Shalom Israel

Israel's history as a full blown, UN recognized, nation has been short and filled with conflict. Officially recognized in 1948, Israel did not have long to enjoy its new found independence before it was attacked by Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. Though the Arab-Israeli War (and the later Six-Day War of 1967) seemed like climatic moments resulting from years of conflict between Jews and Arabs, the world has still yet to see a cooling off of tensions in the region, with many nations coming in and out of the fray of controversy over what is to be done in the highly disputed area.

Over the last 25 years it is reasonable to say no other nation has supported Israel more than the United States. Our government has lead the way by supporting Israel on multiple fronts such as the military, economy, and foreign policy. For example, according to a 2007 New York Times report, Israel will receive towards $30 billion dollars in military aid from the U.S. between 2008 and 2017. The U.S. also supplies Israel with almost all of its yearly economic aid, with half of the government's external economic debt owed to the U.S. Given these two facts it's unsurprising that current presidential candidates have also pledged support for the Jewish state, despite the fact that the current geopolitical situation makes such blind support dangerous to the nation.

"In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them...I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran." --Hilary Clinton, 2008

"We must preserve our total commitment to our unique defense relationship with Israel by fully funding military assistance and continuing work on the Arrow and related missile defense programs. This would help Israel maintain its military edge and deter and repel attacks from as far as Tehran and as close as Gaza." -- Barack Obama, 2006

"The United States of America has committed itself to never allowing another Holocaust." --John McCain, 2008

Thankfully Hilary Clinton won't be president any time soon, but regardless any reasonably minded citizen has to be concerned with the comments made by the three mainstream presidential candidates.

The notion that we would obliterate anyone let alone Iran, just for attacking another country, is a frightful idea that should have be itself prevented people from voting for Clinton. If she would attack Iran for attacking Israel, who else would she attack and for what other reasons? Obama speaks of a "unique defense relationship" between our nations, and yet what is he talking about? As far as I know, our relationship with Israel consists of us providing them with weapons, money, and global support while they provide us with yet another reason for Middle Eastern countries and terrorists to despise us. Finally as far as Johnny Mac is concerned, I find it hard to believe that any attack on Israel could be mentioned in the same breath as Hitler's coordinated rounding-up and calculated extermination of the Jewish population of Europe. In fact it's pretty clear that they only thing our relationship with Israel gives us is a foothold within the troubled region in which it lies, but is that enough to justify a possible war with Iran? No. No it isn't. The U.S. government already has a foothold in the Middle East via Kuwait, we don't need another one, especially one that causes more trouble than it's worth.

Should we maintain a friendship with Israel? Absolutely. We should also be friendly with every nation be it Israel, Iran, China, Russia, Germany, or North Korea. The key to reestablishing the U.S. internationally is to realize that in this globalized world you can't just cut people out and ignore them because doing so will only create hatred, ill-will, and resentment towards our nation that may come back to haunt us later. We need to start building positive relationships with all nations and if we have a friendship that hurts us, it needs to be restructured so it does not. Long ago we've reached this point with Israel and there is nothing but dark days ahead unless we alter our friendship into a positive one.

That being said I want to close by reminding readers that when individuals reach a certain age they are told to grow up, take care of themselves, and solve their own problems. Israel has already proven at a young age it can fend for itself and it's time for them to cut the child leash crap and stand on their own. As for the U.S., the first step to correcting a problem is to identify what's wrong and fix it. If we want to ease tensions in the Middle East and build relationships with the nations that reside within the region, the first thing we have to do is say "Shalom" to Israel, cut back on our blind support, and start acting as a friendly mediator instead of a big brother with a hidden agenda. Israel, it's time for a new deal.