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American Right and Left on Israel: Two Sides of The Same Coin?

American Right and Left on Israel: Two Sides of The Same Coin?

Sep 3, 2024 | World

Objectivist and anti-Trumper Razi Ginzberg (who we mostly agree with on other issues) in a post on X claims that “On so many issues, the left and the right are two sides of the same coin. When it comes to Israel, they’re the same side of the same coin.”

Professor Adam Mossoff responds:

I’m no fan of Trumpist policies generally, but it’s incorrect to say that Trump Administration was only “less bad” for Israel then Biden-Harris Administration. Since this is claim about actual policies and state actions, and not tweets or speeches, then we can compare the two.

Since Biden has been largely incapacitated mentally during his presidency, Biden’s White House staff taken from the Obama Administration and Senators Warren and Sanders offices continued the same anti-Israel policies of Obama’s presidency.

In contrast, during Trump’s presidency, the U.S. for the first time:

  • recognized Jerusalem as capitol of Israel
  • moved U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
  • recognized Israel’s legitimate annexation of Golden Heights
  • successfully guided negotiations of Abraham Accords (the most significant, major peace accord with Saudia Arabia and other Gulf States), and
  • Trump visited Western Wall and visited Israel on his first international trip abroad as strong signal of support for Israel.

Since October 7, Biden-Harris Administration has increasingly betrayed and attacked Israel, including:

  • imposing arms embargo (secretly at first and made public last April), dictating restrictive conditions on Israel’s fighting in Gaza War that have delayed war and emboldened Hamas to hold out,
  • betrayed Israel at @UN by not vetoing anti-Israel resolution,
  • officially repeated Hamas propaganda as fact (e.g., starvation in Gaza, massive civilian casualties),
  • refused to investigate or prosecute terrorist connections of protestors in U.S., and
  • has emboldened pro-Hamas activists in U.S. by supporting explicitly anti-semitic politicians like @AOC, @Ilhan & @RashidaTlaib in Democractic Party along with leading Democrats like @SenWarren and @SenSchumer accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza.

I keep hearing Objectivists saying that Trump is the same as Biden-Harris or maybe just slightly less bad. So, I’d be interested in hearing how or why someone thinks the above facts about the *policies* and *actions* of the Trump and Biden-Harris Admissions are either wrong or incomplete, because I’ve yet to hear this.

From observing how “How The GOP Became A ‘Pro-Israel’ Party“:

Whatever GOP constituency pressed for the move the most, what matters in the end is that they succeeded. Though Democratic and Republican presidential candidates alike have long promised to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. Embassy there, none who won the office ever did so — until Trump.

demovsgob on israel

Even the Washington Post notes:

“All of these Republican presidents and diplomats were pro-Israel, but they also sought to preserve some balance. They understood that Israelis were not 100 percent right and Palestinians 100 percent wrong. All that changed with Donald Trump’s presidency. He moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the conquered Golan Heights, cut off aid to the Palestinians, and even unveiled a peace plan with no Palestinian input. This recklessly one-sided approach was the culmination of a long-term shift in the GOP driven by White evangelicals who are more hawkish on Israel than American Jews.”

Trump GOP is”more hawkish on Israel than American Jews” according to the Washington Post. That’s why a Trump critic like Professor Mossoff is voting for Trump, despite all of his misgivings and the weakness in Trump’s character.

For further reading Catherine Glick documents how the U.S. policy towards Israel was “fundamentally transformed” under the Obama administration.

 

Milei’s Message on Censorship in England

Milei’s Message on Censorship in England

Aug 15, 2024 | World

Comments Argentinian President Javier Milei on England’s transformation into a dystopian fascist nightmare on X:

“… we are undertaking a change of paradigm, not only economic, but also social, political and cultural. And with this change we are going against the direction that in recent times many countries in the world are undertaking. While other countries propose censorship, we propose freedom of expression. Look at just what is happening in England, since the socialists came to power, they are putting people in jail for posting on social networks. Well, the journalists here would also like it because, let’s say, they don’t like that they have lost the mic, the monopoly of the microphone and to be able to use that tool to distort and dirty, slander at no cost. The social networks send them invoices and they don’t like it. Stop looking for ghosts. They are receiving the same thing they did, but nothing more than people do it organically because they realized that many of them are criminals. In turn, while others are getting closer and closer to falling into cultural and religious wars, which will eventually expel people from their countries of origin, we invite the rest of the free world to participate in a country under reconstruction.”

