Josh Paul, who said he has worked in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for more than 11 years, said in his LinkedIn post that he resigned “due to a policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel.”
“Let me be clear,” Paul wrote. “Hamas’ attack on Israel was not just a monstrosity; it was a monstrosity of monstrosities. I also believe that potential escalations by Iran-linked groups such as Hezbollah, or by Iran itself, would be a further cynical exploitation of the existing tragedy. But I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people – and is not in the long term American interest.”
“This Administration’s response – and much of Congress’ as well – is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia,” Paul adds. “That is to say, it is immensely disappointing, and entirely unsurprising. Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security, nor to peace. The fact is, blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides.”
It’s in the US’s best interest for Israel to exert control over the middle east since it’s the closest thing to a democracy there.
It’s just self interest, which every single country acts in accordance to.
To be clear, I’m not justifying anything, just trying to make sense of it.
…Even granting the rest of the comment, and I really shouldn’t even do that, why in God’s name would it be in the US’s best interest to support a democracy? If it’s governed by self interest, it would be better served by propping up a pliable dictator or absolutist monarch. It’s what the British did in Africa, after all. Hell, half of the middle east is exactly like that right now.
…Because the US is a democracy, as much as people like to say otherwise. Or more importantly prides itself as a democracy. Adopting western culture and being indebted to the US in the middle-east is massive in the long run; it’s the biggest foothold the US has in the region alongside Saudi, precisely because the rest of the middle-east is the opposite of that.
And it incentivizes other US allies like Ukraine and Taiwan to be further indebted to the US, by showing they’ll support them.
No, that does not follow. The assertion was that it’s about best interest. Being a democracy is irrelevant. Priding itself is not best interest, and the fact that even you can’t not mention the Saudis just proves democracy is entirely optional. In fact, the US is on a very friendly basis with most of the middle east, from Bahrein to Turkey. Hell, there’s an argument to be made democracy is actually detrimental to US relations.
And how exactly does proving support for allies promote democracy? If anything, the real proof would be support regardless of what the ally does. Conditioning support on democracy would just be a loophole.