Israel also fights America's battle

By Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger

The soaring threat of Islamic terrorism to the US mainland, pro-US Arab regimes, Europe, India, Asia, Africa and Australia has reaffirmed Israel's role as the moral and military outpost of the US in the Middle East.

Israel's strategic role has gained in importance against the backdrop of the US withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, the drastic cuts in the US defense budget, the resulting erosion of the US posture of deterrence, the collapse of the European power projection, the raging tectonic Arab Tsunami, the intensified anti-US sentiments on the Arab Street and the unprecedented Islamic threats to vital US economic and national security interests.    

In 2014, Israel is confronting the Palestinian Authority and Hamas terrorism.  The latter is a subsidiary of the transnational Muslim Brotherhood, which has terrorized pro-US Arab regimes in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt, amplifying the five pillar banner: "Allah is our objective; the Qur'an is the Constitution; the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; death for the sake of Allah is our wish." 

These Arab countries realized that Israel was fighting their battle during the recent war in Gaza, overtly criticizing Hamas and subtly supporting Israel. According to the Yemen Times: "The Saudi King, Abdullah, attacked unnamed 'traitor terrorists,' who sully the name of Islam... implying that he viewed Hamas as much of a terrorist group as the Islamic State…. The so-called 'Arab moderates' have become even more blatant in their US-Israel alignment…. with a vulgar anti-Palestinian position." According to Dr. Mira Tzoreff of the Dayan Center for Middle East Studies, "The sympathetic opinions voiced in Egypt's state-run media regarding Israel's posture towards Hamas - even before the 2014 war in Gaza - were unprecedented….. President Sisi believes that Hamas was responsible for attacks on Egyptian military and security personnel in the Sinai Peninsula…."  The Saudi daily, Al Arabiya, reported that hundreds of Egyptian soldiers were killed, in Sinai, by Ansar Beit al Maqdis' Jihadist terrorists - associated with ISIS, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood - since June, 2014.  CNN claims that Israel is fighting a proxy war against Hamas, advancing the homeland security interests of Jordan and the Gulf States.

In 2014, the eyes of the pro-US Arab regimes are upon Israel and its war on Islamic terrorism!

In 2014, Israel is facing Hamas, one of the numerous offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been the most productive incubator of Islamic terror organizations, such as Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, al Nusr'a, Ahrar al-Sham, Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Ansar a-Shari'a, Taliban, Nigeria's Boko Haram, etc. These terror organizations strive to establish an Islamic Middle East empire, as a prelude to global domination, bringing the US and the Western World to social, political and military submission, governed by the laws of Islam.

Irrespective of the Palestinian issue, Israel (the "Little Satan") has been a major obstacle to megalomaniacal Islamic imperialism, clipping the wings of terrorism, thus enhancing the homeland security of pro-US Arab regimes, and according the US (the "Big Satan") a reliable beachhead in the economically and militarily critical Middle East.

In 2014, US soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq benefit from the battle experience of Israel, in general, and counter-terrorism and urban warfare, in particular.  In 2007, Israel demolished a Syrian-Iranian-North Korean nuclear reactor.  In 1982, Israel destroyed twenty Syrian-operated, advanced Soviet surface-to-air missile batteries, which were deployed throughout the world and deemed impregnable by the US.  Israel's unique battle tactics were promptly shared with the US Air Force, enhancing the US military edge over Moscow.  In 1981, Israel devastated Iraq's nuclear reactor, sparing the US a nuclear confrontation with Iraq in 1991.  On July 4, 1976, Israel's Entebbe hostage-rescue operation was a turning point in the battle against Islamic terrorism, inspiring Western democracies and dealing a blow to America's enemies and adversaries.  In 1973, in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War against Soviet-aligned Egypt and Syria, Israel shared with the US its battle experience, as well as captured Soviet military systems, which provided the US military command and defense industries with a global competitive edge. In 1970, Israel's military forced pro-Soviet Syria to roll back its invasion of pro-US Jordan, which aimed at toppling the Hashemite regime, surging into Saudi Arabia, according the USSR a dramatic triumph and dealing the US an unprecedented economic and national security blow.  In 1967, Israel obliterated the military forces of Syria and Egypt, aborting an attempt by the pro-Soviet Egyptian President, Nasser, to bring down pro-US Persian Gulf regimes, control the supply and price of oil, dominate the Arab World and provide Moscow with an historical victory.  In November, 1952, following Israel's performance during the 1948-49 War of Independence, General Omar Bradley, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, proposed to expand strategic cooperation with Israel, only to be rebuffed by the Department of State, which was Arab-oriented, denying the US a more effective outpost in the Middle East.

In 2014, the US faces a most vicious Islamic terrorist threat, which benefits from hundreds of sleeper cells on the US mainland, is not amenable to peaceful coexistence and is not driven by the Palestinian issue, but by a 14-century-old intolerant violent Islamic ideology.  It behooves the US to learn from history by avoiding, rather than repeating, past mistakes; enhancing - rather than eroding - the mutually-beneficial, win-win ties with its most stable, reliable, effective, experienced, democratic, unconditional ally, Israel.