Israel's war is America's, too
'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel' are just different slogans for the same hatred


God is the greatest / Death to America / Death to Israel / A curse upon the Jews / Victory to Islam. If you are ever at a loss to find the motivations of America's enemies on the world political stage, it's helpful to think back on the slogan that Yemen's Ansar Allah — the Houthis — put on their flag. In the Gaza war, the Houthis, who have bombed shipping in the Persian Gulf ostensibly in sympathy with the plight of Palestinians, are bit players. But their slogan nicely crystallizes the issue. Death to America / Death to Israel: The two are intertwined. After our foes are done with Israel, they can move on to the main event. In Ukraine, things are little different. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian billionaire turned exiled dissident, wrote that "Putin, in his head, has long been at war not with Ukraine, but with America."
Putin's strategy of poisoning American debate to separate the U.S. from Ukraine is transparent. The designs of Hamas, Iran, and their fellow travelers are similar. Nicaragua, led by the repressive Daniel Ortega, last month led a bizarre genocide case against Germany at the International Court of Justice for supplying weapons to Israel. Is Ortega's target Germany, or Israel? Or is it really the United States — the country Ortega has fought with for four decades? When crowds wave signs deploring settler colonialism and the U.N. Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian territories takes to X to deplore the "unlawful endeavor" of "settler colonialism," the ultimate settler-colonialist state they have in mind is not Israel. Gaza has been a terrible war, and there are legitimate questions about the Israeli military's conduct. But if the U.S. fails to back its allies, and Israel in particular, that will not win us any friends. It will be seen for what it is: a defeat for the United States. And it will be an invitation to America's enemies to bring their wars ever closer to us.
This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Mark Gimein is a managing editor at the print edition of The Week. His work on business and culture has appeared in Bloomberg, The New Yorker, The New York Times and other outlets. A Russian immigrant, and has lived in the United States since the age of five, and now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.
-
September 7 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include stressing about Powerball, and a busy FBI schedule
-
Nvidia: unstoppable force, or powering down?
Talking Point Sales of firm's AI-powering chips have surged above market expectations –but China is the elephant in the room
-
5 hard-working cartoons about Labor Day celebrations
Cartoons Artists take on creation of AI, spelling mistakes, and more
-
The Secret Service is reportedly facing a massive sniper shortage
The Explainer The agency is reportedly dealing with a 73% shortage
-
'What's profitable today is not unification. It's segmentation.'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Epstein files: Maxwell courts a pardon
Feature A new prison transcript shows Ghislaine Maxwell praising Trump as 'a gentleman' while denying his involvement in the Epstein scandal
-
Pentagon readies military deployment in Chicago
Feature The Pentagon is preparing to deploy thousands of Illinois National Guard members to Chicago after Trump threatened to send troops into other major cities
-
Trump: Taking over the private sector?
Feature Donald Trump has secured a 10% stake in Intel using funds from the Biden-era CHIPS Act
-
Lisa Cook and Trump's battle for control the US Fed
Talking Point The president's attempts to fire one of the Federal Reserve's seven governor is represents 'a stunning escalation' of his attacks on the US central bank
-
'Three Pads' Rayner: a housing hypocrite?
Talking Point As real estate moguls go, the Deputy PM is 'hardly Donald Trump'
-
Truck drivers are questioning the Trump administration's English mandate
Talking Points Some have praised the rules, others are concerned they could lead to profiling