There’s no other country in the world that has received and continues to receive as much American support as Israel does. This support is tendered under the slogan of “shared values,” but under cover of this slogan, the Americans have whitewashed every offense Israel has ever committed against those “shared values.”
Israel destroyed multi-story buildings in the Gaza Strip, but instead of rebuilding Gaza, the Americans are working to refill Israel’s arms stockpiles. This has gone on for decades now. It’s enough to recall Israel’s refusal to implement UN Security Council Resolution 242 with respect to the territories it occupied in 1967 – a resolution the Americans also signed.
Moreover, the Americans don’t have clean hands on this issue either. Under the slogan of “shared values,” they have supported dictatorial regimes.
But now, Israel’s government is also committing its offenses at home. It is cutting into the living flesh of Israeli society. And that poses a dilemma for America.
It turns out, according to senior Israeli and American officials, that security coordination between the countries – and that’s the most important thing – is enjoying a heyday. Why ruin this harmony because of domestic issues like the government’s regime upheaval? Nevertheless, those “shared values” are currently in deep crisis. A sizable proportion of Israelis say the government is racing toward a dictatorship, so America has to take a stand on the issue.
Even so, I consider it a safe bet that the dilemma will ultimately be decided in favor of American interests. To see why, you have to understand the mindset of senior administration officials.
For instance, they aren’t happy about allying with a dictatorial state like Saudi Arabia, but American interests say it’s necessary. Similarly, the United States isn’t happy about maintaining a dialogue with a government that’s racing toward dictatorship, but its interests require it, so even U.S. Democrats will hold their noses. America has no choice but to find a common language with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
This week, President Isaac Herzog will visit Washington, after coordinating with Netanyahu, who is currently persona non grata in America. Some pundits are predicting that the visit Netanyahu dreams of will be arranged during Herzog’s talks there, and in exchange, Netanyahu will freeze the legislation that would abolish the courts’ ability to overturn government decisions they deem unreasonable.
If that happens, leaders of the anti-coup protests will find themselves without American backing. Look, the Americans will tell them, we’ve gotten the legislation killed (or postponed) for you, what more do you want?
At the same time, of course, the governing coalition will continue moving ahead with other sections of the coup. After all, violating agreements is Netanyahu’s hobby. The Americans will get angry, but they won’t go beyond that.
I think this scenario will come to pass for the simple reason that leaders, unlike ordinary people, have many interests to which they must attend. And whereas canceling the coup is an existential issue for the numerous Israeli democrats, for the White House, it’s just one more issue on a long list of issues waiting to be addressed.
After all, at the moment of truth, Israel – including its right, its fascist right and even large swaths of the protest movement – is deeply entwined in America’s global interests, and the issue of democracy is marginal in strategic relations. Consequently, the United States will treat Israel like it treats Saudi Arabia, albeit with no great joy.
Thus, the anti-upheaval protesters demonstrating outside the U.S. Embassy in the hopes of assistance ought to be told that America won’t save them. Because the “shared values” are just like the top layer in a carton of tomatoes at a produce market. A brief search through them suffices to bring up the rotten tomatoes – that is, the governments’ dirty interests.
To determine what the chances of solidarity from the U.S. administration actually are, you need to investigate the nature of the two countries’ shared interests. The list of “values” is only good for decorating the wrapping around a bunch of a parsley at the market.