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What do many Americans think of Israel?

My guess is that the overwhelming emotio


n is exasperation. In the Israeli-Arab equation, the Israelis are supposed to be
the good guys. The problem is they don’t act their role. After all, Arab groups
like Hamas and Hezbollah are recognized nasties who deserve their comeuppance.
So the Israelis giving them a shellacking should be easy to applaud, but this be
comes difficult because in almost every confrontation, the Israelis come off as
the bully boys.
Consider the recent fracas when Israeli commandos boarded a Turkish ship (osten
sibly) carrying humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza; and killed nine ac
tivists/terrorists depending on which side was defining them. Israel may have su
cceeded in asserting its authority, but it was a public relations disaster of ep
ic proportions. Even worse, it put Israel’s traditional well wishers in an embar
rassing position. The ship belonged to Turkey, a NATO ally of Israel’s chief pat
ron, the United States. America could not placate one friend without alienating
the other. So it resorted to the age-old diplomatic ploy of double speak: mouthi
ng platitudes that meant absolutely nothing.
Not surprisingly, Turkey and fellow Arabs made much capital of the ostensible re
ason the ship was heading towards Gaza: carrying humanitarian aid to a populatio
n suffering deprivation – obligingly amplified by the Palestinians to the world
media. True to form, the bleeding heart liberals who seem to be proliferating in
continental Europe and the Scandinavian countries joined in the condemnation. A
nd the Israelis played into their hands by sending military commandos to board a
civilian ship that was ostensibly on the side of the angels. Their argument tha
t all assistance to Gaza had to be routed through Israel, subject to inspection
and clearance, cut no ice with the international community. It is always morally
and spiritually satisfying to side with the underdog and the Palestinians, egge
d on by its Arab patrons, played their part to perfection. Israel, either wilful
ly or unwittingly, doesn’t seem to get this. Even assuming a few weapons did man
age to sneak in the guise of humanitarian aid, the limited damage Hamas would be
able to inflict with them would be an acceptable trade off for Israel not becom
ing the international community’s whipping boy.
Israel’s dilemma is that, even three generations after the Holocaust, its citize
ns have not rid themselves of their persecution complex. Some would argue that a
fter 2000 years of wandering in the Diaspora, the Jews are justified in the beli
ef that they can rely only on themselves for survival. If, in the process, they
often come across as gung-ho cowboys, that’s a price they seem prepared to pay.
However, the reality is that in the 60 years of its existence as an independent
nation, Israel has not only survived, but thrived. Nobody buys the image of Jews
as victims any more.
In theory, of course, Israel is grossly outnumbered by hostile Arab neighbours,
not to mention the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose eccentric president has publi
cly threatened to blow it to smithereens. In practical terms, however, there is
no genuine threat to Israel’s existence. That is because even the Jewish state’s
avowed “enemies” have a vested interest in keeping Israel viable. After all, Ar
ab solidarity has long been debunked as a myth. The truth is that many Arab stat
es hate each other’s guts, but admitting that publicly would shatter the image o
f the brotherhood of Islam. A strong Israel ensures that they don’t get too big
for their boots. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
The irony is that Israel usually ends up getting the bad press. In the present i
mbroglio, Israel is the big bad wolf starving the helpless denizens of Gaza. Wha
t seems to have escaped the media’s attention is that Gaza’s “big brother” Egypt
, with which it shares a common border, is not acting very “humanitarian” either
. Nothing really stops Egypt from sending food and supplies across the border. I
srael may protest, but it is hardly going to risk going to war with its powerful
neighbour over this issue. So why is Egypt enforcing its own informal blockade?
Because it despises Hamas. Not many may recall that the grandfather of all mili
tant Islamic groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and even Al Qaeda, was the Muslim Brot
herhood, which was founded way back in 1928 by Hassan Al-Banna. The Brotherhood
made no secret of its desire to overthrow Egypt’s secular governments and establ
ish as Islamic state based on Sharia law and is, therefore, definitely not on th
e government’s Christmas list. Then there is the Palestinian Fatah faction in th
e West Bank, the legacy of Yasser Arafat. In 1970, this group tried to overthrow
the Jordanian monarchy. Quite naturally, are viewed with extreme distrust by Jo
rdan’s rulers. So as long as Israel keeps Hamas and Fatah in check, Egypt and Jo
rdan is not likely to rattle its cage. What makes Israel’s job easier is that Ha
mas and Fatah are constantly at each other’s throats.
So Israel continues to cock a snook at international opinion. It knows that the
world community will continue to fulminate against the Jewish state’s intransige
nce, but to paraphrase Shakespeare, it will be little more than sound and fury;
and signify nothing. America is quite content to allow Israel, which is not encu
mbered by its patron’s moralistic pretensions, to act as a surrogate world’s pol
iceman – a role the US often gets lambasted for. The Arab world, too, will do li
ttle more than shout as long as Israel serves its interest; and Israel will cont
inue to take care of its own interests whatever it takes. Sometimes, being regar
ded as a bully can actually be an advantage.

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