Can the United States say no to Israel? This is no rhetorical question; it carries strong overtones of denunciation of the unlimited, unconditional support the US extends to Israeli policies and practices in our region. The US offers Israel political, economic, military and technological support that defies assessment or discussion; support not subject to any change in American administration or president; the White House occupant has no power or authority when it comes to committing to supporting Israel, no matter whether or not this aligns with US strategic sovereign interests. The shocking truth is that this absolute support is imposed and controlled by institutions that control American political life, such as the political lobby, the Zionist lobby, and weaponised principles such as “antisemitism”.
To discuss the matter, Judge Andrew Napolitano hosted on 14 October American economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs, on his podcast Judging Freedom. Mr Sachs is a Professor at Colombia University. Following are excerpts from the interview which focused on the question: “Can the United States say no to Israel?”
Judge Napolitano: I want to read you the latest from Israeli Channel 14: “Israel’s retaliation against Iran will not be moderate, instead it will be significant and will likely cause Iran to respond. Israel will need to prepare for a significant exchange of blows that might drag the Americans in, which Iran certainly would not want. Israel will attack Iran before the US elections”.. What do you think?
Professor Sachs: “What’s clear is that Netanyahu is trying to draw the US into a war with Iran. If such a war occurs, it would be devastating, first to Israel by the way, but possibly escalating to World War. Iran has Russia as an ally; it would open a second front of the US war with Russia in addition to Ukraine. Netanyahu has been trying for this for 30 years, he has been clear about it that the United States should go to war with Iran for Israel’s sake.. I think history will record that Netanyahu has been one of the most destructive people in modern history, one of the most reckless, one of the most shameless and cynical, one of the most murderous, and I think history will record that the United States has done his bidding.. Netanyahu’s idea from his perspective is that to make Israel safe, since Israel faces threats from Hamas or Hezbollah or others, that the only way to make Israel safe is not defeating those particular belligerent forces but defeating the countries that back those forces.. This is such a wild, crazy and reckless idea that you couldn’t believe that anyone would take it seriously… except the United States has; we have gone to war repeatedly for no reason of American security but for reason of Netanyahu’s interpretation of Israel’s security.. I’m just coming back from a short visit in the Middle East and I heard from very very very senior people who thought that the next days could be decisive for the world, that Netanyahu is out of control, and they wondered whether the United States would attempt to control him.”
Do you foresee Netanyahu using nuclear weapons against Iran, and do you foresee Iran using nuclear weapons such as they have them against Israel?
“I don’t foresee that as anybody’s intention right now, but I think there’s an assumption that Netanyahu has, that may well be wrong, and the assumption is that if the United States joins this war that he wants, that Iran will be defeated, and I think that this is a rather wild assumption, and based on no reliable evidence that I know of.. What I think we have learned in recent weeks is that Iran has very very considerable ballistic missile capabilities including hypersonic missiles that cannot be taken down by antimissile defences. Iran has the potential to strike at core population centres, to strike at strategic infrastructure.. I think that Netanyahu probably can get his Cabinet to do what he wants.. In fact my guess is that Netanyahu can get his way inside Israel, the one that can stop it of course is the United States, Netanyahu is not talking about Israel going to war with Iran; he’s talking about the United States going to war with Iran. That’s a different thing, this is completely against American security interests.”
Does Iran pose no threat whatsoever to the United States?
“Quite the contrary by the way Iran has said repeatedly, I was in the room with the new Iranian President where he said repeatedly not only do they not threaten the United States, they are absolutely completely desirous of reopening political relations, diplomatic relations, returning to the treaty of the JCPOA, the treaty with Iran that Obama had negotiated and then Trump broke and then Biden never restored.. Netanyahu wants war, Iran does not want war, and where is the United States in this? Who runs our country? This is what we’re watching right now, we’re hoping that the United States is run by Americans in the interests of the United States, not run by Israelis in the interests of, it’s not even in the interest of Israel, but in the interests of Israel’s absolutely failed Prime Minister.”
Watani International
1 November 2024