By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY
I would like to provide a factual data related to Israeli/Arab/Palestinian coexistence in the Middle East, and the United States’ historic role and relationship with Israel.
Since Israel’s creation in 1948, the United States has been an ardent supporter of the Jewish state, providing large quantities of economic and military assistance and extensive diplomatic and political support to Israel.
Even today, Israel remains the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid for military and security purposes (about $3.3 billion annually). There are several reasons why the United States has been so closely identified with Israel.
First, because of the atrocities visited upon the Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II, there has been widespread sympathy in the United States to the need for a Jewish state — a homeland where Jewish people can live without fear of domestic persecution by the repressive and anti-Semitic government.
Second, U.S. sympathy for Israel has been strengthened over the years by six major Arab/Palestinian–Israeli wars, namely: 1948-1949 (Israel’s War of Independence and the Palestinian “Nakba”/displacement), 1956 (Suez Crisis), 1967 (Six-Day War), 1973 (Yom Kippur War), 1982 (Lebanon War), 2006 (Second Lebanon War) and most recently the October 7, 2023, Gaza/Hamas terrorist attack. All these heinous wars were initiated by Arab nations.
During 1956, 1967 and 1973 wars, Arab forces were supplied and supported by the former Soviet Union during the Cold War; and during the last three wars of 1982, 2006 and 2023, Arab/Lebanon/Palestinian forces were supplied by Iran and, perhaps, other Arab nations. Therefore, Israel was often seen in the United States as an American ally in the Cold War; and today Israel is an American ally in the war against global terrorism.
Third, despite disagreements and Israel’s frequent willingness to pursue its own policies independent of the U.S. preferences, Israel has been a U.S. ally in the Middle East. Israel also frequently points out that it is the only democracy in the Middle East. The U.S.–Israeli relationship is strengthened because of this and because of the common Judeo-Christian values.
Fourth, the American Jewish community (about 6 million American citizens in the United States, or 2.2–2.4 percent of the U.S. population) has often been an extremely vocal supporter of Israel. This adds to the already-strong support within the United States for Israel by the majority of population.
This, of course, does not mean that the United States and Israel see eye-to-eye on all foreign affair issues. They do not. For example, when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during the 1967 Arab–Israeli war, the United States refused to recognize Israel’s occupation as legitimate and proper.
As a result of this disagreement with the United States, all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the joint Israeli–Palestinian Erez Industrial Zone were dismantled; and 9,000 Israelis, most living in Gush Katif, were forcibly evicted by the Israel’s authority. On Sept. 12, 2005, the Israeli cabinet formally declared an end to Israeli military occupation of the Gaza Strip.
Similarly, the United States and Israel have had major disagreements over Israel’s policy of encouraging Israel citizens and new Jewish immigrants to Israel to move to and settle in the occupied West Bank. The United States has also on occasion objected to Israel’s treatment of its Palestinian and Arab peoples, who were not at that time considered citizens by Israel. Today, however, nearly two million ethnic Arabs enjoy equal rights, political participation and representation in Israel.
Despite these disagreements, the maintenance of a free and independent Israel remains a primary U.S. interest in the Middle East. Virtually everyone agrees that the United States and Israel are close friends, if not formal allies. Indeed, friends support each other’s interests and well-being.
Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, andClipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.
Alexander Dolitsky: Understanding anti-Semitism and anti-Semites in America
A few more of Dolitsky’s past MRAK columns:
Read: Russian Old Believers in Alaska live lives reflecting bygone centuries
Read: Russian saying: Beat your friends so your enemies fear you
Read: Neo-Marxism and utopian Socialism in America
Read: Old believers preserving faith in the New World
Read: Duke Ellington and the effects of Cold War in Soviet Union on intellectual curiosity
Read: United we stand, divided we fall with race, ethnicity in America
Read: For American schools to succeed, they need this ingredient
Read: Nationalism in America, Alaska, around the world
Read: The case of the ‘delicious salad’
Read: White privilege is a troubling perspective
Read: Beware of activists who manipulate history for their own agenda
Read: Alaska Day remembrance of Russian transfer
Read: American leftism is true picture of true hypocrisy
Read: History does not repeat itself
Friends support each other’s interests and well being.
