Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Why does the United States support Israel?
Does the United States support Israel because of a vast conspiracy, or because of the financial power of "Jewish interests," or because evangelical Christians have hijacked our government, or because of its vast oil resources it is the only remotely competent society in the entire region? Or is it because American leaders from William Bradford to John Adams to Abraham Lincoln believed in the dream of Zion long before the world heard of Theodore Herzl? According to Michael Oren (the learned author of the engrossing history of the '67 war, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
Oren does not make the point in his essay, but I think that the Islamist terrorists understand this at a visceral level, even if not as students of American history. That is, perhaps, another reason why radical Islamists of both the Sunni and Shiite persuasion single out the United States (along with Israel) as their principal enemy, and another reason why it would be insane for our government to sell Israel down the river in exchange for pie crust promises from regimes that, deep down, understand that American ideas are a mortal threat.
Oren, by the way, is about to publish a new book, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present
7 Comments:
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Tue Dec 26, 01:34:00 PM:
Surrounded by hostile people, tiny Israel seems a lot like the Alamo during the 1836 siege. Many Americans have a soft spot for the underdog.
By 
, at
Tue Dec 26, 01:46:00 PM:
All good reasons - but actually, it's because we Jews have evil mind control power. Why do you think that most prominent critics of Israel turn out to be crazed loons? Mind control.
By Purple Avenger, at
Tue Dec 26, 02:53:00 PM:
Its the ZOG thing. You can never go wrong blaming the jooos.
By , at
Tue Dec 26, 06:39:00 PM:
Since the link discusses Carter in the context of "American Christian thought", as a lefty pro-Israel secular Jew, I find something creepy in evangelical Christian support for Israel. There's a hint of end-of-days/bring-on-the-rapture in there somewhere. And I can't help but suspect that deep down, many evangelicals think, "hey, why don't we give the Jews a homeland, so we can finally get them out of the US."
JK
By , at
Tue Dec 26, 11:22:00 PM:
Why do we still belong to the UN the worlds biggist supporter of terrorists
By allen, at
Tue Dec 26, 11:33:00 PM:
Anonymous,
Without ill will, may I ask how your opinions of Evangelical Christianity were formed? We share much in common; however, the subtle antipathy you discern is not my experience.
By ScurvyOaks, at
Thu Dec 28, 07:26:00 PM:
JK,
I'll try not to be creepy. I'm an evangelical Christian who almost never thinks about the end times, hasn't read any of the "Left Behind" schlock, and doesn't intend to read it. I acknowledge that I may not be a very representative evangelical, but I'm not sure the portrait of evangelicals that comes across in Newsweek or the NYT is on target either.
My strong support for Israel is certainly a function of my faith. The source of it is the natural affection that a branch that has been grafted in has for the root that supports it (to follow the metaphor that Paul uses in the 11th chapter of his letter to the Romans -- verses 17-24). Of course, it has never occurred to me that a Jewish homeland is a way to get Jews out of the US. I can't imagine anyone I go to church with thinking that way either.
Btw, my agnostic wife says that I worship Jews. I don't, of course; that would be idolatry. I just have a lot of goodwill toward those of whom Paul said this: "to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever." Romans 9:4-5.
