When Israeli intelligence disclosed that it believed Bashir Assad’s government introduced MWD-chemicals into the conflict in that country, those who always see Israel at the root of everything evil in that part of the world were quick to rush to judgment.  Another example of Israel trying to push the United States into a war to benefit Israeli interests, they said. A national talk show host did exactly that when he read the news that the source of the most recent intelligence on Syrian chemical use was Israel and then, almost in the same breath, inferred that Israel was pushing us to war. He wasn’t alone and his sentiment was echoed elsewhere almost as quickly.

It’s hard for some minds to grasp, but there are two separate elements to consider here. Israel is the source of intelligence in that part of the world because she is fully focused on it, while most other intelligence services aren’t involved to the same extent. This is so because Israel absolutely has to know what is going on in her neighborhood since it is in her vital, immediate interest to stay informed so that she may inform her own strategic posture for survival. That she shares that intel with the West does not mean that she is attempting to influence American policy. Without Israel’s human intel and her close-up electronic surveillance, the West is blind in many ways to what goes on in a region vital to her existence.

Israel does want to influence American policy, but Israel, like any other nation, does that with dialogue and debate. Altering intelligence for that purpose would not be accepted by our government or any other, and would soon come to light. It goes without saying that, over time, intelligence that is used in that way would be found worthless or worse. and would be treated accordingly.  To the contrary, Israeli intelligence is highly prized, considered authentic and found absolutely necessary by most users.

Too many in the public eye, though — both those biased against Israel and sometimes friends of Israel who don’t bother to think further — are quick to conflate intelligence gathering with the advocating of self-interest; two separate and distinct functions. In the doing, they insult the common sense and national allegiance of all those who evaluate information that they get from the Jewish state.

We all too quickly forget that what’s at stake here are not just the virtues of democracy in the Middle East or millions of non-Muslim lives that hang in the balance; at risk also is a large fragment of the energy supply for a world still fully dependent on the fossil fuels produced in the region. The destruction or disruption of that source of energy would spell disaster for the entire globe and likely bring death and destruction to all of its corners.

When Israel is suspect because of the information she shares it is the world that suffers. A smear that gains currency as quickly as this one speaks to a disposition that serves all of us poorly. Those who claim a deviance in Israel’s mind and preach a constant of American naivete are connecting dots that don’t necessarily exist.

—nrg