Israel rising: A briefing for Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Nancy Mace and the coming-of-age conservative generation

Recently, Paul visited Israel, possibly hoping to quash rumors that his father is an anti-Semite.

Ron Paul is no anti-Semite. He may have believed, like many, that American foreign policy regarding the Middle East was coordinated with Israel and dominated by American Jews. American Jewish influence on policy in Washington no doubt reflects the great presence of second- and third-generation Jews from Europe to America. 

{mosads}To generalize Jewish dominance is misguided and has fostered a new, global anti-Semitism. It is anti-Semitism lite, compared to what we have seen in Europe in past centuries. But the easy new anti-Semitism emitting from academia and global pop culture may be damning for Israel. And Israel’s American friend may in fact be her worst enemy. It has been so these past 20 years.

Certain American Christians greatly influence policy on Israel, which is why an American politician with Jeffersonian and libertarian roots should identify with Israel as a liberty and freedom-loving American without the apparent imperial and paternalistic intent to educate (a 5,773 year-old people) and the conquistador mentality that conspicuously drips from visiting Americans like Secretary of State John Kerry, including religious leaders.

Moshe Feiglin says that Israel, in order to become a true sovereign state, must end American aid, and that until then, it will only be and be seen as an American substate. Feiglin has this year risen to the Knesset. But still, the passing American generation that has so dominated Israel’s fate — McCain, Graham, Kerry, Hillary Clinton and “neoconservative hawks” (a Washington Times phrase) like Newt Gingrich — dominates with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Feiglin recently said that Bibi has the “exile’s mentality.” Meaning Netanyahu feels more at home in New Jersey or Philadelphia where he was partly raised (he speaks with a Philly urban accent) than he does in Israel. Netanyahu is a “two-state” politician, long beholding to America for identity and protection, while Israel rises today to sovereignty and autonomy with a new generation.

In Israel, Rand Paul met with Naftali Bennett, new to the Knesset like Feiglin, who represents the rising generation. He might better have met with Feiglin, the “liberty” candidate who brings a new vision of conservatism to Israel, some of it very compatible with the “small state” libertarian views of the Pauls.

An essay titled In Praise of Small States by David Skilling of Landfall Strategy Group, a Singapore-based research and government advisory firm, writes in the excellent Canadian journal Global Brief that the huge industrial states of last century and today may be dinosaurs in the making and “smaller countries are likely to be better able to navigate the increasingly complex, turbulent global environment of this new century.” Israel is mentioned along with Singapore.

Small-state sovereignty, prosperity and rights are what libertarians strive for, but for us, after more than a 150 years of centralization in a vast pseudo-federation with one giant Northeastern industrial state more or less in dominance, it may be too late.

But in the century awakening, Israel may be just the right size, and for Israelis, the time may be just ahead.