eisenhower was in power from January 1953, more than two years before Operation Kinneret. He refused Israel arms from January 1953, and refused Israel arms until he left office in January 1961. So tying that almost decade-long refusal to Operation Kinneret or Sharett's feelings at the time (all of which I covered in Israel's Border Wars, 1949-1956) is nonsense.
From what I see, the special relationship is in probably in terminal decline, savable only by a real 2-state solution. If Netanyahu wins in October it will be irreversible. Young US secular Jews have defected and aren’t coming back. Liberal US Jews have defected. The bulk of US support is Evangelicals, and the young ones will defect soon, and the older ones will dump Israel if Trump tells them to, just like they started loving Russia. The original dream was priceless, but there are cheaper aircraft carriers.
American Jews, young, old, liberal, conservative, secular, orthodox will come running to Israel if/when the arc of Jew-hatred follows its natural, historical trajectory. That, indeed, is why Israel was reestablished.
I'll back off my rant and challenge this analytically, since it's a common view. Is Israel really the bedrock of Jewish safety? I'm not going to argue with the truth of your heart, but if we look at the facts of the last 400 years, I just don't see it. I see 4 broad areas of the Jewish world: A) non-Anglophone Europe, B) the Anglophone world, C) the Arab/Turkish/Iranian-dominated Mideast, and D) Israel in the Zionist period. We can agree that non-Anglophone Europe was uniquely catastrophic for Jews, but what about the rest? B) the Anglophone world had limited oppression, no mass expulsion after 1650 (I don't count Grant's short, very limited, and largely unenforced Civil War expulsion) , and no more than a few hundred murders of Jews as Jews in 400 years; C) the Muslim Mideast before 1948 had widespread oppression, limited large-scale expulsions (with the Mawza Exile in 17th c Yemen as the clearest major case), and probably on the order of low thousands or fewer Jews killed in anti-Jewish violence over roughly 400 years; D) Israel had no state-sponsored oppression of Jews as Jews, no expulsion of Jews as Jews, but several thousand Jews killed in war, terrorism, and politically motivated anti-Jewish violence over roughly 75 years (excluding evacuations like Gush Katif which are clearly of another sort). The Anglophone world has been far safer for Jews than Israel for 400 years now. "That, indeed, is why Israel was reestablished" seems to over-index on non-Anglophone Europe and assume that in the future the Anglophone world will suddenly become far less safe for Jews, while Israel becomes far safer. [I'm not a historian, so my large-scale summary is admittedly reckless, and I'd be glad to see it challenged based on historical facts.]
The issue is less safety, than being in control of your destiny. In the galut for the last 2000 years, Jews have always been at the mercy of their landlords. Sooner or later, to a greater or lesser extent, the Jews suffered - as Jews, because they were Jews. Without the option really, of resisting or fighting back.
The hope was/is that eventually, in our own state, we will be able to live in peace, and be responsible for ourselves and meeting our potential. In the meantime, we know what we are fighting for.
There is of course a relative if not an absolute decline in the political clout of the American Jewish community vis a vis Arab-American and Muslim American communities as it relates to the Middle East. Perhaps even more there is a big rift within the American Jewish community over Netanyahu-era Israel itself. That is apart from the relatively small and generally young wing of anti-Zionist Jews in the US, etc etc. But there's a generally under-recognized element in the risk to the alliance and that's Netanyahu's fairly open alliance with the GOP. With the key and still defining moment being his speech to Congress against Obama's Iran nuclear deal in 2015. From the perspective of American Democrats, Netanyahu has made Israel something like an regional adjunct of the Republican party. And that - much more than I think people realize, both here and in Israel - has ruptured the relationship with the Democratic half of the United States. That's been cloaked to an extent because Joe Biden had support for Israel deep in his political mindset and the same is certainly the case for Chuck Schumer. But underneath that layer it's a very different story. And that's what's behind that recent Senate vote. That is the predicate in which the bloodshed in Gaza has had such an effect in the US.
Obviously on top of that Netanyahu-era Israel shares a lot of DNA with Trump in the US, the embrace of rightwing populism, attacks on the rule of law too. etc etc. Obviously all of these put supporters of Israel within the Democratic party on the defensive. But the alliance with the GOP, and the reality that Netanyahu's governments have openly worked to advance Republican party interests in the US has had a much bigger effect that most realize.
US intelligence said Iran was a dumb idea. And thats exactly what it was. If Israeli intelligence is so brilliant, why was there no plan for the strait of Hormuz? Why were there no warnings about surging oil prices? Why did Bibi tell Trump it would be a cinch? Why is this a complete disaster? Q
Israel is not much of a democracy right now. Democracies don’t allow people to steal land, pilfer cattle, and kill. They don’t allow one set of laws and punishments for one demographic, and a second set for a second class demographic.
