Why Israel's important

Tonight, at sundown, is the 58th anniversary of the modern nation of Israel.

Lately the idea of `Zionism' has been under attack...including from a number of Jews.

And with the publishing of `scholarly' attacks on the so-called Jewish lobby and a rehash of the age-old accusations of dual loyalty from certain quarters, it may be a good time to reassess why Americans, regardless of the background should care whether a strong safe Israel survives.

Aside from any religious connotations Israel is important to Jews as a homeland and refuge. Most of the Jews in the Holocaust were murdered because they simply had no place to run to, as Britain cut off immigration to Israel on the eve of the Holocaust to appease the Arabs. With a strong and militarily powerful Israel, the odds on another Holocaust are very diminished. And frankly, those Jews, especially in America and Europe that make a fetish of disparaging Israel to prove how `liberal' and enlightened they are are cutting their own throats.

Why should secular, non-Jewish and non-evangelical everyday Americans care a rip what happens to Israel?

And let's talk strictly in pragmatic terms, avoiding any considerations of common values, morality and justice.

One, history shows that the Jews are the canary in the coal mine historically, and the arocities visited on them first get visited on the non-Jewish world later. Hitler is one example, Islamic terrorism is another.

The tactics used to bomb London and Madrid were perfected in Israel. So was the disinformation and propaganda to rationalize such actions, now usd against the US and Europe as well as Israel.

Two, Israel is our most important ally for the US in that part of the world, and one of our most important allies, period. Here are a few examples:

• Israel singlehandedly pushed the Soviets out of the Middle East during the Cold War and provided America a first hand look at the latest Soviet weapons and technology.
  

• Israel saved thousands of American lives by taking out Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor at Osirak. if not for that, the casualty lists from the first Gulf War would have been very different.
  

• Israel, with a first class intelligence service and native Arabic and Farsi speakers has contributed greatly to US intel by adding the dimension of `humint'-human intelligence on the ground.
  

• Israel, as one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world is a major partner of the US in weapons technology in numerous joint projects like the Arrow missle. Israeli technology provided an important edge to the USA in both Desert Storm and the first Gulf War.
  

• Israeli troops, with their knowledge of warfare in the Middle East saved US lives by drawing on their experiences in Jenin and elsewhere to teach American soldiers how to fight in the urban battlegrounds of the Middle East, like Falujah.

• Israel is one of the handful of true US allies that actually posseses a significant military factor.
  

• Third, Israel is an important trading partner and a leader in biotechnology,agriculture, computer science, irrigation technology, synthetic energy, and a number of other fields. Many American corporations like Intel and Hewlett Packard have facilities there to take advantage of the talent coming out of TAU and the Technion. The cell phone, for example, was perfected in Israel.
  

• Any aid or friendship America gives to Israel is more than reciprocated by the advantages the US gets from our long term ally.

If Israel disapeared, America's difficulties with the Muslim world wouldn't change one iota (the proof of that is to examine the US relationship with the Arab World before we became one of Israel's main allies..after the `67 Six-Day War). Getting rid of what the Muslims world refers to as the Little Satan wpould just weaken the Big Satan-America and deprive us of one of our strongest and most valuable allies.

So yes, ordinary Americans should DEFINITELY care what happens to Israel. From a strictly pragmatic, self-interested point of view if nothing else.