The Right-Left Divide and America's Israel Agenda

By: Dalton S. Rourke

Staff Writer

In the wake of growing anti-Israel sentiment in the United States and abroad, the recent abstention by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power and the recent comments by Secretary of State John Kerry in regards to the Israel-Palestine conflict over settlement building illustrate a deeply disturbing trend within our political establishment as well as our society.

It is is quite obvious that Israel's continued construction of housing within occupied areas of Palestine, which were seized during the 1967, “Six-Day War,” is contentious. And while the U.S. position (in more recent years) has been that the settlements are illegal , generally, the U.S. has abstained or defended Israel against such resolutions as they only act as a means to inflame an already caustic situation.

And yet, recently, due to the U.S.'s abstention from voting on Resolution 2334 (2016), a measure that reaffirms the illegality of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, we as a nation may have assisted in increasing tensions against our strongest ally in the Middle East. And while this abstention may be symbolic, such an inaction strongly indicates that the U.S. might not always have Israel's back, especially when the current administration is Democratic rather than Republican.

And while it is easy to assume that such actions will embolden our incoming Commander-in-Chief to act swiftly and unpredictably within the region, carelessly inducing such changes in foreign policy so close to the end of an administration's term can only be perceived as a backhanded effort to get in a few more punches as the final bell signals the end of the match.

According to John McCain, John Kerry's follow-up speech to the American people following the U.N. resolution “was at best a pointless tirade in the waning days of an outgoing administration. At worst, it was another dangerous outburst that will further Israel's diplomatic isolation and embolden its enemies.”

In this way, the actions of the outgoing administration appear to those outside as being deeply critical of Israel, and perhaps even Israel's existence as a whole. If this administration was not firmly against Israel in a general sense, why else would the decision be made to abstain from such a harsh critique of Israel so late in the term? It is hard to understand the political and practical aspects of this vote and John Kerry's resulting speech.

Of course, President-Elect Donald Trump has publicly stated that he is willing to consider moving the U.S. embassy to Israel from its current location in Tel Aviv to the Israeli capital in Jerusalem. This is significant, both due to the requirements of the “Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995,” which required our embassy to move to Jerusalem by the end of 1999, as well as the political message such a move would signify to the rest of the world.

The complications of such a move would be huge: not only would it signify that the U.S. is indeed a strong ally of Israel, but it would allow the U.S. delegation and the Israeli parliament to be in direct communication. It could also lead to charges of impartiality by the United States in our approach of the peace process, which might further delay any possible solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict.

The worst case scenario, however, is that such a provocation could lead to lone wolf attacks against Israelis living in and around Jerusalem, as has occurred sporadically in the last few years, and as recently as October of 2016. By placing the U.S. embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, it opens the United States to the possibility of attacks on our citizens abroad. Such an attack in Jerusalem, like that which occurred in Benghazi in 2012, might require a heavy-handed or extensive response by the U.S.

And the last thing the United States needs is another long, protracted war in the Middle East. Especially one that flies in the face of the American People's lethargy following extended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and continued terrorism abroad.