I don’t believe much will change if Bibi gets booted.
I have family in Israel, and visited many times in the late eighties and nineties. I even considered moving there.
The dream is over and we’ve woken into a nightmare.
PS. I don’t believe there were rape dogs. Our prisons, like yours, have plenty of abuse.
"The dream is over and we’ve woken into a nightmare."
There is no question that Israel is not the country that we knew 20, or even 10 years ago. Israel then was not a country in which we could have imagined the murder of Yemanu Binyamin Zelka by a gang of young Jewish thugs and punks.
But that nightmarish deterioration is in large part due to the fact that the country and its people have been in a daily ongoing existential war for 78 years. And that, in turn, is due to the Arabs' unremitting determination to realize their goal of exterminating the Jewish state and its population.
"Israel is not much of a democracy right now."
It is not much less of a democracy than the U.S., Canada, or the countries of Western Europe, where the governments, and their friends, steal, pilfer, and even kill without consequence.
"They don’t allow one set of laws and punishments for one demographic, and a second set for a second class demographic."
It is not an issue of "demographics". The CITIZENS of the Jewish state, ALL the citizens, are equally subject to the law of the state. The CITIZENS of the Palestinian Authority are subject to the laws of their government, except for issues of security, which have to be dealt with separately and differently. The disputed territories, although largely administered by Israel, are not (yet) part of the State of Israel.
Where in Israel are citizens ROUTINELY allowed to get away with murdering Arab citizens?
There are numerous incidents where attacks and murders have been excused by liberal prosecutors on various grounds; especially if the victims are Jews.
Thank you for this thoughtful take on the status of the US/Israel relationship.
With that said, I wonder if a summary of Eisenhower's policy regarding arms for Israel needs a mention of Operation Olive Leaves (a.k.a. Operation Kinneret). From what I've read, at the time of the operation, Sharett was in the U.S. and close to securing a deal where Americans would supply arms to Israel. The negative blowback from the operation scuttled the deal. Sharett was furious at Ben-Gurion for approving the operation. It's not as if Eisenhower's attitude at the time was completely closed off from the idea of supplying arms to Israel.
eisenhower was in power from January 1953, more than two years before Operation Kinneret. He refused Israel arms from January 1953, and refused Israel arms until he left office in January 1961. So tying that almost decade-long refusal to Operation Kinneret or Sharett's feelings at the time (all of which I covered in Israel's Border Wars, 1949-1956) is nonsense.
From what I see, the special relationship is in probably in terminal decline, savable only by a real 2-state solution. If Netanyahu wins in October it will be irreversible. Young US secular Jews have defected and aren’t coming back. Liberal US Jews have defected. The bulk of US support is Evangelicals, and the young ones will defect soon, and the older ones will dump Israel if Trump tells them to, just like they started loving Russia. The original dream was priceless, but there are cheaper aircraft carriers.
American Jews, young, old, liberal, conservative, secular, orthodox will come running to Israel if/when the arc of Jew-hatred follows its natural, historical trajectory. That, indeed, is why Israel was reestablished.
I'll back off my rant and challenge this analytically, since it's a common view. Is Israel really the bedrock of Jewish safety? I'm not going to argue with the truth of your heart, but if we look at the facts of the last 400 years, I just don't see it. I see 4 broad areas of the Jewish world: A) non-Anglophone Europe, B) the Anglophone world, C) the Arab/Turkish/Iranian-dominated Mideast, and D) Israel in the Zionist period. We can agree that non-Anglophone Europe was uniquely catastrophic for Jews, but what about the rest? B) the Anglophone world had limited oppression, no mass expulsion after 1650 (I don't count Grant's short, very limited, and largely unenforced Civil War expulsion) , and no more than a few hundred murders of Jews as Jews in 400 years; C) the Muslim Mideast before 1948 had widespread oppression, limited large-scale expulsions (with the Mawza Exile in 17th c Yemen as the clearest major case), and probably on the order of low thousands or fewer Jews killed in anti-Jewish violence over roughly 400 years; D) Israel had no state-sponsored oppression of Jews as Jews, no expulsion of Jews as Jews, but several thousand Jews killed in war, terrorism, and politically motivated anti-Jewish violence over roughly 75 years (excluding evacuations like Gush Katif which are clearly of another sort). The Anglophone world has been far safer for Jews than Israel for 400 years now. "That, indeed, is why Israel was reestablished" seems to over-index on non-Anglophone Europe and assume that in the future the Anglophone world will suddenly become far less safe for Jews, while Israel becomes far safer. [I'm not a historian, so my large-scale summary is admittedly reckless, and I'd be glad to see it challenged based on historical facts.]
