Israel and the US: time for divorce?

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Recently, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman came out with a statement that came as a shock for many people, because it strikingly runs counter to what might have been expected from Israel judging from its traditional behavior on the world scene. Speaking at a forum in the Israeli city of Sderot, Mr. Lieberman said that Israel should cease viewing the US as its main partner in international politics and seek for new partners.

Since the time of the Cold War, Israel has been perceived both in the Soviet Union and in the Arab world as the closest ally of the US in the Middle East. And now, suddenly, Israel's Foreign Minister says that Israel's ties with the US have weakened.

"At present, too many countries may present a challenge to the US – North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and China," Avigdor Lieberman said. "Besides, the US is now facing too many problems in its own economy. This, in my opinion, raises the question of whether the US is still a reliable partner for Israel. I believe that Israel should look for other partners, but they should be chosen among countries that don't depend on money from the Arab world."

Mr. Lieberman's words may sound very patriotic for an Israeli, but the irony is that at present, when the world has long become one whole, it is practically impossible to find a country that has never "touched" any money from the Arab world. As the proverb goes, "money does not smell".

But on the other hand, being afraid of everyone who has ever had to do with money from the Arab world have been too suspicious for Israelis. Having to do with money from the Arab world does not necessarily mean being anti-Israeli. If all the money from the Arab world would have worked against Israel, Israel would have ceased to exist a long time ago. Even such countries as Saudi Arabia and other monarchies of the Persian Gulf are not so anti-Israeli as they may look at first sight, because their "anti-Israelism" is quite often more rhetoric than real policy.

Journalist Nabila Ramdani, who specializes in Middle Eastern affairs, says that caring too much about Israel's safety has often made the West support tyrannical regimes in the Middle East. Israel is surrounded mainly by countries that are not very friendly towards it, and being afraid that these countries may attack Israel, the West has often tried to keep the situation in the Middle East stable by supporting these autocratic regimes, caring little about abuse of human rights in these countries, Ms. Ramdani says.

The irony of the situation is that trying to stabilize the situation in such countries as Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the sake of Israel's safety, the West found itself involved in wars that did not in any way contribute to the safety of Israel. For example, Saudi Arabia's rulers, being radical Sunnis, hated the autocratic but secular regime of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein. Playing up to Saudi Arabia, the West accused Hussein of any thinkable and unthinkable sins that might exist, started a bloody war against his regime and finally overthrew it. As a result, terrorists linked with al-Qaeda, who hate Israel much more than the late Saddam did, came to power in Iraq. Now, the West is trying to overthrow Bashar Assad's regime in Syria and the Shiite regime in Iran without stopping to think that if these regimes fall, al-Qaeda will very likely come much closer to Israel's borders.

Analysts have long been saying that by supporting al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in Syria, the US is playing a very dangerous game that may once turn against the US itself. Now, it should also be added that with such ill-considered policy, the US is risking to lose its closest ally in the Middle East – Israel.

Professor Yoav Peled from the Tel Aviv University says that although Avigdor Lieberman's suggestion that Israel should look for more cooperation with other countries may sound right, in practice, there is no other country in the world, the interests of which correspond so much with Israel's interests, than the USA.

However, although a total breach of relations with the US would most likely be a mistake for Israel, Mr. Lieberman is certainly right that the current policy of the US in the Middle East may, against the will of the US itself, create serious problems for Israel. Because of this policy of the US, the Arab world is now accusing Israel of Iraq's sad destiny, of setting explosions in Lebanon and of many similar things, although in reality Israel has nothing to do with them.

There is one country that might have been a good partner for Israel – Russia. Unlike the US, Russia is not trying to democratize Middle Eastern countries with fire and sword. But the US has long been holding an anti-Russian policy in the Middle East, which makes the prospect of good relations between Russia and Israel less close than one might wish. Professor Yoav Peled recollects how the US has supported migrations of Jews from the former Soviet Union to Israel.

In 1991, the US demanded that Israel should stop building houses for Jews on territories that are disputable between Israel and Palestinians – otherwise, the US would stop to allocate money to Israel which it spent on helping newcomers from the former Soviet Union to adapt. Israel preferred to continue receiving this money – and agreed to the US's conditions.

After that, Yitzhak Rabin became Israel's Prime Minister. Rabin went down in history as a peace dealer, but later, he was killed by an Israeli extremist who disliked Rabin's tolerance towards Arabs.

It is not probably Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's fault that he seems to be at loss about whom Israel should be friends with and with whom shouldn't. The situation is really too complicated, and the interests of Israel, the US, Russia and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East are too intercepted and at the same time in such a conflict that it makes an uneasy task for even a very experienced politician to come to a right decision about how to rake all this mess up. Probably the right thing here would have been not to impose one's ways and ideals upon other countries but let everyone have its own way. But so far, letting other countries decide for themselves what is good and what is bad for them is not in the traditions of the American policy.