Daily Times

Noam Chomsky quite appositely quotes that, “People who call themselves supporters of Israel are actually supporters of its moral degeneration and ultimate destruction.” And the most ardent supporter of Israel in the modern political world is that of the United States of America. The intimated romance between the United States and Israel can be well-witnessed from the words of ex and the current president of the United States. On May 14, 1948, Harry S Truman quoted, “I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have faith in it now.” On February 17, 2005, while in a press conference Junior Bush quoted, “[Israel] is our ally and in that, we’ve made a very strong commitment to supporting Israel, we will support Israel if her security is threatened.” And the current and the 45^th President of the United States, Donald J Trump, in the speech at the Israel Museum on May 23, 2017, quoted, “I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have faith in it now.”

To name a few, almost all of the presidents in the United States have shown an intimate relation with Israel. The relation between the two has been stronger with the passage of time. In doing so, the strength of this relation has laid down the foundation of fear in the whole Middle Eastern region. As a result of this, the region is under an imminent threat of a catastrophic war. From Syria to Iraq, from Iran to Saudi Arabia, the global diplomacy has been failing to deal with the near future political crisis. This crisis will, it happens, lead the world into a deadly end. No doubt there are petro allies of the United States in the Middle East. However, what after petrol is exhausted?

Tim Marshal in his book “The Prisoners of Geography” provides the audience with clear critical analysis. He quotes, “If the energy supplies of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, The UAE, and Qatar are no longer required to keep American lights on and cars on the road, the American public, and Congress will ask “What is it there for?” If the response is “To check Iran,” it may not be enough to quash the debate, especially in light of President Obama’s deal with Tehran on its nuclear capabilities” and the not so serious end to the deal by the Trump administration. The Middle East with Israel being the bull’s eye is the forum for a battle for the world to witness. It may be between the Muslim countries or against Israel.

Marshal compounds to the critical analysis in his book saying that “The Israelis feel threatened by the prospect of Iranian nuclear weapons” It is because Iran has the geographic and strategic potential to deal with Israel in a war. He adds in the same chapter, “It is not just Iran’s potential to rival their own arsenal and wipe out Israel with just one bomb: if Iran were to get the bomb, then the Arab countries world probably panic and attempt to get their own as well.” For sure, the most critical and initial point will be Saudi Arabia. This realist politics is getting severely acute with the time passing on.

This rising political dilemma seems to breach the prognosticated policies of the United States. This, in turn, is creating obstacles for the United States to formulate a certain foreign policy that brings an interminable peach in the region that checks Iran and makes Israel prevalent. However, former Secretary of States, Henry Kissinger in his book, “Does America need a foreign policy? Towards diplomacy for the 21st-century” quotes, “America’s decline from shaping the strategic and political environment to that of a broker in legal compromise formulae achieved the exact opposite of what had been intended.” Kissinger provides strong suggestions to the United States in relation to the circumstances in the Middle East. He adds, “Traditional diplomacy would counsel improving relations with either Iraq or Iran so that at least one of them can part of the balance of power in the region.” Iraq is, undoubtedly, in the situation to be considered a threat to the United States. However, the Trump administration is not in the mood of bringing Iran to the negotiating table.

The United States under every president has created the worst ever positions against the Middle East. Perhaps it has been well quoted by former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark back in 1991, writing in his “The Fire This Time- US War Crimes in the Gulf”, “US Foreign Policy is the Greatest Crime since WWII.”  The Middle East needs no intervention by the superpowers like that of the United States. And that the US Middle East policy is itself a crime is clear. This deal Left an ‘undivided capital’, ‘dangerous consequences’, and with the unmatched title “the deal of the century”. In the final analysis, it becomes a crystal clear fact that if the Middle East demands peace, the ideological penchants should be kept aside. And if the United States focuses on the peace between Israel and the Muslim countries, there must be crucial transformations in the US policies in the Middle East.

The author is an alumni of Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad and is interested in International Relations.