Inside America’s Complicated Relationship with Israel and Jewish People

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on June 15, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu sits in an Israeli courtroom in March 2025 during his criminal trial on public corruption charges.

An Editorial Opinion

Considering America’s support for Israel’s campaign of genocide against innocent Palestinians in Gaza since 2022 and its new “first strike” war against Iran last week, it is time to examine America’s complicated relationship with the state of Israel and Jewish people at home and abroad.

Based upon my decades of experience in protecing the Constitutional and civil rights of Jewish Americans in courtrooms across the nation, it appears to me that non-Jewish white Americans have a view of Israel and Jewish people that seems like a political version of multiple personailty disorder. They love being the recipients of Jewish money, but generally dislike Jewish people. They also reject what they view as the persistent arrogance of Israel.  These views are more profound among non-Jewish white southerners.

Here are some unpleasant chapters of American history that shed much needed light on this sensitive subject:

1. In America, non-Jewish whites have discriminated against Jewish people for centuries in every aspect of life (e.g., housing, educational opportunities, business and professional opportunities, country clubs, and public officeholding).  To this day, there has never been a Jewish American president. In the South, many non-Jewish whites often refer to Jewish people as “Kikes” in private conversations. This is a very offensive ethnic slur.  Many of them also refer to New York City as “Hymietown,” which is another offensive ethnic slur. In 1984, Rev. Jesse Jackson disgraced himself by using the "Hymietown" ethnic slur in a news interview.

   
   

2. Many so-called “Christian Nationalists” and white supremacy groups in America hold Jewish people responsible for the arrest, trials, torture, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. They use the Biblical account of the events leading to Jesus's death as a "justification" for their hatred of Jewish people .

   
   

3. America did not enter World War II for the purpose of ending Adolf Hitler’s campaign of genocide of six million German and Polish Jews, Black Germans, Gypsies, and Gay Germans, even though U.S. intelligence agencies knew about the nature and extent of this genocide for several years. America entered the war only after Japan, Germany's war ally, bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

   
   

4. President Harry Truman publicly expressed his frustration with Jews (the “Zionists, in particular”) in Israel.  Truman said they wanted “the whole of Palestine and everything handed to them on a silver plate, so they won’t have to do anything.”

   
   

5. Jewish supporters of the civil rights movement in America during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s were beaten and killed by white supremacists in the South, along with black civil rights activists.

   
   

6. Jewish civil rights activists nationwide were targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program, along with blacks, women, Native Americans, and Mexican-Americans who advocated for civil rights and social justice.

   
   

7. As of 2013, 94% of U.S. Jews identified as “white” for census purposes. However, Jewish racial identity has changed many times in U.S. history.  In 19th century America, Jews were treated as a distinct race within a broad category of white people.

   
   

8. In the year 1,543, Martin Luther, a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation Movement, wrote an antisemitic book titled, “On the Jews and Their Lies.”  Unfortunately, this grossly offensive book is readily available on the shelves of most public and school libraries in America today.

   
   

9. It is well-documented that one Jewish family -- the Rothschilds -- controlled the world’s money supply for more than two centuries, which President Andrew Jackson and many non-Jewish whites resented.

   
   

10. Today, every Republican member of the U.S. Congress is controlled by the Jewish political action committee called “AIPAC.”  In 2024, conservative columnist Tucker Carlson revealed that AIPAC assigns a representative to each GOP member of Congress to spy on them and tell them how to vote.  No GOP member of Congress is free to buck this AIPAC “babysitting” system. It is also known that AIPAC has a chokehold on Democrats in Congress, as well. In Washington, political principles always take a backseat to Jewish political campaign contributions.

Israel’s vise grip on American politicians is undeniable.  From 1946 to 2024, the United States has provided Israel with over $318 billion in aid. This amount of federal aid includes both military and economic assistance, with military aid constituting the majority.

No U.S. state of comparable size and population has ever been given this much federal aid and economic assistance during the same period of time. 

So, what has America gotten in return for the more than $318 billion in foreign aid it has provided to Israel since 1946?  The establishment of small but well-armed version of what many in the international community view as a "white supremacy" government in the Middle East that is led by an arrogant war criminal, international thug, and local public corruption crook named Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu.