Who does the U.S. really support in the Middle East?

This article lends some perspective:

We Say We Support Israel but We Fight For Arabs

This article is brief enough, so below is the full commentary:

We Say We Support Israel but We Fight For Arabs

Think about it. Whenever American anti-Semites get their shorts in a twist over Jews and Muslims in that tiny little sliver of the Middle East, they start ranting about how much money the United States gives Israel—never mind the fact that economic aid ended years ago, and as for defense spending, much of it comes back to us. They also like to rant about the attack on the Liberty, a US Navy warship, that left 34 US seamen dead and another 170 wounded, the Liberty’s skipper being awarded a very honest Congressional Medal of Honor for his attempts to save his ship—in 1967.

But when is the last time America undertook military action on behalf of Israel?

It is a simple fact that since Vietnam, virtually all of America’s actions have been on behalf of Muslims to improve their lot. Desert Storm/Desert Shield, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Yemen and now Libya. Only one of those interventions, Bosnia, made cultural sense: the Bosnians were Central Europeans who wished to be more or less Western Europeans, who just happened to be Muslim. Indeed, you could reasonably argue that the Bosnians were in fact more culturally Western than their Orthodox Christian, Serbian murderers and torturers.

According to the Congressional Research Service report, US Foreign Aid to Israel, US foreign aid to Israel is $3 billion for FY 2011 and is projected at $3.09 billion a year, FY2012-FY2018. According to the CRS report
The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other

Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11, the cost of the Iraq and Afghan wars is $1.21 trillion. According to the Department of Defense Military Personnel and Casualty Statistics, 5945 American military personnel have been killed and 42,913 wounded in action since operations began in Afghanistan in 2001 and in Iraq in 2003 through 4 April of this year. Iraqi and Afghan casualties caused by the American overthrow of the established powers in Iraq and Afghanistan is estimated at about 100-109,000 documented violent civilian deaths in Iraq. While this does not break down by the source of death, i.e., whether the killers were American soldiers, Iraqi soldiers or police, or Iraqi insurgents, the number is almost surely low. (I do not know of a similar listing for Afghanistan.) However, by contrast, according to B’Tselem and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 1987 has claimed 7978 Palestinian lives and 1503 Israeli lives.


So, we say we support Israel, and go to war for Muslims. We harp about every last Palestinian killed by Israelis, even though we have killed far more Iraqis and Afghans than Israelis have Palestinians. And the exchange ratio of Afghans and Iraqis to Americans is going to be far higher than the exchange ratio of Palestinians to Israelis. (The Palestinian:Israeli exchange ratio is about 5.3:1).


America has ruined its economy and military by waging war to improve the Arab and Moslem worlds. Understandably, they don’t much appreciate it. Perhaps it’s time we stopped, and reengaged with Israel. Which has many faults, but in the years since 1948, under constant attack, taking in millions of desperate and destitute Jews who needed a home, Israel has made of itself a modern world with a vibrant economy. Perhaps we—America, Israel and perhaps Russia—could begin to speak to each other as friends and equals. And the Arab world? Nothing wrong with them that 60 years of creativity—creativity that the Arab world once possessed in vast quantity—won’t cure. American intervention surely has been no replacement for their own genius and compassion, and it has done us no good, either.