By neglecting to do so the U.S. government has sent a terrible message to Islamists – namely, that certain American lives are less valuable than others. As Vicki Eisenfeld, whose son was killed when he took the number 18 bus in Jerusalem in February 1996, told me, “It makes me feel like my son’s blood is less American.”
Because of where it is located, Israel sits on the seam lines between the world of enlightened Western democracy and the world of radical Islam. When Hamas, a terrorist group, lobs rockets into Israeli communities and builds tunnels underneath neighborhoods in order to abduct Israeli soldiers or civilians and Israel is forced to respond (as any nation has the responsibility to under Article 51 of the United Nations charter), there are demonstrations and Israeli flag burnings throughout Europe and on university campuses around the world, along with scores of resolutions condemning Israel in the United Nations.
Israel, the state of the Jews, is subjected to an egregious double standard that is never applied to other nations under attack. This is modern-day anti-Semitism.
America and the world have to wake up and understand that Israel is doing a valiant job defending not only its citizens but all of Western civilization from radical Islam. Far from American support for Israel being a liability, Israel is our Eastern outpost of Western democracy and the greatest strategic asset the U.S. has in an increasingly radicalized Middle East.