On Israel.

So, recently, a friend of mine reminded me that I have a blog, a blog that I haven't touched in a couple months. This led me to the decision to post something soon... and then, sure enough, another friend posted this picture to Facebook:

And I found inspiration.

So apparently, our President hasn't gone to Israel, and this is somehow a bad thing. To be completely frank... I could not care less. Israel has been an ally to America for, well. Forever. Ever since the nation was founded following World War II. They've often been seen as our only friend in the Middle East, a region rife with people who hate us and our way of life. Our two countries are supposed to be the best of friends. But what has that friendship done?

According to this report by the Congressional Research Service "the United States has provided Israel $115 billion in bilateral assistance" and that most of this has been "in the form of military assistance". We've provided the most funding to defend that strip of desert - and, to be honest, this is a good thing. Every nation has the right to sovereignty. Every nation has the right to choose its own fate. I'm hesitant to say that Israel especially deserves this, because I do not believe in exceptionalism - but let's face it. Israel is a Jewish nation, and there's that whole Holocaust thing. They faced their own extinction and survived. That makes them special.

But on that exact same topic of sovereignty - our alliance with Israel comes at the cost of Palestinian sovereignty. For those who haven't paid attention to history, before Israel, there was Palestine. The country was essentially seized and given to the Jews because of the Holocaust. Not a good move. Decades later, we're still facing the fallout from that decision in the form of:

• Ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine
• Arab nations seeing Western support go almost exclusively to Israel, leading them to think that...
• The West doesn't care about Palestine, and since the Arab community identifies more with them than the Jews, they make the rational conclusion that
• The West doesn't care about anything in the Middle East but Israel and the oil we keep buying from the region
• That last bit is the reason they "hate us" - not because of religion, not because of our way of life, because they think we hate them back.
• This hatred is what has spurred terrorist attacks from groups such as Al Qaeda.
• One attack in particular got us into two wars within the past decade, costing thousands of American lives and over one trillion dollars

So. The $115 billion we've sent them helped to kill thousands of our boys and cost us ten times more money while pissing off an entire region. Meanwhile, we've been trying to pressure Israel to work with Palestine for a peaceful resolution to their conflict, but Israel continues to build in areas where they have no right to build, they continue to displace Palestinians, they continue to thwart the peace process.

And no, Palestine isn't exactly innocent here, either. They've spawned some powerful terrorist groups as well. But in their defense, they saw the most powerful country in the world giving massive amounts of support to a nation that was built on the destruction of their own. What else are they gonna do? We've developed a track record of standing by Israel no matter what. They feel that our position is carved into stone and completely unwavering. If we won't budge, how are they supposed to get a fair deal in the peace process? Diplomacy feels like a lost cause to them, because diplomacy requires communication, and we're not listening.

But time goes on, and things change. The Obama administration has pushed back against Israel, getting them to the negotiating table multiple times. In the aftermath of the War on Terror, Afghanistan and Iraq are more amenable to America. They're still a mess, but they're a less uncooperative mess. The Arab Spring revolts have toppled dictatorships (mostly) without our intervention and we have a chance to secure new allies in the Middle East.

But we still support Israel. Israel and America are still BFF's. We're unwavering. We've carved it into stone. We're not interested in fixing our relationship with other nations. The only thing we care about is making sure nobody can hurt our friend. We don't care about their freedom, their economies, their human rights. We care about protecting Israel no matter the cost.

That is ALL the Middle East sees. That is all they WILL see until America makes a significant shift in its policy toward Israel. You want to get our relations with the Middle East back on track? Here's how to do it.

Cease military aid to Israel until they achieve peace with Palestine.

That sends the entire world a strong message. It says that America cares about sovereignty. It says that America's support is never guaranteed. It says that we will not tolerate those who receive our assistance yet continue to damage our reputation and put our lives at risk. It says that our support hinges on peace. It says that we want to resolve issues with a handshake, not a shootout.

I'm sure that if this spreads far enough on the Internets, I'll be called an anti-Semite for this suggestion. I disagree. I don't dislike Jews at all. I love 'em, they're great people. I mean, seriously, Jesus was a Jew. And hey, some of the stereotypes about them can be good - for a super skinny guy like me, Jewish mothers are AMAZING. So. Much. Food. Wow. Seriously, Judaism, you have some amazing food. Thank you for sharing.

...seriously, though. I'm not anti-Semitic. I'm pro-peace.

That being said, if we pull out entirely and someone invades Israel, we need to rush to Israel's defense. And I guarantee that if Israel is attacked, the UN will intervene. To be completely honest, what needs to happen is Jerusalem needs to be completely independent from Israel and Palestine. Like the Vatican. That's a primary point of contention in the debate, who gets what part of the Holy City... so if the two can't work it out, neither gets the city. This was the original UN plan from 1947, having Jerusalem be independent. It was a damn good idea.