Israel gets such privileged treatment from the US government (USG) that some have called it the 51st State. But no one state has such power over the others. The Israeli government actually takes the part of a fourth branch of USG, co-equal with the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. They don't control the US 100%, but they have enough to get what they want.
Israel's special status was on clear display when Israeli PM Netanyahu addressed the US congress for the fourth time last week. After American Senators and Representatives gave him 55 standing ovations in a one-hour pitch for weapons and for war with Iran, journalist Jonathan Kuttab wrote, "As I listened to the speech and observed the nauseating standing ovations, I could not recall such a display of servility even in authoritarian regimes."
Others compared Netanyahu's speech to a state of the union address by an American President, which it certainly resembled in its power dynamics. Netanyahu proclaimed that 21st-century reality pits Israel and the US against a large part of the world in a battle to protect 'civilization' from 'barbarism.' We're on his side whether we want to be or not.
Democrats and Republicans, legislators and administrators agree: Israel has a uniquely close relationship with America. They are "our greatest ally", despite their doing nothing allies typically do. They don't send troops to support America's wars; they don't fund relief efforts when there's a disaster. Instead, they receive billions in military aid and pull American troops into combat throughout the Middle East, getting them killed in places like Jordan, Iraq, and Syria. Americans serve to protect Israeli interests as well as their own access to oil and gas. It becomes hard to tell where Israel leaves off and the US starts.
Many US government officials advocate for making the relationship even closer. At the recent Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, journalist Michael Tracy asked conservative congressman Andy Barr of Kentucky if massive US military, economic, and political support for Israel conflicted with his stated 'America-first' ideology. Barr declared, "Being pro-Israel IS 'America First. ' Plain and simple." Barr called Israel "America's bulwark against terrorism, our forward operating base against radical Islam," and a fundamental part of America's "Judeo-Christian values."
Recently, two Congressmen, Guy Rechtenstaler R PA, and Max Miller R OH (an outspoken "America-firster"), proposed legislation giving Americans who enlist in the Israeli defense forces (IDF) the same GI benefits promised to those in the US military.
Many state and local governments in the US invest their money in Israel bonds, money loaned at low interest directly to the Israeli government to fund weapons, universities, settlements, and whatever. The money could earn more elsewhere; the intention is purely so support Israel.
Similarly, a number of American nonprofits, fund illegal settlements in the West Bank NGOs like Central Fund for Israel (CFI) , The Jewish National Fund USA, the Irving and Cherna Moskowitz Foundation and many others have tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 status, meaning American taxpayers involuntarily pick up the costs for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Get it? Our leaders don't think of Israel as a foreign country. Their wars are our wars. It's them and us -- along with the UK, Germany, and a couple of other European powers -- against the world. This is a battle most of us don't want and one we cannot win.
How Israel became the fourth branch
The US supported Israel at their founding in 1948 but not in the slavish way they do now. When Israel allied with the UK and France to keep the Suez Canal from Egypt in 1956, President Eisenhower stopped the war with a couple of phone calls. He saw Israel as a foreign country. He wanted good relations with them, but also wanted connection with the Arab world and peace in the region called the Middle East.
Israeli leaders wanted more than that and set out on a long campaign to gain the special status they have now. This strategy has three main parts.
1.They created the famous Israel lobby, a large web of organizations and rich individuals who are able to turn out volunteers for political causes and donate huge sums to politicians who support Israel. Israel advocate billionaire Sheldon Adelson was the biggest donor to the Republican Party until his death, and billionaire casino owner Haim Saban is the biggest contributor to the Democrats. Now that Adelson is gone,, his widow Miriam has taken over his role and been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her donations to Donald Trump.
When a politician doesn't back Israel, they find and fund candidates to run against them, get them smeared in the press, and in many cases make it impossible for them to stay in office. They did that to Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York in this year's primary and are spending tens of billions trying to do it to Cori Bush of Missouri now..
2. Along with their rich Jewish donors, Israel conjured up the powerful Christian Zionist movement. Christian Zionism existed before Jewish Zionism began in the 19th century, but it was not an organized force in America until 2006. In that year, Israel lobbyists recruited right-wing televangelist pastor John Hagee of San Antonio and helped him create Christians United for Israel (CUFI.) CUFI once claimed 9 million members and now says they have 5.5 million activists, enough to be a major force in American politics.
CUFI's co-founder and first Executive Director was David Brog, a Jewish lawyer who practiced in Israel, and a third cousin of Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak. He supports various far-right causes, and he directed CUFI for nine years until 2015
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