Existential

This is not a post about the philosophy of existentialism; that would be nearly impossible to even define given so many differences among its proponents, which is odd considering the implications in the base word itself. The commonly accepted dictionary definition, in this case Webster, defines existential as relating to, or affirming existence; this is a much more productive way to discuss the subject, and I am doing so to talk about the US and the State of Israel.

Today Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made headline news for canceling the planned meeting in Washington DC between the Biden administration and his own to talk about the war in Gaza. That the US expressed shock about the cancellation is willful ignorance as Israel previously stated that should the US support the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire pass, it would cancel the meeting; disgracefully, the US showed the ultimate cowardice and betrayal by abstaining, which predictably allowed passage of the resolution.

Foreign aid has usually resulted in more harm than good, another case of wasting the American taxpayer’s money, as if we need more debt than we already have. However, if there ever was a justification for helping a professed ally in need, then we should consider the fact that the US has always maintained Israel, up until now, as top of the list; since 1952, the US and Israel have established multiple mutual defense agreements. 

If you profess to be Israel’s ally, you do not betray them; at the very least, you do not do so in public, which does far more harm than a private rebuke. Add to this insult the previous public statement by Senator Schumer that Israel should replace its prime minister, as if he’s illegitimately in office and not duly elected, inappropriately advising Israel on its domestic politics as if they were a vassal state; none of these acts are those of an ally, not to mention the arrogance of lecturing Israel how to conduct a war when in fact the US has shown little ability in successfully conducting any in the last seventy years.

Compare how the current US administration is treating a long-standing ally to its support for Ukraine, a country with which we have no treaty, not even an indirect relationship via the EU or NATO. Further, the Ukrainian regime is controlled by Neo-Nazi oligarchs who put a puppet in charge that we virtually canonize as a hero for democracy! Where are the calls in the US or the UN for a ceasefire by Ukraine? The Russo/Ukrainian conflict is a war between two kleptocracies, whereas the Israeli/Hamas conflict represents an existential struggle for an ally’s survival.

Much of the media’s talking heads point out that Biden himself is in an existential political struggle, requiring him to appease a radical faction of his own party in order to win an election; if so, and that is a viable analysis, then it only adds to the shame as electoral politics does not excuse such moral bankruptcy, especially as that is exactly what he accuses his opponent of.  We no longer have a case of just cultural anti-Semitism in America, it is now an expedient political policy.