Going to war is never easy. Like most of you, I don’t agree with America continuing to underwrite the Ukraine war. Over $75 billion has been poured into Ukraine since 2022, with $25 billion going directly to financial and development projects, not even military spending.
But the recent attacks against Israel are different. As Hamas supporters march across global capitals; and as pro-Iran groups in Syria and Iraq wait in the shadows to start a regional war, the U.S.–Israel alliance is facing a very serious global threat from terrorists.
The world’s Jewish population is estimated to be 16.2 million. The world’s Arab population is estimated to be 2 billion, yet the mere suggestion of an Israeli ground offensive draws up intense threats of Arab retaliation, and theocratic calls for global jihad persist.
To quote Douglas Murray, “Israel is the only country in the world never allowed to win a war.”
The U.S.–Israel relationship is one of the most important alliances in the free world. While the vast majority of Jews came to America between 1880 and 1914, Jewish history in America goes back hundreds of years, and today Jewish Americans represent 2 percent of the U.S. population.
The United States and Israel share many common themes, especially around the core tenants of free-market economics, democracy-oriented politics, and freedom of religion.
We all know the United States allows religious freedom, but so does Israel. Israel is in the holy land, and it is the global home to Jewish people, but roughly 14 percent of Israel’s population is of the Muslim faith (Sunni Arabs, with an Ahmadiyya minority).
Economics is another commonality. Israel is a highly developed free-market economy. The country’s economic significance is bolstered by the country’s strong military and defense industry, and world-leading technological and pharmaceutical innovation.
Israel’s GDP is $488.5 billion (2021), more than Iran’s GDP of $359.7 billion (2021), and more than half of Saudi Arabia’s GDP of $833.5 billion (2021)—gigantic numbers for such a small country.
Politically, Israel is a lynchpin in a fragile and tumultuous region. The relationship is viewed as one of significant strategic importance, and this gives the United States and other Western countries a foothold in the troubled Middle East.
The Defense Technical Information Center, which serves the U.S. Department of Defense, has a statement regarding Israel’s strategic importance: “Since its independence, Israel has had a partnership with the United States that has continued to flourish over the years. The values and beliefs shared by the people of both countries put our cultures in close proximity. Both the United States and Israel share the same ideology regarding form of government, economics, the war on terrorism, and the right of Israel to protect itself from its enemies.”
Perhaps more upsetting, some Western leftists view Israel as another country filled with white colonists, and for that they want Israel defeated. The very activists who protest against racial discrimination, are racially discriminating against Israel.
As Brian Blum wrote in the Jerusalem Post: “If Israeli Jews are white, then who are the people of color that these ‘white Jews’ must be oppressing through their white supremacy? The Palestinians, of course.”
Radical leftists admonishing Israel for the sake of Hamas is not surprising, but it is irrational and wrong. Holding tight to a far-fetched narrative will certainly place tens of thousands on the wrong side of history.
Israel and the Christian world has a right to Jerusalem and the holy lands, as much as anyone else.
Any threat against Israel should be looked at as a threat against democracy, a threat against the United States, and a threat against Christendom.