That is true. Yet true friends also speak the truth about mistakes you are making. Because some mistakes are incredibly harmful as is the genocidal treatment of the Palestinian people . 21,000 murdered and counting primarily women and children.
The moral high ground that Israel occupies is being damaged by their actions.
These actions are against Jewish law .
Jews morality is an important aspect of their existence.
Killing women and children is inexcusable and history will judge these great people.
“American”,
Are you still regurgitating Hamas propaganda as if it’s true? And doing so on the same post that you dare lecture Jews about their religion…for shame.
When are you going to acknowledge that Hamas terrorists using Palestinians as human shields and proud martyrs for the cause of propaganda is why the numbers you keep sharing are inflated? Why don’t you count the number of dead terrorists in you Hamas talking points?
I guess you aren’t old enough to remember the PLO. Shame
You’re a smart man. You already know facts are immaterial in this matter.
You also know this will infuriate many who post here.
It’s good to shed the light of day on people like that, it’s a great disinfectant. People who continue to post Hamas propaganda over and over clearly do not care about fact or fiction, it’s just the same pushing of the antizionist, antiIsraeli, antisemitic agenda.
If we were to bail on Israel no other country would ever trust or rely on the U.S. again .
Not to mention JC and the boys would be pretty pissed
Sorry, Alexander. I have heard all these justifications and rationalizations for the continuation of the one-sided, parasitical and counterproductive US relationship with Israel for decades, and they strike me as even more weak and self-serving as they did from the first.
It is high time for the USA to stop allowing the artificial state of Israel to continually drag us into Middle Eastern conflicts that are none of our business.
No.
I prefer to look to Washington’s admonition to “no entangling alliances” as articulated in his Doctrine of Unstable Alliances. We must return to this wisdom. No empire.
Smart
You suggest a close friendship while describing a parasitic dystopia.
Trouser Bark, supposed close friendship with Israel or not, I can think of at least 2 incidents where Israel has greatly benefited the U.S.
The first was there genius of using American made drone aircraft to fool Soviet made Syrian SAM sites back in ’82.
The novel use of these Drones allowed the Israeli Air Force to obliterate Syrian air defense. The U.S. Brass and war planners gained significant intelligence from Israel’s use of our gear.
Secondly, Israel has developed some of the best water purification technologies known today, ( including RO) and are actively supported American water treatment plants across the fruited plain.
In contrast I’m scratching my head trying to think of an Arab Nation that has benefitted the U.S. with similar technologies.
Seems to be that a democracy in that region is worth our reciprocal friendship.
Tiger – What did the Arabs give the Western World? Hmm, let’s see – mathematics, the written word, hospitals, universities, eyeglasses and something that I am sure you are using everyday – cheap oil. If the Middle East did not contain vast oil & natural gas reserves which allowed Europe and the USA to thrive economically, Israel would not exist today. In fact, Theodor Herzl, a prominent early Zionist proponent, had originally proposed Argentina as the Zionist homeland. Perhaps, European & American policy makers saw the wisdom of protecting their influence over the enormous energy resources of the Middle East by inserting a proxy government in the region.
Fishing- Cheap Oil? Are you talking about the work of T.E. Lawrence? I wonder…
The creativity of mankind from every culture and race over the ages has spawned wonderful inventions that have benefited humanity. My point earlier was specific to countries that reflect the values that we in the western world hold dear, things like human rights and equal protection and yes current technologies and their development. Aside from crazy ass terrorism can you please enumerate what exactly is exported from the Arab world to the west?( beyond crude oil).
You have a convenient memory, Mr. Olsen. If you’d like to go back to 1982 why don’t we go back just a hair more to 1967 when Israeli forces engaged the USS Liberty.
You may also be aware that reverse osmosis was developed in 1748 and brought to commercial desalinization standards in 1950 by
Isrealpropeller heads at UCLA.That relationship is parasitic and far from a friendship. It’s time they hop off the family teat and fend for themselves. They’ve spent more than three quarters of a century being combative leeches. Time to cut them loose.
