Dear Editor,
In wake of many overheard conversations on the upcoming Republican primaries, I realized it might be a good idea to remind our readers of three important facts regarding Presidential contender Ron Paul’s true policy on Israel.
1. When Congress roundly condemned Israel for destroying Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981, Ron Paul stood almost alone in defending Israel’s right to self-defense. While the present administration pressures Israel to sit on its hands, and other presidential hopefuls assert their right to dictate and control Israel’s response to the Iranian threat, Ron Paul stands alone once more, insisting the USA respect Israeli sovereignty absolutely. Regardless of who actually stops Iran, it is specifically Israel that will suffer from retaliation, just like during the Gulf War.
2. True, Paul would stop all foreign aid, including to Israel. But please remember, surrounding unfriendly Arab countries receive seven (!) times the amount of money Israel does! So, who stands to gain most?
3. Sometimes, it is actually Israel that suffers the blowback from America’s aggressive foreign policy. Ron Paul would change that with his famed non-interventionism. Perhaps that’s precisely the kind of ally Israel really needs.
This is not an endorsement designed to influence anyone’s decisions, but an attempt to clear up the confusion on the subject.
Yehuda K., Jerusalem
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
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16 Responses
It would change the “avirah” (atmoshphere) in the country from very pro israel to anti israel. Also, he won’t use the usa security council veto when there is hostile resolutions.
Btw my feeling is that his son rand paul will be a great usa president. He’s less loony then ron and had some warm things to say on israel
Yehuda, all your facts are true, but you are forgetting the main point: Ron Paul believes that Muslims are just another run-of-the-mill people, and they work with the same logic that we do. He therefore believes that all their hate must be jusstified, and we are to blame because we’re not nice enough to them. If we were nicer – they’de throw away all the dictates of the Koran to hate the infedels and simply leave us alone. He believes that the vacume created by the US stepping down from the world leadership stage will be filled by piece and harmony, not by violance – isn’t that denying reality???
And that’s just from the Israeli point of view, forgetting all similar naiveness on other issues…
Just as the lefties should stop trying to imagine that the people who agree with them on fiscal policy support us, so should the righties.
We have all seen Ron Paul’s statements about israel, for example during the most recent gaza engagement. He does not support our right to self defense.
And while other politicians say things just to get elected, I think that Paul actually says what he thinks. Therefore, I think he is simply an anti semite.
#3, being anti Israel doesn’t make one an anti semite, much as being anti Ireland doesn’t make one anti Irish.
Also, being against all foreign aid completely, doesn’t even make one anti Israel.
popa you are free to be as wrong as you can be.
#4:
1. My comments are not directed at his foreign aid stance, but at his right to self defense stance, as I said in my previous post.
2. Depends what you mean by “anti-israel”. If you mean, as applies to Mr. Paul, someone who misconstrues israel’s valid defensive actions as aggression against civilians, with no factual basis to rely on–that does make him an anti-semite. Yep, it does.
Murray Rothbard, Milton Friedman, Ludwig Von Mises, Walter Block, and Murray Sabrin would disagree with your libelous assertion about Ron Paul being an Anti-Semite.
#7: Um. So am I supposed to be convinced by that?
There’s nothing wrong with foreign aid per se, as when rich countries help others in poorer countries who may be suffering from a natural disaster. But it has to be private. The odds then are much better that the funds will be put to more constructive use than they are when it’s a government transfer.
The only long-term benefit that one country can bestow on another suffering deprivation from socialistic government policies is to export ideas of liberty, free markets, sound money, and private property rights. Just as with material assistance, these ideas must be sent in a voluntary fashion, not by government.
Too often our financial aid is given on condition that the recipients spend the money on education. It’s not unusual that this effort turns out to be quite negative. We have made efforts to teach developing nations how to set up an IRS-style income tax system, a central bank, and other social welfare programs. The extreme of this is when the neoconservatives dedicate themselves to “spreading America’s goodness” with bombs and bullets. They claim we have a moral obligation to spread democracy around the world. This is usually only an excuse to make their violent efforts sound more humanitarian.
International foreign aid is supposed to reflect the right of everyone to live with dignity, a worthy goal but unachievable by the authoritarian approach of wealth distribution through taxation. This method provides no worthwhile benefits. This international right to live with dignity is the extension of the Freedom from Want of FDR’s Four Freedoms. The right to life and liberty in no way implies one’s right to someone else’s property domestically or internationally.
As long as the American people accept the notion that their money, taken through taxation and given away to strangers in foreign lands by our politicians, is somehow beneficial to our national interest, foreign aid will continue. When the people demand that the process stop by being more selective as to whom they choose to represent them, or when we go broke and can’t afford it, this policy will end.
Complacency comes from guilt that government officials instill in the people and that allows the transfer of wealth in this manner. It’s easier to achieve the electorate’s support when a country is reasonably prosperous. Many are convinced by the argument that U.S. foreign aid is a small amount—now $50 billion per year—and the rich will pay.
The truth is that borrowed money and inflating the currency to pay for the deficit that foreign aid contributes to puts the burden on the poor and the middle class. Tragically, the humanitarian arguments are far removed from reality. Foreign aid can best be described as taking money from the poor in a rich country and giving it to the rich and powerful in a poor country. Unchecked, it assures that both the donor and recipient countries become poorer in the end.
Yes. Period.
Well then, I am convinced. Ron Paul is an anti-semite, and SLeibowitz is a moron.
The writer is 100% right that Paul’s foreign policy would be good for Israel. I’m just not so sure it would be good for America. His domestic policy would be good for America, but his foreign policy would be disastrous. America needs Israel far more than Israel needs America.
Thank you for your letter. I am a Ron Paul supporter in the United States. I have shared your letter with other Ron Paul supporters. http://www.dailypaul.com/223018/israelis-debate-ron-paul-good-or-bad-for-israel
Ron Paul is not PRO-Israel. He is not ANTI-Israel. He is not pro or anti any particular sect/religion/country. He is Pro-freedom, which enforces equivalent rights and priveleges for EVERYONE. That is the way true liberty plays out – equivalency for all.
Please support America’s best hope by geotagging on the only worldwide realtime Ron Paul map on the web – ronpaulitic.com
Thank you Yehuda K. for speaking truth!
Dr. Paul is the only one who took the Congressional floor in 1981 to stand for Israel’s sovereignty! He was the only one who voted AGAINST condemning Israel! No other other politician would have the guts to do that not even Obama(we know already).
So you, poppa bar, since you are blindly against Ron Paul, are more anti-semite than you even care to understand, as I can see from your nonsense you keep spewing.
#15…uh….I don’t think so.