Former Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yoram Ettinger issues a caution regarding the hidden goals of American support. To restrain Israel’s actions against Iran and to advance the idea of two states.
Former Israeli ambassador to Washington Yoram Ettinger was interviewed by the Sovereignty Movement who recrntly launched a series of special Zoom discussions with public opinion makers on the events of the Iron Swords War.
Ettinger expresses concern about what is hidden behind the embrace and support that the U.S. President is providing to Israel.
Ettinger analyzes the American moves, but first and foremost, calls for understanding the balance of powers in the American government and the relationship between the president and the state department and other bodies that represent the American people to the same extent.
The failure to understand American policy begins, Ettinger believes, with the thought that the president is the sole power in the U.S. “The president is not the American government but only one branch of three branches of government. The two houses of Congress are not only a branch that deals with internal matters, it is the legislative branch, which makes laws and it has the power to constrain the president and change his policy or initiate policy”.
In contrast to the State Department, says Ettinger, which has always been critical of Israel, except during the Trump presidency, members of Congress have been supporters of Israel from the State of Israel’s first days.
In Ettinger’s estimation, the objective of military support that the U.S. is now providing to Israel is first and foremost to prevent an Iranian attack but “at the same time, to constrain Israel in all that relates to Iran, meaning to prevent Israel’s independent action against Iran or an Israeli pre-emptive attack against Hizb’Allah and limit, as much as possible, Israel’s war against Hamas”.
Besides this, Ettinger thinks, the purpose of the American embrace is to push Israel to implement the ideology held by the State Department, which is to divide the Land, divide Jerusalem and establish a Palestinian state.
Presented with such a situation, Ettinger says, Israel must understand the American reality and not be tied to the thought that Israel has labored under for years: “The American president enfolds us with the language of support and promises to defend us in the U.N, in addition to the American aid and because of this, we will have to dance to the American tune, and this is a fundamental error, misunderstanding the American system”.
In this context, Ettinger mentions precedents in which Israel’s ability to withstand American pressures was proven, beginning with the War of Independence, when the Americans threatened to take diplomatic and economic steps if Israel did not retreat to the partition lines. The phenomenon happened again in ’67 as well, when the American administration pressured Levi Eshkol not to launch a pre-emptive attack and Eshkol did not respond to this pressure or to the pressure not to unify Jerusalem and later, the pressure not to settle Judea and Samaria. There were other pressures from the U.S. in matters relating to the nuclear reactor in Iraq during the Begin era, as well as in the decision to apply Israeli law over the Golan Heights and in the Shamir era, there was very heavy pressure from the Bush administration not to develop settlement in Judea and Samaria. In all of these cases Israel withstood the American pressure and because of this, won respect from the Americans themselves.
“They indeed do put pressure on us but ultimately, on Capitol Hill and the American security and intelligence branches they know that it is impossible to trust an ally that is like a leaf that blows with the wind, and on the other hand, you can trust an ally that can resist pressure”.
This, to Ettinger, is the reason for the unprecedented cooperation between the U.S. and Israel despite what may be perceived as an Israeli conflict with the administration.
Ettinger states that it was precisely the victory in the Six Day War that changed Israel from being a burden to a force multiplier and a worthy partner for military as well as other efforts.
In view of all this, Yoram Ettinger rejects thoughts, even on the Right, that the right-wing agenda in Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley cannot be advanced because of the monetary support that the U.S. provides to us.
According to him this is a mistake in understanding the relationship between the two countries. Those familiar with the American Constitution know that the idea behind the Constitution is to prevent a situation where the president behaves as a king, so it strengthens the legislative branch and makes it equal in power to the executive. The fact that the president is considered the Commander-in-Chief of the American military depends on Congress’ approval and if Congress sees a deviation in the conduct of the president, whether ethical, economic, social or any other kind, congress stops him from conducting himself in that manner.
The reality now in the U.S. is that the Speaker of the House is an extremely strong supporter of Israel and a person who can completely paralyze the White House by the power that the American Constitution bestows upon him.
“In the matter of Israel, the pro-Israel camp is the majority and there is no majority for the president’s policy toward Iran”, emphasizes Ettinger.
The problem, Ettinger believes, lies with the architects of the Israeli policy who view Congress as a secondary power and not as an equal partner, so Israeli leaders devote their visits in the U.S. to the executive branch instead of the legislative, despite the fact that the chance to change its position is minimal. The legislative branch has a more open attitude toward hearing Israel’s positions, even if there are differences of opinion.
Ettinger anchors these opinions on examples from Israeli-American history, which show the ability to press the American president to adopt a pro-Israel policy, even if he does not agree to it.
He also mentioned examples of the added value that the American security branches find in Israel’s strength as an American interest of the first degree, which saves the American Treasury many billions of dollars.
In relating to the results of the present war in Israel, Ettinger says that victory will be considered elimination of Hamas’ political, military and civil infrastructure. “This is extremely important for Israel after the seventh of October, which severely eroded Israel’s deterrent image, which is the most critical component of Israel’s security.
The profile of deterrence is what motivated Saudi Arabia to broaden its connection with Israel. Without this profile of deterrence, the Emirates would not have had any interest in signing a peace agreement with us and the U.S. would have less interest in supporting us.”
Ettinger also warns against the possibility of leaving the responsibility for security in Gaza to any other entity than Israel, whether Arab or international. In his opinion, the hopes hung on such an option stem from a short Israeli memory. “There is a very threatening parallel here whether from our lack of understanding of the context of Hamas, Hizb’Allah and the Palestinian sort, which brought about the failure of the seventh of October, or the lack of understanding of the American reality.
I don’t discount exposing the world to the horrible scenes, but anyone who thinks that this will lead to a long-term change in thinking is mistaken and deluded, because this is our problem”, he says, stating that in order to make clear the need for Israeli, and not foreign, not even American control, it must be explained from the point of view of American interest.
“We must explain why Israeli control in Gaza and Judea and Samaria serves American interests. If we don’t know how to explain it, we’d better learn.”
The explanation that we must give is the fact that a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria would mean the loss of the pro-American and relatively moderate Hashemite Kingdom, says Ettinger, mentioning the opposition of King Hussein to bringing Arafat from Tunisia to Israel. The fall of the Hashemite Kingdom would bring about a chaotic situation in the kingdom, it would become a paradise for anti-American and anti-Western terror, which would spill over to the Arabian Peninsula and threaten the pro-American governments there.
On the other hand, Israeli control over Judea and Samaria and Gaza represents deterrence.