Is the United States on its way to abandoning Israel?

In what seems like a lifetime ago, in 2014, Israel was waging war against Hamas in Gaza. Israel reached out to the United States, and the U.S. Senate held a vote on whether to provide its beleaguered ally in the Middle East with military assistance. The vote passed unanimously. Last week, the Senate voted on whether to send bombs and bulldozers to Israel. The vote on the bombs had 36 senators vote to block sending them, while the vote on the bulldozers had 40 senators vote to block sending them. It’s worth noting what these bulldozers are primarily used for. A major function is neutralizing improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Bulldozers can push through or trigger explosives safely. It is also used to clear paths for troops. In dense urban areas like Gaza, streets can be blocked or deliberately obstructed, so bulldozers help create access routes during operations. There have been far too many funerals of young soldiers in the IDF who have been killed because a bulldozer was not there to neutralize an explosive device in urban combat. The ask for these bulldozers was apparently too much for these 40 senators. It should be worth noting that several of those senators who voted to oppose the aid to Israel were Jewish, and the senator from Vermont who led the effort to oppose the aid was also Jewish in name only. ​ One does not have to be a political analyst to observe this seismic shift. It was once a given that America’s support for Israel was rock solid and bipartisan. While the current administration has been strongly supportive of Israel, we are seeing large swaths of our elected officials, mainly from one party, abandon the Jewish State. ​ There is a part of me that finds this reassuring. The Torah refers to the Jewish people as הֶן־עָם֙ לְבָדָ֣ד יִשְׁכֹּ֔ן וּבַגּוֹיִ֖ם לֹ֥א יִתְחַשָּֽׁב. Translation: “ They are a nation that lives in solitude, and amongst the nations they are not counted.” For some time, we had deluded ourselves into believing that with the modern Jewish State, we had permanently turned a corner on hostility to the Jewish People. It is now all too apparent that despite all of the major contributions of Israel to the world in so many areas, from medicine, agriculture, hi-tech, and so much more, it will always be viewed with suspicion as the Jew among the nations. Israel just celebrated its 78th anniversary as a modern state, although the Jewish connection to the Land was established nearly 4,000 years ago. It is in the subconscious of so many people and nations to be unforgiving to us for having the audacity to claim this territory as our ancestral land. The reason that the Jewish People have merited this privilege is that the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has declared that the descendants of these Patriarchs should inherit the land. For thousands of years, our ancestors fantasized about having the privilege of being Next Year in Jerusalem. For the seven million (and growing) of our brothers and sisters, this dream has become reality. May we continue to be worthy in the eyes of G-d of having this privilege from generation to generation. ​ Have a Peaceful Shabbos, ​ Rabbi Yaakov Fisch