How Trustworthy Is America and Europe’s Friendship?

If Israel did not have nearly 2,000 nuclear weapons, no one in Turkey, Iran or any other country in the region would be advocating for the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. If America and the European Union did not provide nearly $12 billion in cash aid every year to Israel (the world’s fifth largest arms exporter) or violate their allies’ interests in alloocating more funding for aid and investment in Israel, neither Turkey nor other countries in the region would be seeking new opportunities in BRICS, or the association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. And if the U.S. and EU had not continued to provide open political and military support for Israel’s genocidal occupation and extermination operations against the Palestinians, Turkey and eight other countries — which were, until recently, American allies — would not be in search of new alliances with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Is it possible to say that the U.S. and the EU have seen any benefit resulting from their infatuation with Israel in their joint efforts (!) dealing with “renegade states” and bringing democracy to the Middle East? There are hundreds of reports published in the U.S. every year describing how Israel is a burden to America, not a benefit. Countries, especially larger ones, occasionally shoulder their allies’ burdens. However, in doing so, they typically protect an ally from something without damaging national interests. What is the U.S. gaining by carrying Israel on its back?

The U.S. and the EU’s limitless, unconditional support for Israel is the primary reason for Iran’s nuclear weapon acquisition efforts, the insistence of many Turks (myself included) on freedom from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (which we entered in 1970), Saudi Arabia’s rush to negotiate with Iran and many other odd developments, both nationally and internationally. The second reason for Iran’s growing nuclearization is the choice by the U.S. and the EU to stand with Israel — a country accused of genocide in international courts with a leader facing universal arrest warrants — instead of standing on the side of the Palestinians, whom they are morally obliged to defend.

When will the politicians of the United States — a nation that established a global free trade network without discriminating between the victorious and the defeated in the aftermath of World War II, led the side of democracy and liberty during the dark days of the Cold War and paved the way for investment in peace rather than war after the dissolution of the Soviet Union — learn that they are undermining their own interests and those of their allies by backing the wrong side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

The Western media have repeatedly responded to Russian statements regarding Turkey’s application for full BRICS membership. The question many of them ask is whether the expansion of BRICS put an end to the West’s economic and geopolitical dominance. If Turkey is in search of investment and developmental support from an organization like BRICS, which doesn’t even have a proper name, the U.S. government is just as responsible as the European Commission, whose President Ursula von der Leyen has stated — as Turkey has now waited 40 years, five months, and five days for full membership — that EU accession “will always be a merit-based process,” and has also declared no issue with being party to Israel’s war crimes, saying that “Europe stands with Israel.” It’s the U.S. that is openly pressing their European partners to admit Ukraine into the EU, a country which has not even restored its territorial integrity.

While Israel is greatly harming American and European national interests, and while moral and humanitarian values so clearly dictate the need to support the Palestinians, how can we trust in any friendship with these countries, or believe that they’ll take action when it becomes necessary to protect the interests of Turkey? How much can we trust in the senses of an ally that so blatantly overlooks its own interests?