Troy Carter

U.S. Rep. Troy Carter of New Orleans unfortunately has joined the wing of the Democratic Party that treats the Israeli government as the scapegoat for troubles in the Middle East.

Even if well motivated, Carter is wrong.

On July 15, Carter voted with Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and 102 other House Democrats for an amendment to eliminate $3.3 billion of annual U.S. aid to Israel. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and 97 other Democrats, including Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge, joined all other Republicans to keep the assistance flowing.

The (blessedly failed) amendment was an ill-aimed blunderbuss. Intended to punish the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the amendment instead would have harmed U.S. interests and peace in the region while rewarding the terrorists of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.

Even J Street, the nominally Zionist but extremely anti-Netanyahu liberal advocacy group, denounced the amendment for being “overly broad.” Jeffries, another big critic of Netanyahu, agreed, opposing the amendment because “it prohibits or would limit the use of funds for long-standing initiatives related to humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, peace-building and U.S. Embassy operations.”

In sum, passing the amendment would have been like cutting off our own nose just to spite Netanyahu’s face.

Carter released a statement insisting he supports “Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” but blaming Netanyahu for allegedly having “impeded efforts toward peace.” He said his vote was necessitated by “the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians, especially women and children, the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, and vital infrastructure, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.”

His statement, however, didn’t address the realities identified by Jeffries, such as that the amendment would halt ongoing humanitarian efforts.

Carter is, of course, right to lament civilian carnage. Yet considered from the long view, from a middle view and from the immediate perspective, he lays the blame in the wrong place.

Historically (the long view), Israel again and again, since its birth in 1948, has been willing to let another peaceful state emerge. But when offered the proverbial “two-state solution” by a unified United Nations in 1948, the Arab nations instead immediately waged war. When then-President Bill Clinton insisted that Israel trade “land for peace” in the 1990s, Israel provided the land but was met with more terrorism — and Clinton himself always publicly blames the late, massively corrupt, terroristic Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, for ruining the bargain.

The middle-range view shows that in the decades before Hamas’ murderous Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, the Jewish state provided much of Gaza’s water and almost all its power while regularly facilitating massive humanitarian assistance. Just days before Oct. 7, Netanyahu’s security cabinet decided to redouble efforts to maintain peace while ramping up humanitarian aid even more.

And since the first day of Israel’s existence, Arabs who choose to remain there enjoy more rights, by law and in fact, within Israel’s borders than any Arabs or Muslims enjoy among Israel’s neighbors.

Meanwhile, as Israel’s leader for 16 of the past 17 years, Netanyahu actually has done more for long-range peace than anybody dreamed possible. As early as 2014, Netanyahu informally had in place what later became the “Abraham Accords” with four Arab nations. Better yet, constructive relations exist de facto with almost every nation in the region, built on commercial exchanges and mutual opposition to Iran.

This didn’t just happen: Netanyahu did it. In the annals of the Middle East, this entente is a historic achievement.

Now for the more immediate record: Even since the mass rapes and slaughter of that awful Oct. 7, Netanyahu’s government has exercised remarkable restraint. Yes: restraint.

Almost never in world history has a horribly victimized nation, in fighting back against enemies who literally have sworn to wipe it from the face of the Earth and inflicted terror on it for decades, shown as much forbearance as Israel. Israel uses multiple ways to warn civilians when strikes are coming; creates safe corridors for civilians to move through; and repeatedly facilitated food deliveries and humanitarian assistance, even as Hamas thugs literally attacked the aid workers and interdict supplies meant to help their own people.

Israel tries to keep civilians alive; Hamas uses them as human shields.

Troy Carter should see that the situation is simple: If the people in Gaza and the West Bank will finally recognize Israel’s right to exist, and if they will permanently disband Hamas, there will be immediate, lasting peace.

But if Israel is weakened by the U.S. withdrawing the assistance it has given ever since President Jimmy Carter’s world-changing Camp David Accords, the terrorism will continue, to everybody’s detriment — through absolutely no fault of the Israelis.