Question: Why does the West defend Israel?

Arab Times

24-06-2025

IN a 2014 article published by 'Middle East Transparent' that was recently republished, Mohammad Al-Hashemi offers a perspective with notable revisions. He wrote, 'Arabs often repeat two naive narratives to explain the West's bias in favor of Israel. The first claims Israel is merely a colonial outpost of the West and the second views it as the West's 'infidel thorn' aimed at undermining Islam.'
According to Al- Hashemi, the truth is more complex. While the West's deep-seated guilt over the Holocaust, committed by the Nazis, does play a role, it alone cannot fully explain the scale and intensity of the West's unwavering support for Israel. Therefore, the explanation lies in the following facts, which many Arabs find difficult to grasp:
1. The political elites who founded and shaped the State of Israel aligned their interests with the West, not the Soviets. As a result, they built their institutions on Western, secular, democratic, and liberal foundations, embracing freedoms such as women's rights, a free economy, peaceful transfers of power, and an independent judiciary.
2. Israel's pursuit of technological and industrial excellence has elevated its status in the developed world, making it a valuable strategic partner due to its meaningful contributions to global innovation and cultural advancement.
3. Israel has succeeded in forging strong alliances with major powers, including NATO, and maintains a deeply rooted strategic partnership with the United States.
4. In contrast, the West often views many of Israel's regional adversaries as repressive, authoritarian regimes that are openly hostile to the values and principles of Western democracy.
This is in addition to the authoritarian powers that have dominated Palestinian decision-making since 1948, without a constitution, parliament, functioning institutions, or any peaceful transfer of power. Al-Hashemi concluded his article by asserting that the West supports Israel because it sees it as an ally and a democratic, parliamentary, multi-party, and liberal state with peaceful transitions of power, European-style institutions, and a high level of technological and industrial development.
In contrast, Israel is surrounded by dictatorial regimes ruled by small circles of power, many of whose leaders specialize in destruction and violence, openly express hatred for the West and the United States, and carry out acts of terrorism such as bombings, stabbings, and vehicular attacks in major Western capitals, while calling for the annihilation of the State of Israel. I believe I know the author of the article, as he is Kuwaiti, but he prefers to remain anonymous for personal reasons. I do not feel obligated to name him, even though my relationship with him and others has recently been strained due to our positions on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I find it difficult to understand their unconditional moral support for Israel and their failure to condemn its repeated crimes.
Perhaps it stems from their hatred of Hamas or their attachment to wealth. However, no one with a shred of dignity or reason, who is genuinely engaged in public affairs, can adopt such a dismissive stance that casts doubt on the legitimacy of Palestinian rights. I agree with the author that Israel is an oasis of security, the only democracy in the region, a haven for inventors, and a homeland for brilliant minds. This stands in contrast to Palestine and several other Arab countries, whose dire and disappointing conditions I have written about extensively in hundreds of articles. However, none of this blinds me to the reality of Palestinian rights. If a thousand of the world's top scientists, doctors, inventors, and Nobel Prize winners, Jews or otherwise, came to my home, claimed ownership, and forcibly evicted me, would I be expected to accept it simply because they are accomplished individuals, embrace a Western lifestyle, support democracy, and have the backing of the developed world?