Israel has become a strategic liability for the United States

Follow the money. For anyone who wants to know why their elected leaders act the way they do, all you have to do is follow the money. From the lax oversight of the oil industry, to what new weapons system the Congress is funding, there is a river of dirty money flowing through the nations capital. Although most Americans may be aware that the total value of the entire Gulf of Mexico shrimp industry is valued at just over 3 billion dollars, the lobbying industry in Washington is worth three times all the oily dead shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico.

In Washington, money buys you influence and access. Understanding that the pro-Israeli political action committee AIPAC, is the third most powerful lobby in Washington DC, it is no surprise why American political leaders have not joined the rest of the Five Permanent members on the Security Council and condemned the latest war crime act committed by Israeli.

Supporting the Grand Prince is Anthony Cordesman, one of the most respected non-partisan national security experts in Washington.

[T]he depth of America’s moral commitment [to Israel] does not justify or excuse actions by an Israeli government that unnecessarily make Israel a strategic liability when it should remain an asset. It does not mean that the United States should extend support to an Israeli government when that government fails to credibly pursue peace with its neighbors. It does not mean that the United States has the slightest interest in supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank, or that the United States should take a hard-line position on Jerusalem that would effectively make it a Jewish rather than a mixed city. It does not mean that the United States should be passive when Israel makes a series of major strategic blunders–such as persisting in the strategic bombing of Lebanon during the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, escalating its attack on Gaza long after it had achieved its key objectives, embarrassing the U.S. president by announcing the expansion of Israeli building programs in east Jerusalem at a critical moment in U.S. efforts to put Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track, or sending commandos to seize a Turkish ship in a horribly mismanaged effort to halt the “peace flotilla” going to Gaza.

It is time Israel realized that it has obligations to the United States, as well as the United States to Israel, and that it become far more careful about the extent to which it test the limits of U.S. patience and exploits the support of American Jews. This does not mean taking a single action that undercuts Israeli security, but it does mean realizing that Israel should show enough discretion to reflect the fact that it is a tertiary U.S. strategic interest in a complex and demanding world.