Bloodthirsty Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 invaded Israel, killing more than 1,200 Israelis, with at least 33 Americans also killed. But what is President Joe Biden focused on? Promoting Palestinian statehood and the “two-state solution.”
But a true realist in the U.S. would ask: “Does the United States really want to have any Palestinian Arab state(s) in the Middle East? Is the establishment of that really in our national interest?”
The clear answers to these questions are no and no, respectively.
The following are some U.S. national interests frequently cited by national security experts relating to the “Arab-Israeli crisis.”
- The U.S. has an interest in ensuring its own physical security and that of its citizenry from foreign attack.
- The U.S. has an interest in protecting its own economic well-being by keeping the oil and natural gas lanes in the Middle East flowing to the U.S. and the world.
- The U.S. has an interest in bolstering the interests and security of its allies—i.e., positive reinforcement—and alternatively, in undermining or punishing its opponents—i.e., positive punishment—so as to incentivize pro-U.S. policies.
- The U.S. has an interest in balancing power in every region, so as to deter future wars and help stabilize the world in peace.
- The U.S. has an interest in maximizing its popularity with other nations.
- The U.S. has historically expressed its desire to maximize human rights and democratic rights throughout the world.
- The U.S. has a predisposition to aid the victims of aggression and oppose the aggressors.
None of those interests, with one possible exception—i.e., maximizing U.S. popularity—favor the establishment of Palestinian states in Gaza and/or Judea and Samaria.
The U.S. has an interest in ensuring its own physical security and its citizenry from foreign attack.
Palestinian Arabs, including all of their leadership, have a long history of hating, wounding, and killing Americans. The Palestinian leadership has routinely supported the enemies of the U.S.—Nazi Germany, the U.S.S.R., Iran, Iraq (during the invasion of Kuwait), and others. They have even praised (here and here) Osama bin Laden and condemned his killing by the U.S.
All members of Hamas, including its “elected leaders,” are terrorists, according to U.S. law. In polls, the Palestinian people show high levels of hatred or dislike toward the U.S. and Americans.
The Palestinian Authority of (Nazi-loving) Mahmoud Abbas actually pays money to individuals who commit acts of terrorism and to the families of deceased terrorists, often called the “pay for slay” program, which has led to the deaths of many Americans, including Taylor Force, an American veteran.
Palestinian terrorists from both groups have plenty of other American blood on their hands, and aspire to kill even more Americans. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas continue to incite their people against the U.S. and against Christians (the vast majority of the U.S. population) in general.
Immediately after Sept. 11, 2001, Palestinians cheered the al-Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center, which killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
A Palestinian state (or states) would clearly endanger the flow of oil and gas from the other Arab nations in the Middle East to the U.S. and the world. That’s because the Palestinian Arabs have had a long history of destabilizing other Arab nations.
The other Arab nations despise the Palestinians for their terrorism because the Palestinians have caused violence and chaos in their host countries, including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait.
The U.S. has an interest in undermining or punishing opponents like the Palestinian Arabs. Also, the Palestinian Arabs despise and attack Israel, which is without a doubt a strong and useful ally of the U.S.
The U.S. has an interest in balancing power in every region, and the Palestinians destabilize the Middle East. In addition, the Palestinian leadership, especially Hamas and Islamic Jihad, are allied with the Iranian leadership, a major destabilizing force in the region and the world.
Iran is at war with the U.S., trying to overthrow U.S. regional allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates, and is obviously and dangerously seeking nuclear weapons to threaten the U.S. and the entire world.
The U.S. has an interest in maximizing its popularity with other nations, and that’s the one national interest that may argue in favor of the U.S. supporting the full establishment of Palestinian Arab state(s).
European nations, and much of the rest of the world, support that position, largely because of their desires to cater to the Arab world on the issue, to cater to the Muslim minorities in their own societies, and, in many cases, to stay true to the antisemitic sensibilities of those nations. And the Arab/Muslim world professes to fully back the cause of the Palestinian Arabs, although, in truth, most of the Arab world leadership gives their cause only lip service.
It’s often said that in the Middle East, “Power is respected; weakness is not.” That concept was also popularized by Bin Laden, who memorably was quoted as saying that people favor the “strong horse” over the “weak horse.” He meant that most Muslims respect and support a strong nation, even if that nation is not always friendly toward them, rather than a weak nation that keeps trying to endear itself to them.
So, if the U.S. started expressing hostility and opposing Israel now, that might actually be considered another example of the U.S. showing weakness. And if the U.S. shows weakness, based on the “strong horse” theory, Arabs and/or Muslims would be culturally predisposed to oppose the U.S.
The U.S. has historically expressed its desire to maximize human rights and democratic rights throughout the world. Supporting Palestinian state(s) would not be in furtherance of those ends, because the Palestinian leadership—both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas—are undemocratic and tyrannical.
Neither Judea and Samaria, nor the Gaza Strip, has had regular elections. Neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas respect religious freedom, freedom of speech, and/or human rights in general.
The U.S. has a predisposition to aid the victims of aggression and oppose the aggressors. The truth was and is that the Palestinians and their leadership—both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas—simply didn’t, and still don’t, want peace with Israel, and they are the clear aggressors in this conflict.
It’s well past the time that the U.S. gets over its fixation on the “two-state solution,” a theory that is simply not in our national interests. Getting over it also would reduce, if not eliminate, U.S. foreign aid to the anti-American Palestinians.
Continuing to promote Palestinian state(s) in the Middle East year after year and expecting that this year the policy will result in peace and further U.S. interests clearly violates the famous dictum attributed to Albert Einstein: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
The U.S. should stop being insane. Now.
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