Rising Tensions Between Israel and Iran – America Must Disengage

Rising Tensions Between Israel and Iran – America Must Disengage

Tensions between Israel and Iran reached new heights following Iran’s missile attack on Israel on October 1, 2024, which was a response to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leaders and its air raids on western Yemen. Israel has since promised a retaliation that would directly target Iranian military assets, with Iran pledging to retaliate if Israel strikes. The recent announcement by the U.S. to send troops and a prized air defense system to Israel signifies that retaliation is imminent and that they intend to defend Israel from a retaliatory attack by Iran.

Department of Defense Press Secretary, Patrick S. Ryder even reiterated that the deployment of troops and the THAAD battery “underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel” against “any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran.” America has sunken its boots deeper into the conflict between Israel and Iran, implicating itself in the rising tensions. One can view, troublingly, the sending of American troops as a declaration of war, absent any official declaration by Congress.

The United States should not be involved in this war, but alas they are and the reason for that is the unhealthy relationship it shares with Israel. It doesn’t make sense why the U.S. is so deeply woven in the battles fought by a country that lies half a world away and in which the vast majority of Americans have never stepped foot. It is unlikely that most Americans can even find the State of Israel on a map, let alone pronounce most of its cities and villages or even speak the language of its inhabitants. Despite all of that, the U.S. government has persisted in maintaining its seemingly toxic relationship with Israel, which has received over $310 billion in American military and economic support since its founding in 1948.

American taxpayers should not be involved in a war that doesn’t concern them, and American troops should not be risking their lives on foreign soil. This war has nothing to do with the nation they serve and does not benefit the taxpayers who pay their salaries. And the rest of the world, including American allies like Canada, does not deserve to be plunged into widening escalations between two warring Middle Eastern nations. The U.S. government has shown no interest in listening to its citizens who have been largely worried about paying their weekly grocery bills in the face of mounting inflation. Contrary to the ordinary citizen, all that matters to the American Empire is war and its sights have been conspicuously placed on Iran for some time.

For the safety of innocent people everywhere, Americans ought to reject their government’s warmongering against Iran. The military-industrial complex controls Democrats and Republicans, for the American Empire is a one-party state in the matters of imperial or foreign affairs. This is showcased by the fact that the Biden administration has proved itself equally as bloodthirsty and war-hungry as the Republican establishment which is represented by the likes of Nikki Haley, who has repeatedly asserted that “Iran is not just America’s problem” but a “world problem that we have to deal with.”

In the same way that many are calling for the abandonment of Ukraine, which America has used as a proxy against Russia, so too must calls be made to abandon Israel which has similarly acted as an American proxy against Iran. Although the American government is largely responsible for the rising tensions in the Middle East, and the lasting feud between Israel and its neighbors, the American taxpayers should not be burdened by the duty to end it nor resolve it. This is especially the case if it means risking the lives of American citizens and soldiers. In the rising tensions ahead, demands for the American government to back off must be loud and persistent lest the risk of global escalation becomes the grimmest of realities.