panels1-4_c2-77_May 2016 Israel Conference issue 4/19/16 3:44 PM Page 38
PANEL 2: Israel’s Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy
the counter-revolution against the Arab Spring would just be the cat’s pajamas. Indeed, most neocons have historically always had a soft spot for what they used to refer to as friendly authoritarians. And when was the last time you heard neoconservatives advocate for full human rights for Palestinians, let alone their right to national self-determination, unless they want to exercise it in Jordan? In any event, their record over the past 40 years suggests that their devotion to democracy depends entirely on the circumstances. I’d like to make two final notes as briefly as I can. First, it’s a movement with no recognized leader—although I think Bill Kristol would like to be one. Yes, they work together quite closely and coordinate their messaging to create very effective echo chambers. But they also have differences of opinion over tactics, and sometimes even over substance. Some neocons like Frank Gaffney and Daniel Pipes actively promote Islamophobia; while others, such as Kagan and Reuel Gerecht, disdain it. There are soft neocons, like David Brooks at The New York Times, and hard neocons, like Bret Stephens at The Wall Street Journal. In other words, the movement is not monolithic, except in the core elements I outlined previously. Second, and last, neocons have been admirably nimble in creating tactical alliances with very different political forces to achieve their ends. In the mid-’70s they worked with aggressive nationalists like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld to derail Kissinger’s efforts at détente with Moscow. Under Jimmy Carter they wooed the Christian Right, despite the clear anti-Semitism of some of its leaders. As Irving Kristol said at the time, “It’s their theology, but it’s our Israel.” That coalition of the three helped propel Reagan to victory in 1980. Then, alienated—as Larry pointed out—by the first Bush’s pressure on Israel to stop settlements and enter into serious peace talks after the Gulf war, many neocons opted for Clinton, and (Advertisement) by the mid-’90s they allied with liberal internationalists in pressing Clinton to intervene in the Balkans, over Republican opposition. By 2000, however, they had reconstituted the old Reagan coalition of aggressive nationalists and the Christian Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a grassroots communityRight. And after 9/11, they of course led based Palestinian health organization, founded in 1979 by the charge, along with Rumsfeld and ChPalestinian doctors, needs your support today. eney, into Iraq. But now, less than a decade later, they have been with the libVisit our Website <www.pmrs.ps> to see our work in action. eral interventionists on Libya and Syria, Mail your U.S. Tax-Deductible check to our American Foundation: and some of them, like Kagan and Max Boot, are openly warning that they’ll back Friends of UPMRC, Inc PO Box 450554 • Atlanta, GA 31145 Hillary this year, especially if Trump gets the Republican nomination. But I’m going For more information call: (404) 441-2702 or e-mail: fabuakel@gmail.com to leave that to Justin. ■
and the Israeli government has changed—somewhat since Netanyahu took power in 2009, and especially since the 2013 elections, which resulted in the most right-wing government in Israel’s history. Bibi has had a very close relationship with key neocons since the 1980s, when he was based here as an Israeli diplomat in the U.S. and neoconservatives had their first taste of power under Ronald Reagan. Their worldviews—that is, neocons’ and Bibi’s—are very similar, but there have been differences. While most neocons have been calling for regime change in Syria through covert or direct U.S. military action, Bibi has wanted the civil war there to go on and on, presumably for as long as possible. And while neocons who have long viewed Moscow as a dangerous adversary have urged a harder line against Russia over Crimea and Ukraine, Bibi has maintained his discreet silence and enjoys a businesslike, if not cordial, relationship with Vladimir Putin. So, Manicheaism, moral exceptionalism, a benevolent Pax Americana backed up by huge military budgets, Israel’s security—these are all central to the neoconservative world view. Now, it’s often said that neocons are also Wilsonians, devoted to the spread of democracy and liberal values. I think this is way overplayed. I agree with Zbigniew Brzezinski, who has sometimes observed that when neoconservatives talk about democratization, they usually mean destabilization. [Laughter] Now I believe some neocons, notably Bob Kagan, are indeed—I believe—sincerely committed to democracy promotion and human rights, but I think his is a minority view, as demonstrated most recently in the case of Egypt, where, like Netanyahu, most influential neocons deeply appreciate President Sisi and want Washington to do more to help him. And like Bibi, most neocons think a de facto alliance between Israel and the region’s Sunni autocrats who have led
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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs