MK David Rotem. Hasn't he read any newspapers lately?
Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
How can Israel question US support?
Op-ed: The US is paying a price for its tireless support of Israel – and our MKs have the audacity to ask its ambassador, 'How can we trust you?'
The meeting between right-wing Knesset members and US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro was marked by an intense conversation between the parties. MK David Rotem of the Likud Beiteinu faction reportedly told the ambassador, "How can we trust you? When have you stood by our side?"
There is no way that MK Rotem said such a thing; it's simply impossible. Even foolishness has a limit, and here it is evident in every word of his two questions: "How can we trust you? When have you stood by our side?" It is out of the question that a Knesset member in Israel uttered so much nonsense in just seven words.
US-Israel Ties
Coalition and opposition lawmakers tell Dan Shapiro that US had not been supportive of Israel when there were differences of opinion.
Apparently he has so many occupations that he has been unaware of the news. He has probably never heard of the $3 billion flowing from Washington every year to the Israeli Treasury's coffers. He probably didn't know, and perhaps doesn't know to this very day, that during the Yom Kippur War the Israel Air Force lost more than 100 warplanes, and that America supplied the State of Israel almost immediately – during the days of the fighting – with replacements. And what about the airlift that left bases in the US loaded with new weapons?
What's wrong with you, David Rotem? Haven't you read any newspapers lately? Don’t you know that the US shares its biggest secrets with Israel? And the votes at the UN and everywhere - what about them?
"When have you stood by our side?" asked Rotem, apparently without a trace of shame. The US is paying a price, a bloody one too, certainly a financial one, for its tireless support of the State of Israel – and we have the audacity to ask the American ambassador, "How can we trust you?"
The biggest empire in the world is standing behind us and supporting us in every act and failure, sometimes to the point of nausea – and it supports, supports and supports.
This may well be an opportune moment to show Peter Sellers' wonderful old movie "The Mouse that Roared" in Israeli cinemas and on Israeli television.
