This was an op-ed in Friday's Israel National News

Ron Paul Should be the Zionist Choice for US President
by Shmuel Ben-Gad

He opposes US foreign aid to Israel.

Since the Six Day War, US presidents and presidential candidates have
tended to speak of the US and Israel as great friends and allies. They
have also tended to favor the shrinking of Israel's borders. This has
reached a low point under the Bush administration, which is the first
one to explicitly make its policy the establishment of an Arab state
in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Thus, the US alliance with Israel has been
a decidedly mixed blessing.

Israel receives military and financial assistance, and also some
diplomatic support at the United Nations, but the US puts pressure on
Israel to surrender parts of the homeland. Even worse, this
relationship seems to foster a mentality of dependence amongst many
Israelis who, it seems, cannot imagine Israel defying the United
States in any major way.

In the upcoming presidential election, however, there is a chance to
change this dramatically, by electing Congressman Ron Paul, a
candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Dr. Paul favors
a non-interventionist foreign policy. He has written:

"Yet, while we call ourselves a strong ally of the Israeli people, we
send billions in foreign aid every year to some Muslim states that
many Israelis regard as enemies. From the Israeli point of view, many
of the same Islamic nations we fund with our tax dollars want to
destroy the Jewish state. Many average Israelis and American Jews see
America as hypocritically hedging its bets.... It is time to challenge
the notion that it is our job to broker peace in the Middle East and
every other troubled region across the globe.... 'Peace plans' imposed
by outsiders or the UN cause resentment and seldom produce lasting
peace.... The fatal conceit lies in believing America can impose
geopolitical solutions wherever it chooses."

In this, Dr. Paul is hearkening back to what George Washington
counseled in his famous farewell address: "The great rule of conduct
for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial
relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible."

The Republican Jewish Coalition (a fervent supporter of the Bush
administration, which it claims is a great friend of Israel) refused
to invite Dr. Paul to its candidates forum because he opposes aid to
Israel. But, as we can see, Dr. Paul's position is based upon a
principled, modest, non-interventionist foreign policy - not upon
anti-Zionism. Indeed, in a way, his foreign policy is mirrored by his
small government domestic policy. Both recognize there are real limits
to what a government can usefully do.

It is true that Israel is a small state in a highly dangerous
neighborhood, but it is an economically and technologically vibrant
country - even more so recently, as the shackles of socialism have
been somewhat loosened. Cutting the apron strings to the US would, I
think, make Israel become more maturely self-confident, because it
would be more self-reliant.

A Ron Paul presidency would be healthy for Israel in yet another way.
Dr. Paul is opposed to organizations like the United Nations and the
International Criminal Court that dilute national sovereignty. If the
United States, in a Paul administration, withdrew from the UN and
similar institutions, imagine what a blow this would deliver to their
power and prestige. I find it a thrilling prospect. Maybe Israel would
have a wise enough government to follow suit.

Now, I do not support Ron Paul only for Zionist reasons, nor do I
think US pressure is the primary cause for the current politically and
culturally debilitated conditions of Israel. The primary cause, in my
opinion, is the self-debasement of the Hebrew nation both in the
homeland and abroad. This manifested itself most severely in the
Israeli government's expulsion of Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria,
and in the almost total lack of opposition that greeted this from the
Jewish Diaspora.

It seems to me a Ron Paul presidency would be good for Israel and for
the United States. Its foreign policy non-interventionism and its
concern to protect national sovereignty would provide Israel with a
greater impetus to increase its own independence and sense of national
honor. I hope American Zionists will resist the immediate,
meretricious attractions of American financial assistance for Israel.
Ron Paul would both end this infantilizing, and even corrupting, aid
and respect Israel's national sovereignty.

Taking the long and deep view, Ron Paul should be the Zionist choice.