Chill About the Israel Thing

I'm not a huge fan of Slate, mostly because it's usually a
lot more left-leaning than I am (even while I proudly self-identify as
a liberal New York Republican or a conservative New York Democrat). But
this article I
came across earlier says exactly what I've been thinking in this most
recent election cycle - we don't need to be talking so much about
Israel.

Look, Israel (as tied in with "foreign policy")
is one of the top three issues for me when deciding who to vote for. I
want to know what the candidates think about Israel. But when you talk
about Israel in relation to most foreign policy issues in the Middle
East, then you make Israel look like the little cog in the machine
that's making it all run the way its running now.

I've
been primarily considering all this Israel-speak as it relates to Iran.
Somehow, the Iran issue has become a Jewish issue, an issue that
Israel-lovers care about more than anyone else. Yes, Iran's acquisition
of a nuclear bomb threatens Israel, but since when did we decide that
it doesn't also threaten America and Europe and much of what we
characterize as "the West"? It does, and yet it doesn't seem like all
that many non-Jews seem to dwell on the issue. If you were at either of
these two most recent anti-Ahmadinejad rallies near the UN, you would
have noticed that other than the Christian Zionists (who I have my own
issues with) and the psycho Neturi-Karta, there were primarily Jewish
people there. What the deal? Where are all our pro-human rights
friends? The same ones who come out in big numbers to protest US action
in Iraq and Afghanistan. Where are regular, everyday Americans who, I
imagine, recognize that Iran-with-nukes = terrorists-with-nukes =
bad-news-for-the-civilized-world. It's not just Israel's responsibility
to care.

And the other side, inevitably, is that when
you play all of this Middle East crap off as if it only effects or
concerns Israel, then it makes it seem like Israel is the annoying guy
in the room. The argument, advanced by oh so many people around the
world, goes "it's all Israel's problem, so why should we care? If it
wasn't for Israel then we wouldn't have these issues, no one would hate
us."

As expressed in the article:

"The constant mentions, the high visibility in every
election cycle, the overwhelming attention—all do little to serve
Israel's interest...They make Americans think that
important and costly governmental actions, like the war in Iraq, were
done for the sake of Israel, thus turning Israel into a nuisance rather
than an asset. They mislead voters to think that dilemmas facing the
next president—Iran is the most notorious example—would disappear had
it not been for Israel."

This
is a dangerous idea, that sans Israel Islamic fundamentalism would
disappear and we would all live happily ever after. I mean it's nothing
new; for decades people have been saying that the woes in the Middle
East would all go away if it wasn't for that darn Israel-as-occupier
making Arabs mad. And all of this is a continuation of the theories
that have been floated around most every country in the world for
hundreds if not thousands of years, the good old scapegoat hypothesis
that has Jews responsible for any number of catastrophes from the
Plague to WWI. I actually think that Hamas is blaming Jews
and the "Zionist World Dominators" for causing the latest economic
meltdown. This is the sort of thing that, historically, has led to
spikes in global anti-semitism. I really don't think anything will
change this time around.