The US and Israel have been friends/allies since 1948. The US was a different country then. In the intervening decades since 1945 we have become an aggressive Empire, focused on world dominance and controlled by special interests focused on wealth exfiltration from our own working/middle classes and beholden to globalist loyalties. Our military has been used as an overseas expeditionary force, led by an utterly incompetent high command from one failed war after another. The best we could do in Korea is fight to a draw/armistice against China which in the early 1950’s still had a technologically primitive military. Every war since then we have failed and the host “allied” country destroyed. Being an enemy of the US is dangerous, being a friend/ally has become fatal. Israel was gaining recognition and peaceful relations throughout the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, during the Trump Administration. Trump ordered our military out of Syria but was blatantly disobeyed by an insolent military command. With Saudi Arabia and Iran normalizing relations, and moving to financial soundness free from the globalists through BRICS, our neocon leaders are panicking as they have been desperate to start another war with Iran. A war with Iran is on a priority par with a war over Taiwan with China for the dangerously unstable Lindsay Graham types infesting Washington. It is not possible Israel was not aware of the operation planned by Hamas on Oct 7. The Israeli response has been a public relations disaster and militarily ineffective in eliminating actual Hamas operatives and leadership. The Netanyahu government has been transferring large cash transfers to Hamas to help keep it in power, over other Gaza terror factions for years. It appears Israel is being used by our neocon rulers to generate a war with Iran, and Israel will become collateral damage like every other ally we have had.
As my good friend observed in our private correspondence, “the US political support for Israel has decreased in recent years (principally among the Democrats, ironically), and Muslim terrorism has increased throughout the Western world, I have had more sympathy with Israel and its difficult geographic position surrounded by enemies. The Muslim world has been demonstrating itself to be extremely bigoted, intolerant, fanatic, and violent, and I no longer have any sympathy or patience with any of them at all. In fact, I think that anyone who believes that Muslim extremists behave the way they do because they have been pushed into a corner (i.e., they are just reacting to persecution) is very blind to reality, living in a dream world rather than the real world.”
If Israel is to survive as a nation it will need to remove Netanyahu from office along with his entire genocidal Cabinet. He has managed to do what Hamas has only dreamed of doing – uniting the entire world against Israel!
Not doing anything that Joshua himself didn’t do
Was he wrong?
Fishing, are you a Democrat? I ask this because of your response to the troubles in Israel is to blame Netanyahu. I note that Netanyahu has long been the favorite whipping boy of the American commie pinko left, er Democrat Party. It’s infantile to believe that one man, someone like Netanyahu, who has been democratically elected to lead Israel is to blame here. But then as noted above. You are a Democrat, and as such are severely underdeveloped in critical thinking.
On the national level (USA) with Jewish leaders and the Democrats, you need to ask yourself, what is the basis for the continuing alliance of the Jews with the Democrats? Is it just a historic thing? Or is there something continuing? And what was the historic connection to begin with? The Democrats, especially the far-left side (neo-Marxists), are not only turning their backs on the Jews and Israel today, but are actively accusing them of being racists and intolerant of Palestinians and Arabs. The left is overtly active in trying to cut all American aid and support of Israel and shift it to the Palestinians instead. Even “centrist” Democrats are embracing Islam and are silent on the anti-Jew/Israel demands from the far-left.
Tiger – LMAO! Last time I looked it was YOUR fellow Democrat, Sloppy Joe Biden, who sent 3 aircraft carriers to the Middle East in support of Israel and circumvented Congressional oversight, with not one, but two, executive orders sending more American weapons to Israel. His State Department also stood isolated when the World was calling for a ceasefire. You shouldn’t use the words critical thinking when you post – it is hilarious!
You want to know the aims and goals of communists? Read their literature. You want to know the aims and goals of Muslims? Read their literature. Israel can defend it’s own border. We should start defending our’s don’t you think?
oh?
I would argue that nations do not have “friends”, they have only interests.
And I still fail to see where it is in US interests to continue subsidizing the parasitical pariah state of Israel. Clearly, though, it is in the interests of certain segments of the US power establishment to continue doing so.
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