Israel and the Curse of Excessive Power

On December 9, 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined that the national interest required the emergency sale of 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel, bypassing congressional review. The day earlier, the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Neither of these actions was in the national interest.  Both confirmed our complicity in Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinians, now entering its third month.

Born in 1957, I grew up thinking Israel could do no wrong, and despite being under attack since day one, Israel had made a desert “bloom” where no people had before. 

The movie “Exodus” was hard to watch, and I had no notion that it was only half of the story. The idea that survivors of the Holocaust might be imposing an unjust order on another people would have been a mental leap for me.

When it came to Palestinian violence, like the kidnapping and deaths of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, probably few Americans knew, or bothered to learn, the context. 

The Palestinians did not seem to play fair. But did it dawn on many of us that neither Americans nor Israelis, were they in similar circumstances as the Palestinians, likely would have limited their resistance to nonviolence? Probably not.

Fast forward fifty years. Hamas is bad news, period. But when any people are oppressed and out-gunned by another, asymmetrical warfare results. It is no surprise that the Hamas attack of October 7 was preceded by especially provocative actions by the Israeli government and West Bank settlers.

Hamas fully expected the “mighty vengeance” Israel visited on Gaza in return. Incredibly, Hamas then promised more October sevens. Hamas and this Israeli government deserve each other. Each derives whatever legitimacy it enjoys from the actions of the other.

What is the solution? As hard as it is to imagine Israel relocating some 700,000 settlers back to Israel proper, which a viable two-state solution would entail, it is harder to imagine Israelis agreeing to one democratic state, in which they would soon be outnumbered by Palestinians.

It might take a whole new Israeli government to do what needs to be done.

Israel’s main problem is that it is too powerful. Were it not for the great discrepancy in military strength between Israel and the Palestinians, they probably would have hashed out a two-state arrangement long ago. But Israel’s preponderant power has meant that peace has not been pressing enough to compel it to honestly consider terms that would be acceptable to the Palestinians.

If the situation were reversed, the Palestinians might be no more accommodating of Jewish aspirations for peace and security. Power corrupts us all.

If all Israeli settlements, which by international law are illegal, were dismantled, Israel would still retain 78 percent of historical Palestine. Why that is not enough for Israel can only be explained by the power discrepancy, which has left Israeli governments believing Israel is entitled to more.

That sense of entitlement, which a power advantage gives a nation, has probably left Israel less secure than had it settled for 78 percent of Palestine decades ago.

Somehow, Israeli power will be balanced, because the international system, which derives spontaneously from nation-states competing for security, does not long tolerate an imbalance. Either hostile states will eventually balance Israel, likely at great cost in lives, or the United States, as Israel’s chief backer, will. Most Americans, and Israelis as well, would probably prefer America did not leave the job to states hostile to Israel.

America will need to leverage the massive amount of military aid it gives Israel. It might be necessary to end or freeze most of it to make clear that those settlements need to go, and that Israel needs to end its policy of dominating the Palestinians and dismantle the entire structure by which it does so. 

Israel cannot destroy Hamas by military means. But it can undermine Hamas politically by finally accepting a viable Palestinian state.