An infamous refrain from those attacking people who are pro-Israel is to claim that they have dual loyalty or that they are “Israel First.” In reality, it is obviously in the U.S. military and economic interest to be allied with Israel because it is a fellow democracy with about 100 companies on NASDAQ, has the best air force in the world outside the United States, and boasts a top intelligence service.
Instead, one should be questioning the priorities of those who are “Anti-Israel First.”
For Jews to be pro-Israel and care strongly about the survival of the Jewish state is perfectly rational, considering that there are Holocaust survivors today who wanted to flee Europe and could not; there was nowhere else to go. Today, there is a nation-state and a top-tier military to protect it.
Since the establishment of modern-day Israel in 1948, Israel’s Jewish population has grown dramatically from 600,000 to more than 7 million. That number was increased when Jews were able to flee Russia after the end of communism, and before that, when Arab countries throughout North Africa and the Middle East kicked out 850,000 to 1,000,000 Jews in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and took their possessions. Ethiopian Jews also added to the demographic from the 1980s on.
American Jews know what happened when antisemitism rose, and there was no Jewish state. And so, they are very concerned about the security and survival of Israel.
Many of the Jews are moving to Israel from other countries around the world not because of antisemitism but for religious reasons. Israel’s economy continues to strengthen as a result of this contingent and others, as they move to improve their situation.
When it comes to U.S. politics, Fox News radio host Brian Kilmeade said in his view, the top issue for Democrats today is no longer abortion or other social issues, but being against the Jewish state for one reason or another.
“Anti-Israel First” has now become the predominant issue for many running for office in the Democratic Party, including those winning primaries like Graham Platner of Maine, Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania and Dr. Adam Hamawy in New Jersey. The question remains: Why is being anti-Israel an important issue to so many Democratic voters? Why have they prioritized being against the one Jewish state in the world, and how is that in their or America’s interest?
The issue cannot be that they are concerned about the funds being spent by American taxpayers, when those who are anti-Israel uniformly support gifting American taxpayer funds of hundreds of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority. This is compared to aid to Israel, which is required to be spent with U.S. military arms manufacturers so the money stays in the U.S. economy.
What benefit would the P.A. or the creation of a Palestinian Arab state be to the United States? The obvious answer is it would not—economically, militarily or politically.
It is obvious that a Palestinian Arab state would not be an ally. The P.A. has a program referred to as “pay for slay,” providing financial incentives to terrorists who murder Jews and Americans. The more Jewish and American women, children and men, the more murder money the criminals—and their families—receive.
The P.A. has further shown a disregard for providing safety and security for its Arab Christian community. In Bethlehem, Christians made up 60% to 80% of the population in 1995 before the P.A. took over; today, Christians voted with their feet and left. Now they only represent around 10% to 12% of the population.
The P.A. is also closely allied with Russia, where its now 90-year-old leader, Mahmoud Abbas, received his Ph.D. for a book in which he claimed that far fewer than 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. To this day, he remains a denier of the Shoah. He is one of the original “Anti-Israel Firsters,” along with his mentor and predecessor, PLO chief Yasser Arafat.
It is well documented that international law makes it clear that the Jewish people have the right to Israel, as was established after World War II at San Remo in 1920, and then codified by the League of Nations in 1922. The United States legally ratified the League of Nations’ decision in the 1924 Anglo-American treaty that was ratified by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Calvin Coolidge.
The United Nations legally adopted the League of Nations decision in Article 80 upon its establishment in 1945. The Jewish people have a right to the land of Israel because they were there first, are the majority of the people today, and won the land in a defensive war when the Arab countries rejected the international community’s support for the Jewish state.
It is those who are “Anti-Israel First” who need to be questioned as to why they advocate a view that is clearly not in the best interests of the United States.
