A turning point in U.S.-Israel relations | Editorial – Sun Sentinel

The special relationship between the United States and Israel is a major concern in this year’s election — particularly for Democrats. Public opinion is shifting sharply. A Pew poll in April found 60% of American adults view Israel unfavorably. Although a decreasing majority of Republicans still favors the Jewish state, it is disfavored by 80% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, up from 53% last year. It is unlikely that antisemites account for much of the shift. They have hated Israel all along. What the numbers signify is obvious to all but those who refuse to see it: Israel has given up trying to be a light to the nations, and is deliberately thwarting U.S. foreign policy — a disappointment to Israel’s friends in the U.S. The Section 224 controversy Despite growing wariness of Israel, Republican House leaders in Washington are moving to deeply involve the U.S. military with Israel’s in a way not offered to any other ally. Section 224 of the annual Defense Appropriation Act would establish bilateral research in every aspect of weapons development and production. This is no time for that. It would reward Israel’s misconduct and encourage more of it. The policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are contrived to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, accelerate the creeping annexation of the illegally occupied West Bank, and conduct Israel’s wars with no discernible regard for the lives of children and other noncombatants. That is in conflict with the legitimate interests of U.S. foreign policy, as well as weakening Israel in world opinion. It violates international standards of decency. Perhaps most important from a U.S. perspective, it offends the cherished ethics of most Americans. As Senator Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who is Jewish, said in a New York Times interview: “I want the Israeli people to be safe and secure. I make no apologies for opposing the reckless killing of noncombatants.” Enough has become enough Forty senators, up from 19 two years ago, voted in April for one or both of two resolutions to block arms sales to Israel. Among them were Ossoff and two other Jewish senators, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Brian Schatz of Hawaii. Most of the others have strongly supported Israel over the years, but enough has become enough. Also voting yes: Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, an influential Democrat who declared in a New York Times op-ed that “Democrats need to face a hard truth” about Israel. Van Hollen wrote that his party “has provided reflexive and unconditional support to Israeli governments, even as their actions have increasingly undermined American interests and values.” “For decades,” he wrote, “we have called for a two-state solution, but we’ve failed to use our leverage to make it real. It’s past time that we use that leverage to end the occupation and achieve two states with full political and legal rights for all. That means withdrawing taxpayer support from Israel and conditioning arms sales.” The senator said it also means that the next Democratic presidential nominee should not “re-enlist the senior Democratic decisionmakers who whitewashed the truth during the Biden administration” and if elected, should recognize a Palestinian state. This is a blunt warning to Democratic activists and donors against supporting candidates favored by AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC is a powerful lobby that almost invariably backs Israeli policies — even if they contradict U.S. positions on the Middle East. Danger on the left Van Hollen is right, but the difficult part for his party is resisting the influence of leftist factions that identify with the Palestinians to the extreme of denying Israel’s right to exist. That is just as wrong as denying the Palestinians their right to a state, and it is unmistakably infected with antisemitism. The emerging Democratic morality is also unwelcomed by the hard-line Netanyahu government, whose ambassador in Washington, Yechiel Leiter, recently denounced J-Street, a Jewish organization that supports a two-state solution, as “a cancer within the Jewish community.” Hundreds of Jewish clergy and community leaders called on Leiter to apologize for this grossly undiplomatic interference in U.S. politics. He hasn’t. President Trump should declare him persona non grata and send him home. He won’t. Trump should know by now that Netanyahu has little respect for his peacemaking or much genuine gratitude for the decades of U.S. support. To continue attacks on Iran’s proxies in Lebanon while the U.S. strove to extend the cease-fire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz was contemptuous. The special relationship between our countries began even before Israel was a nation. President Harry S Truman overrode State Department opposition when he supported the 1947 U.N. resolution to partition Great Britain’s former Palestine Mandate into what were intended to be Jewish and Arab states. When Israel declared its statehood in 1948, Truman was the first world leader to grant de facto recognition. Some reasons for Truman’s decisions, and for the special relationship, strongly endure. Many Americans have family in Israel. Many lost blood relatives during the Holocaust, which demonstrated even to non-Jews the necessity for a nation where the world’s most persecuted minority could govern and defend themselves. Like people everywhere else, the Palestinians are entitled to the same rights. The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.