The U.S. supports Israel to maintain influence in the Middle East. But what happens when America loses control?

Vice President Joe Biden went to Israel expecting to restart the peace process. Instead, he walked into a diplomatic maelstrom. The Israeli Interior Ministry’s announcement that it would build 1,600 new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem wasn’t just a slap to the face of Biden, it was also one of the many “facts on the ground” created by Israel that cast shadows over its commitment to a viable two-state solution.

Those in the White House today, and those who wish to be in it tomorrow, should take the time to reconsider their “special relationship” with Israel. Canada could benefit from doing the same – last month, the Harper government preposterously suggested that an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently added two shrines in the West Bank to a list of Israeli heritage sites, and the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, unveiled his plan to turn Palestinian districts of East Jerusalem into Jewish heritage parks. The plan will obviously require more evictions and more Palestinian homes to be demolished, something Israel has rarely balked at doing. All this is music to the ears of the nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

While Biden was being slighted in Israel, the U.S. State Department released its annual “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.” Though its report on Israel and the occupied territories is generally fair and well worth the read, the State Department parrots the unsubstantiated accusations made by Israel’s apologists against the Goldstone Report, a UN investigation which found both Israel and Palestinian militants guilty of war crimes during the Gaza war over a year ago.

Though the State Department report does recognize that scores of human rights violations took place, it repeats the factually inaccurate and misleading notion that Israel attacked Gaza “in response to a sharp increase in the number and frequency of rocket attacks into Israel prior to and following the expiration of Hamas’ agreed period of ‘calm’ on December 19, 2008.”

In fact, Israel’s war was planned while Hamas was abiding by the ceasefire, as reported in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Rocket fire was reduced by 97 per cent during the ceasefire, and the rockets that were fired were from groups other than Hamas, often in response to Israeli actions in the West Bank. Israel broke the ceasefire on Nov. 4, 2008, killing six Palestinians. Hamas resumed firing rockets afterward. But the State Department seems to have forgotten these facts. Israel’s relationship with America is special indeed.

Beyond the influence of the Israel lobby in Washington, the relationship hinges on the fact that nuclear-armed Israel is the region’s only superpower and the U.S. can leverage its influence over the country in its dealings with the Arab states. For this reason, the U.S. has spent billions to shore up its client state in the Middle East.

But with an ultra right-wing government in Israel, and America’s own reputation in tatters over Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel is only undermining America’s credibility. It’s a pit bull that may become too difficult to handle.

The 2009 Israeli elections resulted in the formation of not only a right-wing government, but the most overtly hawkish in the country’s history. The ruling coalition includes the religious Shas party, whose head is Interior Minister Eli Yishai, and the ultra right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu, whose head is Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union and a settler. In this political climate it should come as no surprise that President Obama is not well liked in Israel.

The rise of right-wing ethnic nationalism in an already militaristic Israeli society makes it difficult for the U.S. to pretend both countries share common values and outlooks. Israel’s youth is becoming as radicalized as its politicians. A recent poll of Israeli high school students showed that nearly half do not believe Israeli Arabs should have the same rights as Jews, while more than half would deny Arabs the right to be elected to Israel’s legislature. This radicalization is surprising considering most Israeli youth have not experienced the same level of violence and injustice as their Palestinian counterparts. Yet a 2008 UN study revealed only eight per cent of Palestinian young adults believe violence will help solve the conflict.

In its report, the State Department did recognize the “institutional, legal, and societal discrimination” that Arab citizens and Palestinians face in Israel, a situation that seems to only be getting worse. America’s special relationship with Israel will become harder to justify in the future if it turns out the “only democracy in the Middle East” is, in fact, Lebanon.

Israel may be the region’s superpower, but unconditional support will only encourage bad behavior, which will harm America’s, as well as Canada’s, interests in the region. Politicians would be wise to reconsider their unqualified backing of Israel before the pit bull learns it can bite the hand that feeds it.