It has been 19 months since the start of the Israeli war with Gaza. The International Court of Justice is investigating “plausible genocide,” but the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense for war crimes. Genocide, major human rights organizations, and UN expert scholars have identified as genocide what is happening in Gaza. People around the world marched to appeal to the government to act to stop it.
There is a single force that prevents this genocide from ending: the United States. One administration was handed over to another, but the policy still remained unchanged. Unconditional support for Israel appears to be a doctrine that the political establishment of the United States does not want to touch on.
Various analyses suggest that the root of this “special relationship” is the shared democratic pathway with Judaism and Christian values. Others argue that it relates to the two-party system and the donor class that controls US politics.
But the reality is much easier. The US sees Israel as a critical ally. Because it helps promote global hegemony in the face of inevitable decline. The American elite, the current colonial form of Israeli settlers, believes it is closely tied to maintaining American hegemony.
The superiority of the US Empire
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States has led the Unipolar world as the only superpower.
As a continuation of the global domination of the Western Empire, the US Empire has had a major impact on global economic, political and cultural issues that have devastating consequences for the lives of millions of people around the world.
Like all empires, the United States cements and expands its position of hegemony and hegemony in the world through overwhelming military power. Access and control of resources, trade routes and markets can be secured through the US infrastructure of organized empire violence. This ensures ongoing economic growth and control.
However, in recent years we have seen signs that US hegemony is being challenged. The momentum built in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 US financial crisis has transformed into a global one. It demonstrated the negative impact of US hegemony on the global economy and the motivational powers of China and India, and take action to protect themselves from it. The BRICS coalition of the economy has emerged as a shared economic response.
Over the next few years, various US foreign policy accidents, including the US failure in Afghanistan, the effects of decline on Africa, and the inability to prevent Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, demonstrated the limitations of US global power.
The rise of US President Donald Trump and the far-right populism in the United States reflect the fact that the rifts are at the heart of the so-called liberal order led by the US.
The Empire has never easily accepted decline, and the United States does not easily accept it. It intends to retain its unquestionable superpower status, and in order for it to be the empire’s front post base must remain faithful to its side.
Israel – the most trusted empire alliance
During the Cold War, Western Europe and Israel stood as junior partners in the US in conflict with the Soviet Union in Europe and the Middle East. Today, the Transatlantic Alliance decades ago appears to be somewhat weakened, but relations between the US and Israel remain as strong as ever.
Israel has shown loyalty as a former post base for the empire. It has played an important role in supporting American imperialism in two ways.
First, Israel helps the United States secure and manage access to the energy market, one of the most important markets for any empire. The Middle East is a key force in the world’s energy trade, and its oil and gas policies could have a major impact on the global economy.
The US fears most is losing control in the global energy market to competing powers. So they want to ensure profits by establishing regional order in the Middle East, which overwhelmingly favors the power of that empire. This new order gives the US a greater advantage over its competitors, namely China, who are seeking to invade the region.
The administration of former US President Joe Biden and his successors, the Trump administration, Israeli massacres of Palestinians, and attacks on neighboring countries is to establish this new security reality in the region by eliminating hostile groups and governments. That’s why US support for them has not stopped.
Second, Israel plays an important role in promoting US military hegemony. The US provides billions of dollars in aid to Israel. This is actually a form of self-investment in developing military capabilities and expanding sales. The Israeli state uses these funds to purchase weapons from US weapons manufacturers and has since used its deployment of weapons in the Middle East as a testing and marketing tool. Therefore, the US military industrial complex can continue to innovate and grow to sell more arms and ensure that the US has a military advantage over its rivals.
In this sense, Israel is one of the most important parts of the US Imperial Machinery. Without that, the United States would find it difficult to maintain its empire’s power in the Middle East. For this reason, Biden once became famous by famously declaring that if Israel did not exist, the United States would have to invent it.
Free Palestine and the Decolonization of the World
Over the past year we have witnessed an unprecedented attack on the Palestinian Solidarity Movement in the United States. This has impacted all public spheres, including education and healthcare. They have also seen the US threat to states such as South Africa to support Palestine.
Based on the size of resources and energy the US empire spends on exclusion and conquering the Palestinians, what about stateless people who have no economic and diplomatic capital or military power that scare the world’s only superpower?
The answer is that the US empire sees free Palestine as the beginning of its own purpose.
Because the United States is actively working to prevent the world from doing the right thing, and is segregating the Israeli state economically and politically, it fears what will come next. Such segregation could make it difficult for Israel to continue its existence as a settler-colonial project, and ultimately lead to a decolonization process. The end result will be that Palestinians and Israelis live together under a new colonial political system that has been integrated into the region and no longer serves the power of the empire.
The detached existence of Palestine/Israel will be a major step in decolonizing the world order itself and liberating the US empire from power. And this is something the United States fears.
In this sense, it is the self-interest of the overwhelming majority of nations around the world that follows this path. The future of Palestinians, facing today’s exclusion and complete conquest, depends on this. And if Palestinians want to avoid the present indescribable brutality they face, the futures of many other countries also depend on this.
As long as the United States needs colony of settlers, the world, particularly the global South, needs decolonized Palestine to speed up the decline of the United States to stem its decline. Palestine is not only in a phorological way, but also literally in the way of our advances in Western imperialism and continues to have global hegemony.
The views expressed in this article are the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.