Middle East Blood Also on Washington's Hands

By Daniel L. McAdams

This week's killing of Palestinian protesters in Gaza was not just the work of Netanyahu and his hard-line government. Blame should be shared by the US neocons, a section of US religious radicals, the US Congress, and Beltway opportunists whose growing wealth depends on knowing which way the wind blows. And also partly by the rest of us who allow our government to send our money overseas to enrich "friends" and smite "foes."

This is not to say that we are "taking sides." But we cannot help notice that the death and maiming was unanimously visited on one side, with 60 Palestinians dead and more than 1,500 -- including journalists, women, children -- receiving Israeli army gunshot wounds, usually an exploding bullet delivered by a sniper to a Palestinian knee, ensuring a whole generation of cripples. And we cannot help notice the horrific conditions the Palestinians are forced to endure, especially those in Gaza which Ron Paul once likened to a concentration camp.

People often angrily ask why we don't rage against Israel or "the Zionists" on our Liberty Report and in Institute publications. Our intent has never been to single out entire groups or to meddle into the internal affairs of foreign countries. While we do believe it is fair to criticize the governments of some foreign countries for their actions (for example, we are often highly critical of our "ally" Saudi Arabia), our real intent is to focus on what actually is our business: the US government's facilitating, supporting, even encouraging actions and policies taken by foreign governments that run counter to our interests or to basic morality. 

As I mentioned on the Liberty Report, people want to know whether you are pro-Israel or pro-Palestine -- what's wrong with just being pro-American? As I said in the program, how on earth does President Trump's moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem serve American interests? What's in it for us? There is a religious group that supports the move because they believe it will hasten the end of the world, but the last time I checked we are not a theocracy and our government should not be in the business of undermining national interests to fulfill the idiosyncratic wishes of religious fundamentalists. 

Yes, people should be allowed to believe whatever they wish when it comes to religion, but shouldn't we draw the line when it comes to those who actually push for World War III because they believe God needs our help to end the world?

Thankfully for us non-interventionists there is a relatively easy way out. We don't have to endorse either cause. We only have to call on our government to stay out of it. Stop moving embassies to please special-interest groups while increasing blowback risk. Stop funneling US tax dollars -- whether filtered through the State Department, the Defense Department, the CIA, or the Fed -- overseas. Stop acting as the world's largest arms dealer. Enough with "regime change" or "regime preservation" overseas. 

As legendary investor and author Nassim Nicholas Taleb has said on our Liberty Report, if only outside powers had not intervened in the Israel/Palestine conflict it would likely have already resolved itself. Certainly the situation would be better than it is today.