Farspress send me some questions occasioned by the sixtieth anniversary of the state of Israel. Here are my answers.
Q. Given the damage the image of the West has suffered in the Muslim world by its support of Israel, what are the West’s achievements ?
A. While few Muslims would agree that the achievements are worth the costs, the main successes achieved by recent Western intervention into Middle East affairs are the end of Serbian atrocities against the Muslims and Croats, the restoration of relations with Libya and the removal of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban from power. However, the first two could have been achieved without support for Israel and the relations were bad with Libya mainly because of America’s support for Israel. The removal of Saddam was primarily motivated by concerns about his threat to Israel’s security by Richard Perle and his comrades and America’s attack on the Taliban after years of ignoring their excesses was triggered by the 9-11 attacks for which Usama bin Ladin had posited American support of Israel as one of the three main justifications.
Q. What are the costs and benefits due to the support of Israel?
A. Beyond at least three billion dollars per year in direct aid (which does not include indirect and covert aid), the costs of American support for Israel has been high oil prices, a weak currency, bad relations with the Arab and Muslim world, the escalation of food costs (partly due to the diversion of agricultural resources in to biofuels), the erosion of civil liberties for the American people, and the loss of an enormous number of American, Arab, Israeli, and other lives. The only profit has been political support for the politicians who have put Israeli interests above those of the United States and the windfall profit the high oil prices have provided to the oil industry.
Q. What do you think of claims that Israel is the main cause of instability and insecurity in the region?
A. There are many causes of instability and insecurity in the region, and observers differ on their relative importance. However, Israel plays a contributing factor in a number of them. For example, the oppressive regimes in the Middle East often use Israel as a bogeyman to resist democratic, liberal, or Islamic reform. In the end I think one can say that Israel is the single greatest source of instability in the region.
Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad
Minaret of Freedom Institute
www.minaret.org
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