15 Comments

Wonderfully written article, Brian. It makes me nauseous to have to accept that my tax dollars are supporting the APARTHEID NATION.

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Thank you very much for the compliment and for your visit. Your feelings about the use of your tax dollars to subsidize Israel reminds me of a Thomas Jefferson quote*:

"..to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical..."

Though Jefferson was speaking about religious liberties, the quote seems applicable to a broader, fundamental problem with taxation.

*Source: https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/chain-email-10-jefferson-quotations/

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The most those Israelis will do for now, if the shaking pillars of democracy are toppled, is to disengage and continue enjoying life in the Tel Aviv bubble. Many will simply emigrate.

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Brian McGlinchey's article is very informative. So many people say the people in Muslim Countries hate us for our freedom and equality. That is not the case. They hate the US for its support for Israel which commits ethnic cleansing against Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, repeatedly invades Lebanon and refuses to return the Golan Heights to Syria and the US and UK bombed Iraq from the No Fly Zones after the Gulf War ended and before the Iraq War began and declared war on Iraq despite the fact there were no WMD's and Iraq was not involved in the 9/11 attacks in the US.

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Since 1948 the US has been a steadfast ally of Israel. While this support has contributed to the US being labeled the "Great Satan," it is only one factor.

I am not sure we would even be interested in the Arab world, except for our thirst for oil.

We interfere politically and culturally due to our desire for oil, not our support of Israel.

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Oil is certainly a factor in our interventionism. However, if oil were our government's sole focus, as you suggest, then it wouldn't have bothered itself with Israel at all -- in 1948 or since.

An excessive deference to Israel's agenda drives many of our government's interventionist moves in the Middle East. I refer you back to my article and the quote from Lawrence Wilkerson, who had a front-row seat in the Bush White House in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq: “There are people in this country who believe the chaos in the Middle East…is conducive to Israel’s security.”

It's no secret that the neoconservatives who led the drive to that war are dominated by people who place a high policy priority on advancing Israel's interests. There's also no denying the enormous political influence of pro-Israel donors (e.g., Sheldon Adelson vis a vis Donald Trump https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/10/07/new-book-highlights-how-campaign-money-influences-us-foreign-policy/ )

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We interfere due to our desire for oil and support for Israel. Israel became independent in 1948 and we let them persecute Arabs due to their claim that it is their ancient homeland and because of the Holocaust.

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Thank you for this well written and well-sourced piece. Our press has, since 9/12/2001, avoided an informed, rational discussion of the reasons for the attacks. I read/heard somewhere (Scott Horton, I believe) that one motivation was that the US had air force bases in Muslim holy lands and never removed them after promising to do so. In any event, I appreciate any detailed, well-sourced discussion regarding the motivations for the 9/11 attacks. Again, thank you. ~Steve, Richmond, VA

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You're correct, Steve: The presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia associated with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and then remaining there, was a major motivator. Bin Laden even pitched the Saudi royals on using Bin Laden's Afghan war veteran jihadists, rather than Americans, to defend Saudi Arabia from a potential Iraqi invasion.

An excerpt from bin Laden's declaration of jihad* on Americans:

"The latest aggression was one of the worst catastrophes to befall the Muslims since the death of the Prophet, may God's prayers and blessings be upon him. It was the occupation of the land of the two holy mosques [Saudi Arabia], the cradle of Islam, the scene of the revelation, the source of the message, and the site of the holy Ka'bah, the qiblah [to which Muslims turn in prayer] of all Muslims, by Christian armies of the Americans and their allies."

*Page 26 in his PDF: https://irp.fas.org/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf

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Yes, America should cut Israel loose. When? Several decades ago, if possible. If it's too late for that, then today, now.

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The most obscene pile of crap I have read in years.

I hope the author's mother is half as ashamed as well she should be.

Quit spamming my inbox, dirt bag Nazi trash.

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Hi John,

Criticizing Israel or warning American citizens about the peril of a possible Israeli escalation to their war against Palestinians is not obscene, nor is it Nazi propaganda. It's merely an analysis offered of the new Israeli regime. The article is well written and sourced. It has a lot of information that I was not previously aware of and I'm sure that 99.9999% of American readers aren't aware of it as well.

Even though Israel is an ally of the United States, it is fundamentally an orthodox religious nation. That orthodoxy clashes heavily with the Islamic residents of the West Bank. A nation whose state religion opposes that of others who reside in a contested area, and whose leadership seems to want the extermination or removal of the Islamic presence in that area, is going to naturally provoke conflict instead of searching for peaceful resolution. I think that it is wise to at least consider these factors when it comes to our relationship with Israel.

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Thank you...great to hear you found it enlightening.

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Hi John. I don't "spam" anyone's inbox. If you received this, it's because you'd previously subscribed to my writing.

Of course, given your reply to a detailed, well-sourced, 2,300-word essay consisted only of insults — without a single refutation of anything I asserted — it's clear that a newsletter that provides "Invigoratingly Unorthodox Perspectives for Intellectually Honest Readers" is not for you.

If you haven't already done so, you can click "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the email, or sign in at substack.com and click "Library" on the left side of the page to manage your subscriptions.

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Nobody forced you to come here. Are you lost?

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