There is a fundamental logical flaw in much of rhetoric questioning American support for Israel.  It is a failure to imagine the counterfactual.  What would happen if America changed its policies?

One answer is implicit in many of the arguments made against American policy.  In this scenario, a more isolated Israel would be forced to pay attention to world opinion and United Nations decrees.  Their bargaining position relative to the Palestinians and the Arab states would be weakened, making a compromise possible.  American policy is thereby making the situation worse by enabling Israel to act more aggressively than it otherwise would.

This belief ignores much of what makes the conflict so difficult.  If it were only a matter of calculating interests, Israel would have withdrawn from the occupied territories decades ago.  Despite American help, their international position has declined dramatically since 1967.  Their state has been militarized and they have endured years of horrific terrorism.  It doesn’t seem rational at all.

Israel’s actions must be understood in the context of the history of the Jewish people.  After the Holocaust, the natural position of a Jewish state is to be overwhelmingly concerned with self-protection.  Despite their obviously huge military advantage relative to potential enemies, there is no feeling of security.  Why else would they continue to hold the high ground of the Golan Heights, a military posture intended to protect Israel from the fearsome threat of pathetically disorganized and incompetent Syria?  Couldn’t Israeli air power easily stop any attack?

Imagine Israeli politics without the comfort of American support and still threatened by Palestinian terrorism.  The United Nations would pass resolutions condemning them.  Emboldened Arab states would take even more hardline positions.  Defensive paranoia would overwhelm every other impulse in the Israeli electorate.  It would be Israel versus the world.  More dangerous leaders elected by the frightened populace would increase tensions with other states, leading to an unstoppable spiral into catastrophic violence.

A more evenhanded approach by the American government could help towards a solution for the Palestinian conflict.  However, this can never go so far as to make Israelis doubt that we are on their side.  That trust is what allows any American influence at all.  If you think Israel with American support is too aggressive, imagine an Israel that believed its only defense against another genocide was its military.  As we have seen in America over the last five years, fear doesn’t engender rational diplomacy — it leads almost inevitably to aggressive idiocy.

Pete DeWan