“Is Israel really the bedrock of Jewish safety?”
The issue is less safety, than being in control of your destiny. In the galut for the last 2000 years, Jews have always been at the mercy of their landlords. Sooner or later, to a greater or lesser extent, the Jews suffered - as Jews, because they were Jews. Without the option really, of resisting or fighting back.
The hope was/is that eventually, in our own state, we will be able to live in peace, and be responsible for ourselves and meeting our potential. In the meantime, we know what we are fighting for.
There is of course a relative if not an absolute decline in the political clout of the American Jewish community vis a vis Arab-American and Muslim American communities as it relates to the Middle East. Perhaps even more there is a big rift within the American Jewish community over Netanyahu-era Israel itself. That is apart from the relatively small and generally young wing of anti-Zionist Jews in the US, etc etc. But there's a generally under-recognized element in the risk to the alliance and that's Netanyahu's fairly open alliance with the GOP. With the key and still defining moment being his speech to Congress against Obama's Iran nuclear deal in 2015. From the perspective of American Democrats, Netanyahu has made Israel something like an regional adjunct of the Republican party. And that - much more than I think people realize, both here and in Israel - has ruptured the relationship with the Democratic half of the United States. That's been cloaked to an extent because Joe Biden had support for Israel deep in his political mindset and the same is certainly the case for Chuck Schumer. But underneath that layer it's a very different story. And that's what's behind that recent Senate vote. That is the predicate in which the bloodshed in Gaza has had such an effect in the US.
Obviously on top of that Netanyahu-era Israel shares a lot of DNA with Trump in the US, the embrace of rightwing populism, attacks on the rule of law too. etc etc. Obviously all of these put supporters of Israel within the Democratic party on the defensive. But the alliance with the GOP, and the reality that Netanyahu's governments have openly worked to advance Republican party interests in the US has had a much bigger effect that most realize.
US intelligence said Iran was a dumb idea. And thats exactly what it was. If Israeli intelligence is so brilliant, why was there no plan for the strait of Hormuz? Why were there no warnings about surging oil prices? Why did Bibi tell Trump it would be a cinch? Why is this a complete disaster? Q
Israel is not much of a democracy right now. Democracies don’t allow people to steal land, pilfer cattle, and kill. They don’t allow one set of laws and punishments for one demographic, and a second set for a second class demographic.
I don’t believe much will change if Bibi gets booted.
I have family in Israel, and visited many times in the late eighties and nineties. I even considered moving there.
The dream is over and we’ve woken into a nightmare.
PS. I don’t believe there were rape dogs. Our prisons, like yours, have plenty of abuse.
"The dream is over and we’ve woken into a nightmare."
There is no question that Israel is not the country that we knew 20, or even 10 years ago. Israel then was not a country in which we could have imagined the murder of Yemanu Binyamin Zelka by a gang of young Jewish thugs and punks.
But that nightmarish deterioration is in large part due to the fact that the country and its people have been in a daily ongoing existential war for 78 years. And that, in turn, is due to the Arabs' unremitting determination to realize their goal of exterminating the Jewish state and its population.
"Israel is not much of a democracy right now."
It is not much less of a democracy than the U.S., Canada, or the countries of Western Europe, where the governments, and their friends, steal, pilfer, and even kill without consequence.
"They don’t allow one set of laws and punishments for one demographic, and a second set for a second class demographic."
It is not an issue of "demographics". The CITIZENS of the Jewish state, ALL the citizens, are equally subject to the law of the state. The CITIZENS of the Palestinian Authority are subject to the laws of their government, except for issues of security, which have to be dealt with separately and differently. The disputed territories, although largely administered by Israel, are not (yet) part of the State of Israel.
Where in the US are citizens ROUTINELY allowed to get away with murder ing black citizens?
Where in Israel are citizens ROUTINELY allowed to get away with murdering Arab citizens?
There are numerous incidents where attacks and murders have been excused by liberal prosecutors on various grounds; especially if the victims are Jews.
Yes, my down country has sunk low these past few years. I don’t deny that. But don’t what about right now
You asked about the U.S.
Thank you for this thoughtful take on the status of the US/Israel relationship.
With that said, I wonder if a summary of Eisenhower's policy regarding arms for Israel needs a mention of Operation Olive Leaves (a.k.a. Operation Kinneret). From what I've read, at the time of the operation, Sharett was in the U.S. and close to securing a deal where Americans would supply arms to Israel. The negative blowback from the operation scuttled the deal. Sharett was furious at Ben-Gurion for approving the operation. It's not as if Eisenhower's attitude at the time was completely closed off from the idea of supplying arms to Israel.