Are we Hearing the Stirrings of Amalek?

Something interesting is happening on the American right that once seduced many pro-Israel Diaspora Jews.

More and more mainstream right-wing voices are beginning to feel uncomfortable with the US-Israel relationship and are voicing it. 

Following in the footsteps of Nick Fuentes, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens, Michael Knowles recently added his own critique of the Jewish State. 

Commenting on the striking of a Catholic Church in Gaza, Knowles questioned Israel’s claim that the hit was an accident, noting the international pressure that forced Israel to make this claim.

Quoting Vatican media sources, Knowles suggested that the strike may have been intentional retribution for Church leaders condemning Israeli actions. 

Knowles admitted that he generally supports Israel for reasons of prudence, but then gave voice to the phenomenon that appears to be growing in his camp. 

“You’re losing me… if you are losing Mike Huckabee, the Israeli government is really screwing up, it is really not playing its cards right. Trump… was furious, Trump was angry… to hear about this attack on the church…”

He then went on to eviscerate the Israeli war effort, ranting about Israel’s “side quests” into Syria, Lebanon, and Iran.  

Limiting his support to a war that seeks to restore the status quo with the return of hostages, Knowles demanded that the fighting must come to an end.

“There needs to be political consequences for this action”.

And it’s not just podcasters. 

United States Ambassador Mike Huckabee, outspoken “friend” of Israel, has now thrice attacked the Jewish state’s relationship with Christianity.

First, he called for a full investigation into the tragic killing of a Palestinian-American in Sinjil.

He then threatened to publicly call Israel “not welcome to Christians” in response to Israel’s interior ministry refusing visas to known missionaries.

Huckabee then most recently condemned the bombing of the church in Gaza, and referred to the attack on a church in the West Bank town of Taybeh as an act of terror.

Perhaps these voices weren’t actually so pro-Israel to begin with but rather pro-a very specific image of Israel. 

What these rightist Americans supported was an Israel that simply carries out US interests (in the words of Secretary of State Alexander Haig: “an unsinkable aircraft carrier”). They supported a subdued Israel; a bomb shelter state for persecuted Jews under Washington’s protection.

But now a different Israel is emerging. It’s not flawless, but it’s identifying its interests and pursuing them with confidence – at times in defiance of Uncle Sam.

Alarm bells may be sounding for those most deeply attuned to the health and wellbeing of Western Civilization .  

My ancestor, the legendary Gaon of Vilna, teaches that when the people of Israel come back to life, we will be confronted with the reemergence of the Philistine identity that will challenge our sovereignty over this land.

The Gaon further teaches that overcoming the Philistine challenge will require Israel to more clearly understand who we are, as well as the deeper purpose of our return home after thousands of years.

Perhaps we should view Esav in a similar yet opposite light.

Just as the Palestinians fight us until we learn our true identity, the United States – and Western civilization more broadly – is supportive towards Israel so long as we don’t know our identity.

Our sages teach us to see Esav as the archetype for Western civilization. And as the fourth of the four empires who both usurp Israel’s role as leader of humanity and work to prevent Israel from fulfilling our historic mission. If Israel’s rise to reclaim our rightful place on the world stage signals the West’s downfall, it would make sense that US policy has been to support the Jewish state while pressuring us to not be too Jewish and surrender the cradle of Jewish civilization.

Esav, or Western civilization, can have a good relationship with a subordinate Israel that functions as an appendage of American power. But an independently strong Israel that represents a different worldview and value system threatens Esav. Washington’s general tactic with Jerusalem has therefore been a bearhug – hold Israel close and make the Jews feel completely dependent.

But Esav’s grandson Amalek should be understood as the most militant and self-aware component of the West. Amalek can sense the danger Israel poses to Western civilization at a very early stage.

In fact, as the Jewish people began returning to our land in the late 18th-early 20th Century, the threat to the West was acutely felt by that era’s most infamous manifestation of Amalek. 

As Israel now advances to a higher stage of our liberation process, growing from an American vassal to an indepednent regional hegemon that may actually threaten US interests in West Asia, the force of Amalek appears to be stirring once again.