Talking balance

Recently released documents prove that the US has long been aware of its unhealthy bias towards Israel:

The United States reached out to hostile Arabs three decades ago with an offer to work toward making Israel a “small friendly country” of no threat to its neighbours and with an assurance to Iraq that the U.S. had stopped backing Kurdish rebels in the north.

[Henry Kissinger] said U.S. public opinion was turning more pro-Palestinian and U.S. aid to Israel could not be sustained for much longer at its massive levels. He predicted that in 10 or 15 years, “Israel will be like Lebanon – struggling for existence, with no influence in the Arab world.”

While it’s encouraging the US elite recognised that blind support for Israel wasn’t sustainable in the long-term, its actions always suggested something different entirely. There will come a point – and that period might not be too long away – the US acknowledges that the current path is doomed to continued, regional strife. The Bush administration’s current stance towards Hamas is just the latest example of pointless and damaging posturing.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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