Whenever people tell me that Israel can’t do X, Y, or Z because America won’t “let it,” I always respond, “What do you think America will do - physically stop Israel by force of arms?”
Until now, the question was rhetorical. Obviously, America was not going to fly troops to Israel to stop the IDF from defeating the Arabs of Gaza or Judea and Samaria (aka 'West Bank'). At worst, it would punish Israel financially or diplomatically.
But if a news report from the website Shomrim is true, America is now considering building a $500-million base on the border of Gaza that will house thousands of American troops. If this base is built, that spells the end of Israeli independence on any matter relating to Gaza (and even possibly the 'West Bank'). It means that if a (truly) right-wing government one day want to fight Arab terror with crushing force, the American army may literally intervene on behalf of the Arabs.
Giving any American government - even the most friendly - that kind of power is dangerous. But in a few years’ time, America may very well have a Democrat president or a young Republican president in the mold of Tucker Carlson. In other words, the most powerful country in the world may soon again be governed by someone who dislikes - perhaps even detests - Israel.
We would have to be insane to allow such a person to have thousands of troops at his disposal to force his will on Israel by means of arms.
I’m an American. I love America. I think in some ways America represents Biblical values more than even Israel does (as the founders of the modern state of Israel were unfortunately less religious than those of America). All that is irrelevant, though. At issue here isn’t my - or anyone’s - respect for America.
At issue is Israeli independence.
I know that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - like Ariel Sharon before him - isn’t interested in running Gaza. I know he’d love to have someone else handle the problem. Too bad. Ideally, Israel should immediately annex Gaza and settle it with tens of thousands of Jews. But if Netanyahu isn’t willing to do that, at the very least he has to tell President Trump:
“I appreciate the suggestion, but I unfortunately can’t go along with it. You would never accept an Israeli army base with thousands of Israeli troops on American soil, and we can’t accept thousands of your troops on ours.”
This army base would be a game-changer. Israel suffers from many problems - some of them supremely important. But all these problems can be solved relatively quickly with a change in leadership. Twenty Jews, for example, don’t have to die every year from terrorism, and if a bold, principled right-winger became prime minister one day, he could give the IDF free reign to defeat our enemies without regard for the rules of post-modern morality, which places the lives of enemy civilians over those of our own soldiers.
But the building of an American army base on the Gazan border would be nigh irreversible. Even a “Meir Kahane” as prime minister would find it difficult - perhaps impossible - to solve the terror problem in Gaza if thousands of America troops had the ability to stop him - not with words and threats but actual bullets. In other words, an American army base in Israel would spell the end of Israeli independence.
So we really have no choice. As much as many of us - I included - love President Trump, we must say to him, “I’m sorry. What you propose is a non-starter. We kicked British troops out of this land in 1948, and we won’t permit any other foreign troops to replace them - ever. Not as long as we’re a sovereign country.”
Elliot Resnick, PhD, is the author/editor of 10 books, including “Dragged Out of Gush Katif: The Tale of an American Who Flew to Israel to Stop the Disengagement.”