The Myth of Israel's Foreign Allies

By BATYA MEDAD
 This was first posted on my blog Shiloh Musings, The Myth of Israel's Foreign Allies, http://shilohmusings.blogspot.co.il/2016/02/the-myth-of-israels-foreign-allies.html. 
Photo by Batya Medad
Photo by Batya Medad
Photo by Batya Medad

We have no real allies to "alienate," and we've never really had any to rely on.

Even as Israel loudly tangles with Sweden, the UN, and the US envoy, Netanyahu is quietly trying to 'muddle through' amid signs of eroding US diplomatic cover.  Shrill wind from Israel: Does it risk alienating its allies?         The Christian Science Monitor
This is one of the wackiest opinion pieces I've seen of late. It really bothers me that people who know bupkes about history are accepted as qualified to write in respected mainstream media all over. Besides Israel always going to the assistance of places in trouble, like the rescue experts going right now to Taiwan, where there was just a massive earthquake, and the crew that helped in Haiti and numerous other places. And Israel doesn't first make the decision according to how friendly the country is or how "democratic" and "humanitarian" policies are there. Israelis just run to help those in need.

And back to the "allies." We had no foreign allies during our struggle for independence from the British who had davka be mandated by the League of Nations to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish State in what Hadrian had renamed, in an effort to rebrand the Land, "Palestine."
  • No country supported us.
  • No country threatened Great Britain that it will recognize the Jewish State whether GB withdraws or not.
  • No country treated our leaders as if they were head of a country until the War of Independence was well over.
  • A "yes" vote on November 29, 1947, in the United Nations was not the same as being an ally. 
And in the spring of 1967 when after weeks of threats by Egypt, that it was going to drive Israel into the sea and destroy it, did any foreign country take steps against Egypt? No! To make matters worse, the United Nations quickly withdrew the "peacekeeping forces" that had been placed there to protect Israel.
And in October, Yom Kippur, 1973, when Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, Israel had no allies! The United States played a game trying to create a stalemate of sorts. The USA and Egypt were allies, and they didn't want us to win and they didn't want us to be destroyed. When the tables finally turned and we were victorious, the Americans were no happy, because by the end of the war, we had even more land than before. And that's why they kept pushing for Israel to give it back to withdraw.
And consider all the very undiplomatic and terribly immature sounding fits we've heard from American Presidents, Vice Presidents and Cabinet members about internal Israeli policies. That's not the behavior of an ally.
And I don't want to hear about all those "buy in America shopping coupons" that we get. The so-called "aid" has stickier strings than a spider's web.
As a pragmatist, I see things very clearly, and it's about time that the State of Israel totally rethink its policies by taking into account that when push comes to shove, when we really need help, we'll be left high and dry or drowning. Both mean the same. Nobody cares what happens to the State of Israel. They'll just add a room or annex to their well endowed Holocaust Museum.