In the later hours of September 9th 10 Israeli air-force jets violated Qatari sovereignty and conducted an unprovoked attack on Doha, Qatar’s capital. At least six people are dead, and none are the Hamas terrorist leadership Israel claims it was targeting.
One of the dead is the son of a negotiator and another is a member of Qatar’s own security forces. Parts of Doha have been brought to a standstill and Qatar has already state that it “reserves the right to respond” to what it has (correctly) labeled as Israeli aggression. This situation could escalate very rapidly, and America may well get caught in the middle due to our incoherent and illogical foreign policy.
Now, if Israel wants to violate international law and attack other sovereign states and risk those states responding with force of their own, that is the prerogative of Israel and its government. However, the United States has once again been caught in the middle of a quickly escalating regional imbroglio because of its unique, deeply-unsuitable, and oft-parasitic relationship with Israel. This puts American citizens, those the American government is constitutionally obligated to protect, in serious danger.
Initial reports were that the United States was unaware of the attack but the White House has since clarified that Trump was informed ahead of time and apparently attempted to warn the Qataris but the warning came “too late.” This will be of little solace to the Qataris and more importantly it makes America look like an Israeli lapdog—not least because Qatar is now denying that Trump sent them any sort of warning. Instead of doing everything he could to stop an attack by one American ally against another American ally Trump let Israel go forward with an attack in a country that hosts a major American Air Force base—Al Udeid Air Base, which Trump visited on May 15 this year as part of a state visit to Qatar to sign a trade agreement.
Thousands of American troops are stationed at Al Udeid and another 15,000 or more American expats currently call Qatar home. These Americans, uniformed and civilian, have been put in serious danger by the American government’s constant and unconditional support for Israel’s aggression in the Middle East.
Is America Ending Its Israel Alliance? Maybe!
There is serious danger that radical Islamist political parties, factions, and terrorist organizations may see fit to retaliate against Israel by retaliating against Americans. Iran has struck American bases numerous times (including Al Udeid) as a response to Israel aggression and more significantly America has suffered attacks on the homeland because of its support for Israel before. In 2023 thousands of young Americans rediscovered Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America” and were shocked that he did not cite hatred of American freedoms or the American constitution as justification for the horrific attacks on 9/11, but instead he cited America’s staunch support for Israel and its role in Palestinian and wider regional suffering. This destroyed the neo-conservative lie about why the Islamic world hates us, but it did nothing to change American foreign policy nor the reason that radical Islamist groups kill Americans, Britons and Europeans.
Our leaders not only condone but often financially and materially support Israeli aggression in the region.
Our alliance with Israel is not in our national interest. Our presence in the region is not in our national interest.
The Israelis spy on our officials, steal our technology, cost us tens of billions a year, and as evidenced just today, drag our country into conflict after conflict thousands upon thousands of miles away from the shores of our homeland. American citizens have been kidnapped, stabbed, blown up, and beheaded because our politicians display a pathological loyalty to a foreign power: Israel. So long as we maintain this one-way and decidedly disadvantageous alliance Americans will continue to be targeted abroad, our blood and treasure will continue to flow from Washington to Tel Aviv, and our political class will continue to obsess more over foreign than domestic affairs. It is time to end this alliance with Israel before we are caught in an Arab-Israeli shooting war that kills hundreds if not thousands of Americans and costs us billions.
This needed reorientation also applies to our various Arab “allies.” The numerous American military bases spread across the Middle East are little more than strategic liabilities laden with hundreds of billions in tax-payer-funded military equipment and more importantly full of American soldiers. We do not need bases in Qatar, Iraq, Kuwait, or anywhere else in the region that can be targeted by state or terrorist actors. The rich oil monarchies of the Gulf have more than enough treasure and weapons to fight their own conflicts and more than enough hatred and animosity to do it without our intervention.
Not only are these policies sensible they are the desire of the American people. A 2017 survey by the University of Maryland showed Americans have no desire to act as the global policeman. Only 8% of respondents wanted the country to continue to be the preeminent world leader while 83% want America to simply “do its share” to solve global problems. This makes sense considering that 64% of respondents agreed that America is “playing the role of world policeman more than it should be.” Both Republicans and Democrats agreed on this point. Recent Gallup polling also shows that 60% of Americans disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza and while a Quinnipiac poll has shown that 60% of Americans now oppose sending military aid to Israel.
Fifty percent of Americans also oppose supplying American ground-troops to secure a hypothetical peace in Ukraine, yet further evidence that Americans are tired to sending their sons abroad to foreign lands to fight other peoples wars.
It’s time to end our role as the global policeman, tell the Israelis they’re on their own, and focus our limited resources on dealing with domestic problems.