The recent vote by the House against an amendment to block U.S. military aid to Israel could lead to Washington’s Israelization by forcing Jerusalem to defend itself against terrorist threats. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the outgoing anti-Israel crusader, sponsored the amendment. “Israelization’s” biggest beneficiary would be Iran.
Massie’s amendment would have prohibited funds from being used for Israel. The amendment was intended as an affront to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Under a 2016 memorandum of understanding, set to expire in 2028, the U.S. pledged $5 billion in missile defense appropriations for Israel and $38 billion in overall military aid to the country. Massie offered this amendment during the U.S. action in Iran and a growing terrorist threat against Israel and U.S. allies in the Middle East.
Richard Nixon’s Vietnamization eliminated U.S. combat forces in South Vietnam; Saigon was left to defend itself. Nixon announced Vietnamization in 1969; in 1975, Saigon fell to the communists. Advocates of Israelization would stop all U.S. military aid. Jerusalem would be left to acquire its own weapons.
Unlike Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of Americans live, work, and study in Israel. Unlike Vietnam, U.S. corporations have invested billions in the Jewish state. Israelization is a policy that endangers Americans.
Israelization would leave Israel to use its own funds to continue to purchase military equipment and missiles from U.S. or international firms. Politicians, like Massie, would likely continue their anti-Israel campaign to end all sales of military equipment to Israel. Corporations could be politically or economically pressured to abandon Israel.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) was among the members of Congress who voted in favor of Massie’s amendment. Khanna, whose district includes Silicon Valley, is already on an anti-Israel campaign.
On a recent “tour” of the West Bank, Khanna claimed that “armed settlers” detained him. Khanna was so angered by this questionable detainment that he is seriously thinking about a presidential campaign.
Clearly, Khanna, who endorsed Graham Platner — who has a tattoo resembling a Nazi symbol — as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maine, is searching for Israeli villains to promote his political brand. If Khanna runs for the presidency, Platner, who ended his Senate campaign due to rape accusations, has availability in his schedule. Khanna-Platner 2028?
On Khanna’s website, he posts his tribute to the late President Jimmy Carter. Khanna said he met Carter twice, in 1996 and in 2019.
Many Jewish leaders think Carter hated Judaism and Israel. Carter authored the 2006 book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. In the book, Carter made many controversial comments about Judaism. Based on his understanding of the Bible, Carter equated Temple-era Jewish ritual sacrifice to a form of tax fraud.
In Khanna’s 2022 book, Dignity in a Digital World, he wrote about his 2019 visit with Carter.
“One of the honors of my life was traveling to Atlanta for a forty-five-minute meeting with Carter, where he recounted in precise detail his meeting with Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather, in 1994 and a framework they proposed to bring peace and denuclearization,” Khanna wrote.
Khanna said that Carter, among other “leaders,” “provide the vision for a reimagined foreign policy toward North Korea.” Carter’s work to denuclearize North Korea failed. Failure is a vision for a “reimagined foreign policy toward North Korea,” according to the wise Khanna.
Massie, Khanna, and others are waging a serious campaign against Israel. As a former member of Congress, Massie is unlikely to stop his personal campaign. The 103 members who voted with him to block U.S. aid to Israel are also unlikely to stop their congressional campaign of Israelization.
IRAN IS REBUILDING ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM UNDERGROUND. WILL TRUMP TAKE IT OUT?
Socialist New York Mayor Zohran Mamdami threatened to arrest visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Vice President JD Vance’s podcast statements that Israel killed the administration’s MOU with Iran are another effort to pursue Israelization. Irresponsible political statements about arresting a Jewish head of state and Israeli interference in the U.S-Iran action could have dangerous consequences beyond Israelization. More elderly Jewish Americans could be targeted for violence.
The terrorist threat against Israel continues to be sophisticated and deadly. The anti-Israel campaign by members of Congress likely won’t stop. Leadership is needed in Congress to combat calls for violence against Jerusalem. Israelization cannot be allowed to succeed.
James Patterson is a foreign affairs writer, analyst, and commentator.