Letter

On Israel and the US

11 October 2012

Dear comrades —

Your excellent article “Hands off Julian Assange!” (WH No. 220, Autumn, reprinted in WV No. 1010, 12 October) contains a problematic formulation regarding Israel.

You write: “The Iranians certainly have cause for anger — among the WikiLeaks exposures were cables showing that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other Arab states have been pressing the US to stage a military attack against Iran’s nuclear programme, showing yet again that Iran needs nukes to deter attack by the US or its Israeli proxy” (emphasis in original). As the imperialist warmongering against Iran shows, Israel is not simply — and not always — a proxy for Washington. Despite its heavy reliance on U.S. money and weaponry, and the threat of U.S. intervention on behalf of Israel, the Zionist rulers do not always see eye-to-eye with the U.S. and certainly have a sufficient nuclear arsenal to act independently of Washington at any given time. The relationship is more complex than that of proxy to great power, and not static. Certainly, Israel along with apartheid South Africa was a strategic anti-Soviet partner during Cold War II; today there is at least a section of the U.S. bourgeoisie which after Iraq and the ongoing Afghanistan war would prefer some mechanism to bully, isolate and starve the Iranians, with war of course always “on the table.”

So, sometimes a proxy, sometimes not so much. I believe that to call the Zionist rulers “strategic, albeit junior, allies” or something along those lines would be more precise. Comrades could probably offer better formulations. Finally, I think it is worth being as precise as possible, given the penchant of much of the left to lump the entire population of Israel into one big “settler state” and/or U.S. puppet, erasing the contradictions both within that society and the relationship of its rulers to their main imperialist backer.

Best comradely greetings,
Bonnie

Workers Hammer replies: We thank comrade Bonnie for her letter and concur with her criticisms.