U.S. Foreign Policy on Israel - How Best to Support Israel

by Marnie Pehrson

I was at the gym this morning and the TV was on the 700 club. Pat Robertson was talking about how more Hispanics are becoming evangelicals and we need to teach them how important Israel is. They need to understand that the Bible says we need to support Israel. 

The next story that came up was about how Ron Paul is the number one "new front runner" in the Iowa polls. The anchorwoman defined Ron Paul's campaign by saying that he wants to cut foreign aid, including to Israel. She reported that Ron Paul may have support in Iowa, but he doesn't in the rest of the country. The rest of the country "only" showed 45 percent of the people seeing Ron Paul as a positive candidate (not bad for someone who's been laughed at and ignored by the media for years). She continued to explain that odds were slim he'd win the rest of the country, but he could deny Gingrich and Romney an influential win in Iowa. 

In essence, this flow of logic says, "The Bible says we need to support Israel. Ron Paul wants to stop sending aid to Israel, so a good Bible believing evangelical shouldn't vote for Ron Paul. Besides, he isn't going to win anyway. Perhaps, we should be annoyed with him, even, because he's going to deny more suitable candidates an influential Iowa win." 

So the real question comes down to the definition of "support."  What does it mean for the government to support someone or something?"  In our current socialist society, support generally means to throw money at it. But Ron Paul doesn't define support the same way. 

Let's say the government comes to me as a business person and says, "We want to support you. How can we help?" You know what my answer would be?  "Just stay out of my way and let me keep what I earn. Let me make my own decisions about my business and run my affairs as I see fit." 

That is what Ron Paul is saying with his foreign affairs policy. He isn't saying that Israel isn't our friend or we don't care about them. He isn't saying that you can't personally donate to causes that support Israel. He's saying that the Constitution  doesn't support meddling in other nations' affairs, yet that's exactly what our government has been doing. The UN and US are constantly getting in Israel's way and crippling their efforts to protect their country. 

The best support you can give a person, a business, or a nation is to get out of their way and let them be sovereign and free to make their own choices. 

You hear people talk about "helicopter parents" -- mothers and fathers who enable their children by constantly making decisions for them and meddling in their lives. The U.S. has become a helicopter parent for the globe. It's not healthy for other nations and it's not healthy for us. 

If you want to hear what Ron Paul really believes about Israel, listen to him explain it for himself and you decide.