days. Meanwhile, the Lebanese army will enter these areas and ensure that Hezbollah retreats north of the Litani River, located some 18 miles north of the border with Israel.
The newly shifted US aid is largely meant to help the LAF in dispatching troops throughout southern Lebanon to supplement UN peacekeeping efforts there.
“US security assistance to the LAF increases its capacity as the country’s only legitimate military force and defender of Lebanon’s territorial integrity, enables the LAF to prevent potential destabilization from ISIS and other terrorist groups, and enables the LAF to provide security both for the Lebanese people and for US personnel,” the State Department said in its notices.
The department also rejected the claim that members of Hezbollah are serving in the LAF, insisting that the Lebanese army serves as a valuable “counterweight” to Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon.
“US support to the LAF reinforces the LAF as an important institutional counterweight to Hezbollah, which receives weapons, training, and financial support from Iran,” the State Department wrote. “The LAF continues to be an independent, non-sectarian institution in Lebanon, and is respected across all sectors.”
Critics have noted that UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and is the basis for the current ceasefire, failed to disarm Hezbollah, with the terrorist group becoming more powerful despite the presence of the LAF and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Nonetheless, US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) applauded the Biden administration’s announcement, arguing that the diversion of funds to Lebanon helps bolster American priorities in the region.
“Our military aid should advance US values and national security interests in the Middle East — not reflexively reward the Egyptian government, despite its failures to meet human rights conditions set by Congress,” Murphy said.
However, Richard Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, DC-based think tank, argued that shifting money toward the LAF was ill-advised.
“If we actually saw the LAF take on Hezbollah, there might be value in this support, but right now, we are throwing away taxpayer money to a Hezbollah enabler. Egypt should be pressured to do much more to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, but moving money from a Hamas enabler to a Hezbollah enabler makes no sense,” Goldberg said in a statement.
The post Biden Administration Shifts $100 Million in US Military Aid From Israel and Egypt to Lebanon first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israeli Minister of Culture Urges FIFA to Remove Senior PA Official for Inciting Terrorism Against Israel
Palestinian Football Association head Jibril Rajoub speaks during a press conference regarding the cancellation of the soccer match between Argentina and Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, June 6, 2018. Photo: Flash90.
Israel’s Minister of Culture and Sports Miki Zohar called on Tuesday for FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, to remove Jibril Rajoub as president of the Palestine Football Association (PFA) for inciting, justifying, and supporting violence against Israel.
Zohar wrote in a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino that Rajoub’s alleged incitement to violence is a “blatant infringement of the core values that international sports aim to promote — values of peace, unity, and mutual respect.” He urged Infantino and the FIFA Executive Committee to act swiftly and expel Rajoub from his senior position.
“There is no place for individuals who incite or support terrorism and violence within sports institutions,” he added. “His continued membership in senior roles within the sports world undermines public trust and sends a dangerous message — that the platform of sports can be exploited for political agendas and the promotion of hatred and violence … It is our collective responsibility to ensure that sports remain a unifying force that brings people together, rather than a stage for incitement and terror. I trust in your leadership and in FIFA’s commitment to upholding the integrity of international sports, and I am confident that you will act to safeguard its moral future.”
Zohar noted in his letter that following the Hamas-led deadly terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct, 7, 2023 — in which 1,200 people were murdered and over 250 were kidnapped – Rajoub “publicly justified these acts of terror, stating that they were a ‘natural response to the occupation.’”
“He has repeated this appalling justification on several occasions,” Zohar added. He additionally pointed out that on Sunday, Rajoub made a guest appearance on television and “openly called for continued violent attacks against innocent Israeli civilians. He even encouraged the Palestinian Authority to take responsibility for overseeing such acts.”
“Tragically, within 24 hours of Mr. Rajoub’s statement, multiple terrorist attacks were carried out in Israel, resulting in the deaths of three innocent civilians: a 70-year-old woman, a 73-year-old woman, and a 35-year-old man,” Zohar explained.
Rajoub was fined and temporarily suspended by FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee in 2018 for inciting hatred and violence. He received the suspension after he called on soccer fans to burn jerseys of the Argentinian Football Association as well as pictures of Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi ahead of a soccer match between Argentina and Israel. The Argentinians ultimately pulled out of the soccer game.
Since the start of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the PFA has repeatedly called for FIFA to suspend Israel from all international soccer matches because of its military actions in the Gaza Strip, which target Hamas terrorists who orchestrated the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. FIFA is expected to make an announcement regarding the matter in May. A number of international soccer organizations have voiced support for the PFA’s efforts to have Israel suspended from FIFA, including the Asian Football Confederation and the Norwegian Football Association (NFF).
“The Norwegian FA is not indifferent to the disproportionate attacks Israel has subjected the civilian population of Gaza to over time … The NFF is actively advocating for FIFA to address the Palestinian FA’s proposal for sanctions against Israel,” NFF President Lise Klaveness said in December. “We are also closer to the region and the Palestinian Football Association than most other European associations. For over 10 years we have worked on the ground in the region and the Palestinian West Bank to train female football coaches and create football activities for children in schools and refugee camps.”
Kaveness also denied reports that Norway has refused to compete against Israel.
“Israel is currently part of UEFA’s competitions. We are following the situation closely, and follow the policies set by FIFA, UEFA, and the Norwegian authorities,” Kaveness added. “This means our national team will play against Israel — in March away on a neutral pitch, and in October at home at Ullevaal Stadium. Everyone now has a clear responsibility to protect and respect the football matches and the players on both teams.”
The post Israeli Minister of Culture Urges FIFA to Remove Senior PA Official for Inciting Terrorism Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.