Happy 70th birthday to Israel!! Seventy years ago, today, the modern nation-state was re-constituted on lands that were theirs back into antiquity. It was a fine day for the Jewish people, and all good people of good will celebrate that accomplishment with them. Since that time, though, the nation has dealt with many real and perceived threats (and actual acts of aggression) from angry neighbors. They successfully defended themselves against Arab allies during the Yom Kippur War and during the 1967 "Six Days War." Americans always stood with Israel and defended her right to exist and to defend herself.
Since the rise of the Likud Party and the extremist/expansionist elements of Israel's Knesset, however, the hopes for peace in the Middle East have become more and more threatened. Some of the Netanyahu set truly believe that the Abrahamic Covenant (more on this later) gives them the right to conquer and occupy the entire Middle East. Sadly, their expansionist urges are as unrealistic and unsettling for peace as those of their most infamous persecutor--the murderous Nazi Third Reich.
Additionally, their allies in the USA--through powerful lobby groups such as AIPAC and the ADL--have become so influential, that no one can run for Congress, or even state offices here in the USA should they challenge the Likud Party's goals. This is a state of affairs that must end, and is not worthy treatment of a long-term ally. Most Americans are zionists, if the term is correctly defined as believing in the right of Israel to exist and to defend herself. But, like most Jews both inside and outside of Israel, they do NOT share the EXTREME zionist view that says that Israel should conquer and permanently subdue most of the Middle East. It is that element that is horrifically dangerous to the "Peace of Jerusalem" that all Jews and Christians pray for, and for the peace of the entire planet.
(Israeli Knesset)
Now, back to the Abrahamic Covenant. For decades, Israeli expansionists and their apologists have said that the Covenant is open-ended , unilateral and unconditional. In Genesis, God promised to give Abraham the land and to multiply his descendants into huge numbers, and so forth. Sadly, those borders were never very expressly delineated. The Covenant is first laid out in Chapter 15, and then clarified in Chapter 17. In verses 9 & 10 of Chapter 17, we read:
"Then God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised'."
Later in Scripture, it is woefully apparent that God is not happy with the way the Jews have kept not only the Chapter 17 conditions, but also the conditions laid out in The Ten Commandments (and Mosaic and Levitical Laws as well) and that they were punished up to and including being driven from the land and into the Babylonian captivity. Centuries later, when they crucified the last and greatest prophet, God's only Son, the punishment was total annihilation of Jerusalem and it's environs and a two-millennia-long exile from the land once again. God obviously expects righteous behavior. The new Covenant clearly replaces the old. The Jews no longer have some inherent right to the entire middle east, and they must realize this and force the radicals in the Likud Party to back down from their aggressive settlement policies, etc.
Now, the Israelis are said to have the third-most powerful nuclear arsenal on the planet (though they still don't openly acknowledge owning any nukes.) They are fully capable of defending themselves without exerting unwarranted influence over American politics. The aggressive policies of the Likudists need no longer determine America's foreign policy v.v. the Levant. There is no need for American aid, and no need for America to treat Israel any differently than any other nation.
In other words, America should be free to follow here own best interests and not to be constantly encumbered by the best interests of Israel. George Washington had something to say about this in his Farewell Address:
"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world"
The inaugural pledge of Thomas Jefferson was no less clear: "Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations-entangling alliances with none."
Israel has everything she needs to live in prosperity and peace. The people of Israel merely need to exert their will and demand this of her leaders. And, while they are at it they can "let my people go," so that Americans can likewise be finally free to also pursue prosperity and peace on their own terms.
Happy Birthday, Israel! You have fully come of age.