Biden Administration’s Appeasement of Iran Is Driving The World To a Nuclear Holocaust

Biden Administration’s Appeasement of Iran Is Driving The World To a Nuclear Holocaust

May 16, 2024 | World

Allistor Heath writes in the Telegraph echoing Leonard Peikoff’s call to End States The Sponsor Terrorism:

If Joe Biden were a serious president, he would announce that the mullahs in Tehran have crossed a red line, that they are an existential menace to civilised nations. He would declare that enough is enough, that no country can shoot hundreds of drones and missiles at one of its neighbours with impunity, that no government can go on funding terrorism, rape, torture and murder on an industrial scale. He would understand the need to deter other rogue states through a show of strength.

He would state that the Iranian regime must be treated like the global pariah that it has become, that all of its proxies must be destroyed, and that, above all, it will never be allowed to get anywhere near nuclear weapons. He would put together a coalition, including as many of Iran’s Arab neighbours as possible. He would impose extreme sanctions. He would allow Israel to finish off Hamas. He would help hit Hezbollah.

If all else fails, he would use American military power to destroy Iran’s nuclear’s installations, just as Israel bombed Iraq’s Osirak reactor in 1981 and the Al-Kibar site in Syria in 2007. He would not invade Iran or impose regime change: that would be up to Iran’s wonderful, long-suffering people. But he would contain and neutralise one of the key players in the axis of evil, and make the world a safer place.

In the real world, in common with David Cameron, Biden clings to a policy of appeasement when it comes to Iran and its proxies, even though this strategy failed to contain fascistic, imperialistic powers in the 1930s and will fail to do so again in the 2020s. This isn’t even a tactic to buy time while an actual plan is put into place: our politicians are praying that today’s crisis will somehow solve itself.

It won’t. The West’s refusal to face reality means that it is increasingly likely that Iran will eventually gain a nuclear weapon, and quite possibly use it against Israel, itself a nuclear power, with the explicit view of triggering a millenarian moment. The world is careering towards a three or four-pronged third world war involving Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea: the Islamic Republic is the weakest link, the least difficult one to deal with today, if we had the sense to act.

“Iran is about to start a nuclear world war – and the West is determined to lose” is an important read.

 

Anti-Israel: The Gradual Transformation of the Democratic Party

Anti-Israel: The Gradual Transformation of the Democratic Party

May 16, 2024 | World

Writes Glick on “Biden ends the US-Israel alliance at a fortuitous moment“:

“By placing a hold on congressionally approved offensive weapons to Israel, Biden is bowing to antisemites who are opposed by the overwhelming majority of college students and the general public. And he is siding with them six months before Election Day.

Biden’s actions energized Republicans to move harshly against his policy in the Republican-controlled House and in the Senate. Democrats in swing districts and purple states either hope to keep their heads down or speak out directly against the policy.

All of this places upper limits on what Biden can do to Israel before the elections. The White House’s efforts on Thursday to walk back his statement in the face of the furious backlash against it make those limits apparent.”

According to Glick, Biden’s appeasement of Hamas is a continiation of Obama’s Anti-Israel policies:

Thanks to Obama and his senior officials, coupled with the funding mechanisms they built and institutionalized, a steadily growing number of Democrats embraced the view that far from the last great hope of mankind and the leader of the free world, the U.S. was traditionally the world’s greatest aggressor. U.S. allies were viewed as accomplices to this evil, and as such, undeserving of support.

America’s enemies, on the other hand, were viewed as victims, and “innocent” by nature and incapable of doing wrong. Since the most anti-American actors in the world are Iran and radical, jihadist Arab states like Syria and Qatar were necessarily worthy of support and could be blamed for no wrongdoing.

The chief aggressor in Obama’s CRT taxonomy is Israel. And the chief victims are Israel’s existential enemies: Iran and the Palestinians. Empowering the latter against the Jewish state was seen as both a moral imperative and the key to repositioning the transformed United States on the “right side of history.”

Slowly, but surely, over his eight years in office, Obama incentivized abidance by CRT catechisms. Its primary expression in foreign policy was hatred of Israel and support for Palestinian terrorists and Iran.

Concludes Glick:

“Unfortunately, however, Biden’s willingness to side with Hamas (and Iran and Hezbollah) against Israel as Israel fights a war for its very survival also demonstrates that if he wins a second term, Israel will face a nightmare scenario of relations with Washington.”

Read the full article.

Draft is a Black Mark on The Heroic Zelensky

Draft is a Black Mark on The Heroic Zelensky

May 16, 2024 | World

The real black mark on Zelensky is his institution of a military draft. (Of course, the same could be said for Putin who is far worse).

