After Israel’s stunning victory over Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the 1967 “Six Day war”, America began to view Israel as a strategic ally, a strong partner able to protect U.S. interest in the volatile Arab Middle East, long at odds over the UN imposition of the state of Israel in what had been Arab (Palestinian) land for many centuries.
That alliance has blossomed into an iron-clad, no-questions-asked relationship economically, politically and militarily. Such support, while quite justified on many levels, has not always served America’s best national interests. As Israel’s sole great enabler, we are complicit in all their actions, even when those actions are undertaken without our knowledge or without our concurrence. For years Israel has pursued many policies and practices at odds with our own values and contrary to our own constitutional laws. Regretfully, it doesn’t seem to bother us much.
Bibi Netanyahu, has been been prime minister 3 times since 1993 and his current coalition is laced with rightwing ultra orthodox adherents hell bent on expanding Israeli borders from “the river to the sea” and expulsion of the 5+ million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza – – – and by any means possible. Even among the Israeli people there seems little support for much of this.
The Likud Party was founded by Menachem Begin in 1973 and he became prime minister from 1977 til 1983. During the struggle for independence, Begin was the leader of the “Irgun”, a paramilitary Zionist organization that engaged in numerous atrocities against the Palestinians. In those days freedom fighters were not called terrorists. He did become a responsible statesman and achieved the historic peace agreement with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat in1979, for which both were honored with a Nobel Peace prize. Netanyahu’s government is more militant and uncompromising than was Begin’s.
While we must continue to ensure the safety and security of Israel, that alliance must not jeopardize our own international interests and must not torpedo our relationship with the rest of the world, and certainly not with the 300+ million Arabs in Middle East. They are no longer just Bedouins riding camels in the desert. Many of these countries are progressive, forward-thinking, militarily and economically relevant, and responsible world players.
– – – – Just the view of a common man
Views of a Common Man 
Your comments are well expressed but I would be harsher in my criticism of Netanyahu’s policy toward the resident Palestinians in Gaza. I see no justification for the demolition of Gaza and the killing of thousands of innocent people, including withholding food and medical care.
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