Sen. Barbara Boxer has introduced a VERY pro-Israel bill...and it's co-sponsored by Elizabeth Warren

[Douglas Carpenter]

75. Anyone who thinks this kind of blind support for Israel is helping America's influence in the world

is not paying attention at all.

There is simply no question that strident support for Israel by the United States is a major contributing factor that elicits the appeal of anti-Western political movements and is one of the leading causes or perhaps the leading cause of the rise of the modern anti-American Jihadist movement. Military power has simply no possibility whatsoever of reducing the resentment and anger elicited by the Israeli/Palestinian conflict among the word's 1.3 billion Muslims and Arab people who comprise the majorities in 57 countries and significant minorities in many, many more. Of course the U.S. has plenty of other problems in dealing with the Arab/Islamic world. But this is a very big one; not the only one - but a very, very big one.

America's almost blind support for Israel is primarily a combination of outdated cold war ideology and the influence of a militant and ruthless domestic political lobby that is not only pro-Israel, but pro-right wing Israeli. No member of Congress or candidate for the U.S. Congress of either party fears any significant political consequences for publicly and vociferously condemning Saudi Arabia. Conversely, most in fact all but a few members of Congress and candidates for Congress feel hesitant about even fairly mild public criticism of Israel. Even when they do, they inevitably open with a phrase something like this; "First of all, I am a friend of Israel." Even though in real concrete terms Saudi Arabia's security is far more important to America's national interest, I have yet to hear any member of Congress or candidate for Congress open with the phrase, "First of all, I am a friend of Saudi Arabia."

There are those who would say America's interest with Israel is rooted in shared values of democracy and human rights. Well clearly, Israel's treatment of the Palestinians make those words ring rather hollow, to say the least - especially in the region. As Phil Weiss once put it, "When I was young, Israel was proclaimed as 'A light unto the nations' - now it is is, 'well we're better than Syria'.

Let me say though, this strident support is not unlimited. If it were the case, Iran would have probably already been bombed and Jonathan Pollard would have been freed a long time ago. So, it is not absolute. It is possible to defy Israel. But is done very sparingly.

But as long as America is perceived as continually siding with Israel - something which is obviously compounded by the amount of primarily military aid which the U.S. government and bills like this, not anti-Israeli propagandist, claims to be a larger than that provided any other country- ill will toward America will be further facilitated and relationships that are in America's vital national interest will be further strained and further complicated while more misunderstandings contribute in no small way to watering the seed bed of extremism.