Hi Yuyutsu,

I certainly hope that you are wrong in Israel not needing
US support. I have my fingers-crossed that a more
normal relationship - where US support was conditional
rather than automatic - one that would force Israelis to
re-consider their present course and do more to achieve an
end to the conflict. In particular that Israelis would have
to re-think the belief that Palestinians will simply
disappear and that Israelis would begin to consider
solutions that would secure the political rights of Jews and
Arabs alike.

It would be great if the US would take a rights-based approach
that would be consistent with US stated values and force
Israel to begin to dismantle its apartheid system.

That's why I am resisting your claim that Israel does not depend
on American and military support. Because that would mean that
the US does not wield significant leverage over Israel's
actions. And that would result in a question mark over any end
to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict.

Not something I want to contemplate.

Dear Foxy,

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the "Palestinians" to enjoy better, more humane conditions. Don't lose hope, but that particular strategy of trying to weaken Israel, let alone by removing American military support, is most ineffective.

Historically, between 1948-1956, Israel was socialistic and depended militarily on the Soviet-Union and France, with Americans only contributing a lip-service. Relations between US and Israel started to gradually warm up from 1962 (as Israel's relations with the Soviet Union grew colder), but real aid only started following after Yom-Kippur war in 1973. By about the turn of the century, while Israel still considered that aid as nice-to-have, it no longer depended on it. The U.S.A. is aware that Israel's relations with China are quite warm and is rightly afraid that should it stop its support then Israel would turn to China instead.

Now hypothetically, even if Israel's power was halved, there would be no change to its attitude towards "Palestinians". Israel's arch-enemy is Iran, which is not even an Arab country, and Israel also fears Russia (now somewhat less once Russia is being beaten in Ukraine) which seems to stand behind Iran. But Palestinians? They are a non-player, they are terribly weak, they can at times be bothersome but can never cause Israel any significant damage. From a pure military perspective, if Israel wanted, then it could wipe them out in less than an hour (but then it would have to face censor from both the wide world and politically from within).

No, Israel does not believe (as you claim) that Palestinians would somehow disappear - it simply no longer cares whether or not they are still there, it simply has higher priorities!

Israel's weakness, though, is its internal divisions and the lack of common uniting factors: just being ethnically Jewish is not an effective glue. The one thing which united Israelis so far, is the Arab resistance and terrorism. Without it, Israel would have broken down long ago from within. Hamas knows it and also understands that without Israel they couldn't maintain their popularity and control even over Gaza, hence the rockets.

Hi Yuyutsu,

I appreciate your comments.

You may be interested in a book by Gregg Carlstrom,
"How Long Will Israel Survive? The Threat From
Within."

It was published in 2017. It deals with Israel's internal
problems. How a once unified population now fights internal
battles over religion and state, war and peace, race and
identity, contesting the very notion of a Jewish and
democratic state.

Gregg Carlstrom is a Middle-East correspondent for The
Economist based in Cairo and covering the region from
Morocco to the Gulf.

He's been a correspondent for The Times, Newsweek, BBC, CNN,
Sky News. to name just a few. He graduated from Northwestern
University in 2007 and is highly respected in his field.

I've reserved the book at my local library.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 4th October 2022, in the evening
(at sunset) is the beginning of Yom Kippur. The Holy
Day of Attonement for Jews. It finishes on Wednesday
evening 5th October 2022. I wish all Jews who take part
in this Holy Day to "Have an easy fast," and hopefully
it will be a peaceful and meaningful day in Israel.