Thank Heaven – And C.S.P. – For Israel Being Sovereign On The Golan
President Trump just took another courageous and strategically astute step to align U.S. policy with reality in the Middle East, rather than with diplomatic delusions that have, for decades, caused disputes to fester and embolden our enemies, and Israel’s.
As with Mr. Trump’s previous actions relocating the American embassy to Israel’s capital and withdrawing us from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, his recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights puts America first.
After all, it is in our vital interest to prevent outcomes that would actually have the effect of destabilizing the region, rather than promoting peace – whether in Jerusalem, in Tehran or on this strategic high ground that protects Israel from the chaos in Syria and Iranian forces now being deployed there.
If Israel had not exercised sovereign control over the Golan during the past few years, by now, there surely would have been a very bloody war – one that may not have been confined to Israeli and Syrian territory.
It is deeply satisfying to recall the contribution the Center for Security Policy made twenty-five years ago to avoiding such an outcome. In October 1994, the Center published an exceedingly timely and influential analysis that helped stave off an initiative then being aggressively pursued by the Clinton administration and the Israeli government of Yitzhak Rabin. It would have lubricated the transfer of the Golan Heights back to Syria with the replacement of Israeli forces there with American ones.
This study, entitled U.S. Forces on the Golan Heights?, was principally drafted by Douglas J. Feith, who would go on to serve as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the George W. Bush administration. It was endorsed by eleven other senior national security practitioners – including six retired four-star general officers representing all five of the armed services. The arguments the Center for Security Policy made against the then-incipient Golan deal were so compelling that Commentary Magazine took the unprecedented step of publishing the analysis in its entirety.
The effect of the Center’s study was to precipitate a much-needed debate in Washington about the advisability of the Clinton-Rabin initiative. As it happened, that debate delayed its execution and, when Prime Minister Rabin was tragically assassinated, the plan was abandoned. And the Golan has remained securely in Israeli hands ever since.
Just as Israel’s continued existence has been safeguarded by the Jewish State’s exercise of sovereignty over the Golan Heights, its control over the equally strategic high ground known as the West Bank has been vital to preserving the peace. And just as America’s vital interests are served by acknowledging and preserving the former, it behooves us to assure the latter remains the case.
Mr. Gaffney is the host of Secure Freedom Radio, a nationally-syndicated radio program heard weeknights throughout the country. He is an associate author of highly acclaimed Shariah: The Threat to America and the publisher of over a dozen other books and monographs from the Center for Security Policy Press.
In April 1987, Mr. Gaffney was nominated by President Reagan to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, the senior position in the Defense Department with responsibility for policies involving U.S.-USSR relations, nuclear forces, arms control, missile defense policy and U.S.-European defense ties. He acted in that capacity for seven months during which time, he was the Chairman of the prestigious High Level Group, NATO’s senior politico-military committee. He also represented the Secretary of Defense in key U.S.-Soviet negotiations and ministerial meetings.
From August 1983 until November 1987, Mr. Gaffney was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle.
From February 1981 to August 1983, Mr. Gaffney was a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by the late Senator John Tower (R-Texas). And, in the latter 1970’s, Mr. Gaffney served as an aide to the late Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson (D-Washington) in the areas of defense and foreign policy.
Mr. Gaffney holds a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Gaffney’s leadership has been recognized by numerous organizations including: the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award (1987), the U.S. Business and Industry Council’s Defender of the National Interest Award (1994), the Navy League of the United States’ Alfred Thayer Mahan Literary Achievement Award (1999), and the Zionist Organization of America’s “Louis Brandeis Award” (2003), the Western Conservative Summit’s Stephen H. Long Award (2015), the Council for National Policy’s George Washington Military Leadership Award (2016) and the IMPACT Award from Ginni Thomas and United in Purpose (2017).
Mr. Gaffney was born in 1953 and resides in the Washington, D.C. area.
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