Is Israel free?

Are the Jewish people free? Is the State of Israel truly independent? On the surface one might think so. In 1948, Jewish militants succeeded in liberating our country from British rule. A Jewish state was declared and we fought tooth and nail to defend our land from the seven Arab armies who attacked us as the British departed (many British soldiers lagged behind to help Trans-Jordan and Egypt against the Jews). But let’s look at the following:

- Israel has not stopped fighting for our freedom. The War of Independence is still waging as nearly the entire region surrounding the State of Israel are overtly determined to erase it. Every war over the last 59 years has been a battle in the larger war for Israel’s independence.

- After 59 years of statehood, Israel still does not enjoy internationally recognized borders. Not one nation recognizes Israel’s right to the entire territory between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River (1/4 of the land allocated by the League of Nations to be a Jewish homeland).

- In the early 1990s, when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir stood strong against international pressure to shrink Israel’s borders, United States President George H.W. Bush and his Secretary of State James Baker III interfered in the Israeli political system to remove Shamir from office and replace him with someone more pliable to Western interests. Since then, every Israeli leader has seen himself as a vassal ruler for foreign powers rather than as the leader of an independent country.

- Many Israelis view their country’s survival as being economically, diplomatically, and militarily dependent on foreign powers.

- Not one nation recognizes Israel’s right to Jerusalem as her capital city. Not one foreign embassy stands in Jerusalem today.

- Israeli leaders frequently justify unpopular and dangerous policies to the public by stating that Israel must acquiesce to the demands of the international community.

The truth is that whatever small degree of sovereignty Israel still exercises is most often used to placate the outside world. The State of Israel has potential independence – a government, army, recognized statehood (without recognized borders) but the Jews lack true freedom so long as we behave like a banana republic while at the same time being in a position of existential danger. The combination is just no good.

Congressman Ron Paul is the only American presidential candidate who opposes dictating policy to any nation – including Israel. Like all decent people, Congressman Paul understands the need for peace in the Middle East. But unlike others, Paul appears to understand that peace will never come through the interference of foreign powers but only when both sides of the conflict genuinely decide to chart a better future together. And therefore Paul is the only candidate that can advance peace in the Middle East and the only candidate that can be trusted to encourage Israel towards true national sovereignty.