"If there were not an Israel, [the United States] would have to invent one". It is with this expression that US Vice President Joe Biden addressed the J Street organization, the "left-wing" version of AIPAC, at its yearly conference in Washington DC. Biden has never concealed his love for the Hebrew state, and prides himself in having been a faithful Zionist ever since he read the Bible as a child. His Zionism became firmly entrenched when he met Golda Meir right after being elected to the Senate in the early 1970s. He translated this affiliation in practice when he suggested dividing Iraq into three countries, as well as when he adopted in the Senate the "Lebanon and Syria Liberation Act". This was aimed at crippling any Arab military capabilities that would pose a threat to Israel. And indeed, he got what he wanted. Iraq has been divided in effect, and continues to drown in the blood of its own citizens and in confessional strife, which has spread all over the Levant, and is expected to spread to the rest of the Muslim world. As for Syria, it has become decades away from being able to pose a threat to any state or statelet – that is if it even emerges from its ordeal as a unified country. Biden's Zionism was not the sole reason behind what was "achieved" in Iraq and in Syria. Indeed, the successive US administrations have all been Zionist in this sense, their prime concern being to protect Israel and its interests. There is no need for evidence to prove this. No president, vice president, secretary of state, high-ranking or minor official can go against this policy. Even journalists cannot do this, and those who oppose such methods lose their jobs and are accused of anti-Semitism. Ahead of all of this, we the Arabs are responsible for all those tragedies, conflicts and wars. We have become addicted to self-destruction. We have not managed to build independent sovereign countries. America or others only exploit this reality to their own advantage, and to that of Israel. Armed with all of those achievements, from destroying and dividing Iraq, to destroying Syria and Libya, to abandoning Palestine and its cause, which had once been sacred, Biden stood, addressing the American Zionist Left as represented by J Street, to once again assert his loyalty, and to declare that the United States stands with Israel and for Israel, and that it, like J Street, is committed to "a just and lasting peace", adding "if not us, who?" He also said that, although the administration may seem to have restructured its methods in the Middle East, its position on Israel has not and will not change. And while Biden was addressing the Zionist organization, Barack Obama was holding a meeting with Netanyahu in the White House, to reassure him as well that his administration's commitment to Israel's security and to its interests was unshakable, and that his backing down on waging war on Syria was in the interest of both their countries. Indeed, Damascus has become crippled and internationally isolated. The destruction of its chemical stockpile represents a painful blow for it, for Iran and for their allies. And the armed groups that have been sprouting like mushrooms are sure to do away with any sign of stability there. Iraq represents a model of what all of the Levant could be like in the future. A "moderate" Iran under Rohani will pose no threat – neither now, nor in the future. Its nuclear program will be monitored, and a weakened Syria represents a major obstacle to its ambitions in the Middle East. More importantly, the Arabs will confront, with the help of Washington, any adventure Tehran might think of embarking on. That is why there is no harm in trying to contain it through negotiations and diplomacy. The President also pledged that Washington would not take any steps to get closer to Iran without first consulting with its permanent ally. There is a very unusual theory circulating within the circles of the US administration, and in some Israeli circles as well, that states that Washington should save Israel from itself when it goes too far in its policies or when it misuses its strength. The Middle East now is drowning in the blood of its own citizens. Let us then let some of them do away with each other, and let us help this process as much as we can without getting implicated in wars of which we know the beginning but do not know the ending. Obama and Biden are among those who subscribe to this theory, and they are protecting Israel both from itself and from its enemies.
