The More Things Change: A History Lesson
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) recently signed by The United States and Iran has justifiably caused panic in Israel and abroad. With one penstroke our President has imperiled the security of Israel, which now finds itself in a more dangerous position than before.
But, why be surprised? The United States has made it S.O.P (standard operating procedure) to eventually abandon its proxy states: the frontlines of our war against terrorism. Even at the height of support (the Abrahamic Accords, munitions and beyond) we warned that this apparent “blessing” could turn into a curse.
We looked to the past. Reflected upon how our history tends to repeat itself with many instances of similar conflicts.
As an independent kingdom, ancient Israel consistently entered into alliances with the superpowers of its day, ostensibly to settle both internal and external conflicts. It always ended badly.
Although somewhat simplified, the Maccabean revolt came about when priests: Jason and Menelaus vied for the High Priesthood. The resulting civil conflict intensified when the Syrian-Greeks (Antiochus) were brought in to support Menelaus – the rest, as they say, is history.
About one hundred years later, the Romans entered Judea as invited mediators during a Hasmonean civil war between two royal brothers, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. And, again, the rest is history.
And how steadfast was support for Israel in 1956, 1967 or 1972? At what point did Israel’s “supporters” threaten to withdraw unless peace and/or land was returned?
Benjamin Netanyahu knows this. As a disciple of Menahem Begin: Begin never trusted world support – he recognized countries are pragmatic and allies become adversaries when expedient.
Yet by aligning himself so closely with our president, Netanyahu placed the future of Israel and its trust into the hands of a notoriously mercurial leader. And so, at this moment Israel truly stands alone.
And now we deal with a vice president who threatens Israel, reminding us that the United States is Israel’s only ally and further advises that Israel should “wake up and smell the reality of the situation”. There is intimation that shipments of arms and support will cease altogether if Israel does not stop fighting Hezbollah.
Netanyahu’s wish for full American support and participation has become reality; the United States allied itself with Israel to destroy the Iranian government. We now see how that turned out.
At this moment it might be wise to remember the fable of the scorpion and the frog:
Perhaps our vice president should look to history and be a bit less sanguine in his threats. We still celebrate Chanukah and last I heard the Roman Empire did not outlast us. Since 1948 the State of Israel has shown a resilience that has consistently proven its value and strength. We have been alone before, and I suspect we will still be here when our current administration is a thing of the past. But not without cost. Six months after the victory of Chanukah, Judah was killed, the Romans did destroy the Temple and Jerusalem – and so many have died in the wars since 1948.
We may yet prevail – but at what cost?
