It's time for regime change in Israel 

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Over the years, the U.S. has manipulated and interfered in literally dozens of regimes in an effort to establish new leadership that was more favorable to our nation and its businesses.

Much akin to a parent deciding on their children's marriage partners, such meddling has forced our country to face the inherent dangers of being a third-party influencer.

Replacement regimes have often been as bad as—or even worse—than the leadership they replaced (think Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, and Iraq). Sadly, our meddling is the outgrowth of our country's distorted view that we should be the ones who control the world.

America is misguided by a sort of national narcissistic personality disorder. It's taken on the role of a rogue nation, refusing oversight by the world community. Though sporadically guided by the presence of some moral imperative, our regime-change activities have been mostly self-serving.

That said, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is one that has to go. As a pawn of Israel's hard right Zionist factions, "Bibi" stands in the way of any peaceful outcome. Supporting him has put us on the wrong side of any possible resolution—something that can only be achieved by a workable two-state solution.

While giving plenty of lip-service to that doctrine, we have, through our acquiescence, practically guaranteed the continuing persecution of the Palestinians. It's called complicity.

Allowing politics to displace morality, the U.S. has failed to be fair-handed, apparently forgetting that the Palestinians are also the legitimate heirs of the Holy Land. Considering the horrors of the Holocaust, and the kindness of a world community in providing the Jewish people a new homeland, the Israeli government has learned little from history.

Its failure to recognize the human rights of the Palestinians could well threaten its survival. Arab anger brought previous wars, and that could happen again—with a disastrous outcome.

It is a proven truth that the abused often become the abusers. That surely applies to Israel, which has turned the "occupied territories" of Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem—areas which should be part of the Palestinian homeland—into what can only be viewed as a concentration camp for the Palestinian people. Where there should have been a kinship and empathy for the plight of the Arab population, Israel has systematically and continuously abused its Palestinian neighbors.

In effect, Israel has been using the displacement of Arabs—ever since its victory in the 1967 and 1973 wars with Egypt and Syria—as a means of carrying out a decades-long policy of ethnic cleansing. There are now over 630,000 Jewish Zionist settlers living on Palestinian land. The U.S. bears responsibility because of its own complicity and the acts of previous administrations.

In a rare response to Israel's abuses of its neighbors—and in light of recent escalations in Israeli-Palestinian violence and a record number of deaths on both sides—the White House recently issued a statement about Israel's moves to displace its Arabs. The Biden administration announced that it was "deeply troubled" over Israel's approval of 10,000 more residences in the occupied territories. Then, practically in the same breath, a State Department spokesman made it clear that the U.S. would not support a United Nations resolution calling on Israel to end its settlement activity, stating that such a move would be "unhelpful in supporting the conditions necessary to advance negotiations for a two-state solution."

Talking out of both sides of our mouth, this sort of duplicity can only make things worse. If we can't take a stand against Israel's deplorable treatment of the Palestinians, then we're a weak and morally-eviscerated country.

Sadly, the U.S. has chosen to be an outlaw in the world, refusing to denounce the activities of the bad guys and preferring to avoid any of our own culpability under international law, by distancing itself from the international courts, human rights NGOs and the United Nations.

That said, we can do better, taking the moral ground of fairness, equity and international law, simply by using our financial leverage to help balance the bad politics and leadership of the Holy Land. The reality is that we have Israel by the balls, and we should not tolerate the myriad human rights violations that have dominated its presence in the so-called "Holy" Land.

The Jewish homeland was never meant to marginalize the region's legitimate inhabitants. It was meant to be a place of peace for all believers—Jew, Christian and Muslim.

Really! We are not powerless in this matter, and our huge annual expenditures on Israel's military power really do give us substantial clout. The U.S. must vacate its position of "enabler" and work, instead, toward a permanent, peaceful conclusion.

The U.S. gives Israel approximately $3.8 billion annually in military aid. What would be wrong with dividing up that $3.8 billion, giving half to the Palestinians and half to Israel? It would be a sudden solution to Israel's sense of entitlement, and while certain lobby groups would loathe such a change in policy, we hold the purse strings and should use them wisely. There should be no hesitation in supporting basic human rights

Our country must renew its commitment to fight for the tired, the poor and the down-trodden. We have the ability to ensure a peaceful homeland, for both the Palestinians and the Jewish people. It's time for regime change in Israel.

That may be the only way to ensure that the Palestinian people will have their birthright—and the freedoms we so loudly applaud.

The author is a retired novelist, columnist and former Vietnam-era Army assistant public information officer. He resides in Riverton with his wife, Carol, and the beloved ashes of their mongrel dog.