“Of all the statist violations of individual rights…the military draft is the worst. It…establishes the fundamental principle of statism: that a man’s life belongs to the state…” — Ayn Rand

 

Manifesto on the Proper Relationship Between Ukraine and Russia

Manifesto on the Proper Relationship Between Ukraine and Russia

Mar 20, 2024 | World

Russian freedom hero Alexey Navalny’s Manifesto on the Proper Relationship Between Ukraine and Russia:

On the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, I have summarized the political platform of mine and, hopefully, of many other decent people. 15 theses of a Russian citizen who desires the best for their country.

What was all this about and what are we dealing with now?

1. President Putin has unleashed an unjust war of aggression against Ukraine under ridiculous pretexts.
He is desperately trying to make this a “people’s war,” seeking to turn all Russian citizens into his accomplices, but his attempts are failing. There are almost no volunteers for this war, so Putin’s army has to rely on convicts and forcibly mobilized people.

2. The real reasons for this war are the political and economic problems within Russia, Putin’s desire to hold on to power at any cost, and his obsession with his own historical legacy. He wants to go down in history as “the conqueror tsar” and “the collector of lands.”

3. Tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians have been murdered, and pain and suffering has befallen millions more. War crimes have been committed. Ukrainian cities and infrastructure have been destroyed.

4. Russia is suffering a military defeat. It was the realization of this fact that changed the rhetoric of the authorities from claims that “Kyiv will fall in three days” to hysterical threats of using nuclear weapons should Russia lose.
The lives of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers were needlessly ruined. The ultimate military defeat may be delayed at the cost of the lives of hundreds of thousands more mobilized soldiers, but it is generally inevitable.
The combination of aggressive warfare, corruption, inept generals, weak economy, and heroism and high motivation of the defending forces can only result in defeat.
The Kremlin’s deceitful and hypocritical calls for negotiations and ceasefire are nothing more than a realistic assessment of the prospects of further military action.

What is to be done?

5. What are Ukraine’s borders? They are similar to Russia’s – they’re internationally recognized and defined in 1991. Russia also recognized these borders back then, and it must recognize them today as well. There is nothing to discuss here.
Almost all borders in the world are more or less accidental and cause someone’s discontent. But in the twenty-first century, we cannot start wars just to redraw them. Otherwise, the world will sink into chaos.

6. Russia must leave Ukraine alone and allow it to develop the way its people want. Stop the aggression, end the war and withdraw all of its troops from Ukraine. Continuation of this war is just a tantrum caused by powerlessness, and putting an end to it would be a strong move.

7. Together with Ukraine, the U.S., the EU and the UK, we must look for acceptable ways to compensate for the damage done to Ukraine.
One way to achieve this would be lifting the restrictions imposed on our oil and gas, but directing part of the income Russia receives from hydrocarbon exports towards reparations. Of course, this should only be done after the change of power in Russia and the end of the war.

8. War crimes committed during this war must be investigated in cooperation with international institutions.
Why would stopping Putin’s aggression benefit Russia?

9. Are all Russians inherently imperialistic? This is nonsense. For example, Belarus is also involved in the war against Ukraine.
Does this mean that the Belarusians also have an imperial mindset? No, they merely also have a dictator in power.
There will always be people with imperial views in Russia, just like in any other country with historical preconditions for this, but they are far from being the majority.
There is no reason to weep and wail about it. Such people should be defeated in elections, just as both right-wing and left-wing radicals get defeated in developed countries.

10. Does Russia need new territories? Russia is a vast country with a shrinking population and dying out rural areas. Imperialism and the urge to seize territory is the most harmful and destructive path.
Once again, the Russian government is destroying our future with its own hands just in order to make our country look bigger on the map. But Russia is big enough as it is. Our objective should be preserving our people and developing what we have in abundance.

11. For Russia, the legacy of this war will be a whole tangle of complex and, at first glance, almost unsolvable problems. It is important to establish for ourselves that we really want to solve them, and then begin to do so honestly and openly.
The key to success lies in understanding that ending the war as soon as possible will not only be good for Russia and its people, but also very profitable.
This is the only way to start progressing toward removal of sanctions, return of those who left, restoration of business confidence, and economic growth.

12. Let me re-emphasize that after the war, we will have to reimburse Ukraine for all the damage caused by Putin’s aggression.
However, the restoration of normal economic relations with the civilized world and the return of economic growth will allow us to do so without interfering with the development of our country.
We have hit rock bottom, and in order to resurface, we need to bounce back from it. This would be both ethically correct, rational, and profitable.

13. We need to dismantle the Putin regime and its dictatorship. Ideally, through conducting general free elections and convocating the Constitutional Assembly.

14. We need to establish a parliamentary republic based on the alternation of power through fair elections, independent courts, federalism, local self-governance, complete economic freedom and social justice.

15. Recognizing our history and traditions, we must be part of Europe and follow the European path of development. We have no other choice, nor do we need any.

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