Philip Weiss
Mondoweiss / August 11, 2023
“Aid provides the U.S. with no influence over Israeli decisions to use force,” former ambassador Dan Kurtzer claims. Not true. Cutting aid would be the beginning of the end for the special relationship.
In recent weeks, a discussion has begun inside the D.C. establishment long sought by leftists and realists too: Should the U.S. cut the $4 billion a year in aid to Israel?
Even some Israel advocates support cuts, and their claims, as usual, have dominated the debate, as in this Nicholas Kristof column in the New York Times.
Israel is wealthy, so it doesn’t need the aid, and the money just creates “unhealthy” dependence, Israel advocates told Kristof.
“This is not about whacking Israel,” Kristof wrote.
Because cutting the aid will have no influence over Israel’s behavior, Kristof argued: “The reason to rethink American aid is not to seek leverage over Israel.”
Former ambassador Dan Kurtzer echoed that point: “Aid provides the U.S. with no leverage or influence over Israeli decisions to use force.”
Israel-loving Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres affirmed that the U.S. has never sought leverage over Israeli decisions and never will (in a piece at Tablet opposing aid cuts).
This is all self-serving b.s. The Israel lobby sees aid cuts on the horizon and is trying to get ahead of the discussion and spin cuts as just another phase of the “special relationship” between best friends.
In fact, reducing aid would have a huge impact. It would be a rebuke to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. It would signal an end to the “special relationship” in which Israel is not treated like other countries. It would hasten Israel’s slide toward pariah nation status in the eyes of the world.
It would be whacking Israel.
“It’s the Saigon helicopter moment,” the late Yossi Gurvitz liked to say of aid reduction. Gurvitz explained that if the U.S. removed its official seal of approval, it would panic the Tel Aviv secular materialists who have given Israel such a high standard of living. They’d look for the exits.
Indeed, they’re already looking for the exits. An exodus of Israeli tech execs and international finance reportedly began this year due to the Netanyahu government’s fascistic moves. Tom Friedman issues regular warnings about the end of the “startup nation.”
Here are the truths about aid reduction:
Truth 1 is that aid reduction has never been tried by the U.S. government– because the Israel lobby is dead set against it.
Just look what happened to President George H.W. Bush in 1991 when he tried to leverage loan guarantees to Israel to put some teeth into U.S. policy against illegal settlements. The Israel lobby came out in force. Bill Clinton ran to Bush’s right on settlements, and Bush lost the White House after one term. (And George Bush II learned the lesson: Never be out-Israel’d.)
Even today, the liberal Israel lobby group J Street asserts its Zionist bona fides and tries to keep up with AIPAC by opposing reductions in aid.
“No matter what they say, the record shows that we support security assistance to Israel,” it writes defensively.
Truth 2 is that reducing aid is about Whacking Israel — or Sanctioning it — for its treatment of Palestinians. That’s the whole point.
That’s why the BDS campaign wants aid reduced. That’s why Rep. Betty McCollum has introduced legislation again and again in recent years to cut U.S. aid that is used to hurt Palestinian families. That’s a big reason realists Walt and Mearsheimer called for reductions in aid 17 years ago. Nowadays, members of the Squad cite Israel’s human rights violations– and destruction of the two-state solution– when they call for reducing aid. Sen. Bernie Sanders cited Israel’s racism in his brave call.
And all those voices have been smeared by the Israel lobby, which fears any reduction in aid as a shot heard ’round the world, a symbolic rebuke to the “only democracy in the Middle East,” America’s closest ally there.
Whacking Israel for its treatment of Palestinians is at the heart of the important new letter to American Jewish leaders from over 1000 scholars and other figures, most of them Jewish, demanding that those leaders acknowledge Israeli “apartheid,” ethnic cleansing, and “Jewish supremacism.”
The letter urges a reassessment of the relationship, including restrictions in aid and diplomatic support. American Jews should–
Demand from elected leaders in the United States that they help end the occupation, restrict American military aid from being used in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and end Israeli impunity in the UN and other international organizations.
The letter-writers want to use aid to leverage Israel to put a stop to annexation and ethnic cleansing of more Palestinian land. (Zionists such as Benny Morris and David Myers signed the letter).
Or look at this liberal Zionist letter to Biden from 63 Jewish leaders (among them J Street’s chair) urging the president to “take concrete action” against Netanyahu, including reconsidering the U.S. aid commitment to Israel.
Contra Kristof and Kurtzer, that letter says that Washington has a lot of power.
While Netanyahu’s government seems oblivious to domestic protest, it justifiably cares about Israel’s relationship with Washington. This relationship is Israel’s chief strategic asset….Going beyond words will make clear to Netanyahu’s government that its actions come with a price.
Anyone with any sense understands that uninterrupted U.S. aid and diplomatic backup have been a huge factor in enabling Israel’s abuses of Palestinian human rights for decades.
The natural response to such abuse is to cut off the funds and let Israel sort for itself, and become a pariah nation for that persecution.
Polls show nearly half of all Americans, and most Democrats, support conditioning aid. It’s about time our leaders got the message.
Philip Weiss is senior editor of Mondoweiss.net and founded the site in 2005-2006
