Israel and the U.S.: No longer exclusive

Zev Chafets has an analysis about American-Israeli relations that is going to send the Jew-haters’s spittle-flecked rants off the charts on the Israel-hate scale. Just look at the headline:

American-Israeli relations: US still Israel’s best friend but no longer country’s only friend

The problem arose because Israel did not vote on the US UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s seizure of Crimea. The Obama administration was extremely upset.

Lieberman blandly blamed it on a strike at the foreign ministry. What was he supposed to do, ask Israeli diplomats to cross a picket line?

At home he was more candid. “We have good, trusting relations with the Americans and the Russians,” he told a TV interviewer. “I don’t see why she needs to get caught up in this.” General Amos Gilad, a senior figure in the Ministry of Defense, seconded this new, even-handed approach. “Our security interests should not be defined as identical to that of anyone else, even the United States,” he said.

Ha’aretz, a left-wing Israeli newspaper, reported that White House officials “nearly went crazy” with shock and anger when they heard such ungrateful sentiments.

I can well imagine. The Obama administration is under the impression that Israel should shut up and do what it wants, always. Let us not forget the 45-minute dressing-down Hillary Clinton gave Benjamin Netanyahu over the release of tenders for new settlements on the eve of talks with the Palestinians–tenders, I might add, that Netanyahu had nothing to do with. Why, it’s almost as if the Obama administration is the abuser and Israel is the abused wife, and the abuser has just discovered that the wife has a life of her own outside the marriage.

If so, Rice and her colleagues haven’t been paying close attention. Israel is no longer an impoverished, embattled, emotionally needy client state. It is an emerging international power with options it never had before. Locked doors are now wide open. Old enemies want to be given another chance. America is still Israel’s best friend, but it is no longer its only friend.

There follows a list by Zev of Israel’s good relations with other nations.

I think it’s a great thing that Israel has diverse international relationships, because that is the way the world works. Do I think Israel should have supported the resolution? Yes. Do I understand why they’re cultivating Russia? Yes. To keep S-300 missiles away from Syria and Iran. It is in a nation’s interest not to rely on other nations for its self-defense, Israel more than most. When other nations get involved, Israelis die. Israel went along with George W. Bush’s insistence on elections in Gaza including Hamas. Look how that turned out. UN Peacekeepers actively aided Hezbollah and prevented the IDF from getting crucial evidence that may have helped them find kidnapped soldiers. And of course, Hezbollah has rebuilt and strengthened its hidden missiles in southern Lebanon, right under the noses of UN peacekeepers.

Jews no longer count on other nations for their security. We learned the hard way what happens when we do. So good on Israel for being an up-and-coming power that other nations are courting. We’ll let Zev have the last word.

Next month, Israel will celebrate its 66th Independence Day. Sixty-six is adolescence in nation-years. This country is just at the start of its growth spurt. Washington is going to have to accept that its young ward is not a kid anymore (Israel needs to internalize this, too, but that’s a different story). And, as Rice and her fellow policymakers know better than anyone, being a grown-up nation means making complicated choices, pursuing your own vital interests and, unavoidably, sometimes disappointing even your very best friends.