Say it plain: If Israel did not have offensive weapons to counter Iran’s enormous capacity, Israel’s defensive weapons would run out.
Would the United States be better off if it did not have Iron Dome, anti-missile, self-defense technology?
That technology has saved thousands of lives both in Israel and around the world — including the lives of American allies outside of Israel.
That technology has been developed into more sophisticated defense technology, but it all builds on what was invented in Israel.
None of it would exist were it not for creative military research and inventions by Israelis.
It is that type of self-defense weaponry, and that type of advanced military research, that all of Colorado’s Democratic Congresspeople in effect voted not to support.
Say it plain: If Israel did not have the offensive weapons to take on the enormous capabilities of Iran, Israel’s defensive weapons would run dry and leave Israel open to destruction.
Would the United States be better off if Iran destroyed Israel, G-d forbid? If Iran destroyed Israel, would not Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States be next on Iran’s list?
Would not Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz then pale alongside its control of the oil fields throughout the Middle East?
Is it not in the security interest of the United States for Israel to seriously participate in seriously degrading the ballistic missiles and nuclear program of a country that has killed American soldiers in Lebanon and Iraq?
Is it in the security interest of the United States to reduce, or to try to reduce, the military capacity — both the defensive and the offensive military capacity — of Israel?
If Iran realized its dream of destroying Israel and controlling the oil fields throughout the Middle East, would not the price of gas in the US zoom incalculably higher than it is now?
It is that type of larger vision entirely missing in the vote of all of Colorado’s Democratic Congresspeople not to support aid to Israel.
Is this larger vision just overblown scaremongering? Let us see. Back up 47 years.
In 1979, when Iran fell to radical Islamists, would not the following also have been regarded as overblown scaremongering . . .
• Hezbollah — then unheard of — will be nurtured by Iran to create a radical Islamic party in Lebanon strong enough to sideline its government, gorge itself with offensive weapons and launch them at Israel without any distinction between military and civilian targets?
Would not this vision have seemed ridiculously overblown in 1979, when the Islamic Republic of Iran came on the scene?
• Hamas — then unheard of— will be nurtured by Iran to create a radical Islamic force in Gaza strong enough to take over Gaza (2007) and provoke five wars (2008-09, 2014, 2021, 2022, 2023 [twice]), thereby destabilizing the Middle East.
Would not this vision, too, have seemed ridiculously overblown in 1979, when the Islamic Republic of Iran came on the scene?
• Houthis — then unheard of — will be nurtured by Iran to create a radical Islamic force in Yemen strong enough to take over the country and launch a bloody war against Saudi Arabia and fire on ships in the Persian Gulf?
Would not this vision also have seemed ridiculously overblown in 1979, when the Islamic Republic of Iran came on the scene?
Yet, all these dreams of Iran came true. Everyone except Israel (and, for a time, Saudi Arabia) just watched or abortively negotiated.
Israel, however, took the lead in exposing and countering these dreams of Iran.
Is it not in the best security interest of the US to have Israel take the lead in precluding Iran’s evil designs?
Do Colorado’s Democratic congresspeople think that, given Iran’s post-1979 sponsorship of terrorism and war throughout the Middle East, Iran doesn’t want to sustain its anti-American, anti-Israel military schemes?
When Colorado’s Democratic congresspeople voted against military aid to Israel, they voted against the security interests of the US — and we haven’t even mentioned the intelligence that Israel provides to the US and the billions that Israel spends here, in the US, on weaponry.
But no.
No matter.
Leave that aside.
A “message” needed to be sent to Israel. The “reality” had to be changed. It had to be said: Israel no longer represents American “values.” (Iran does?)
So said Colorado’s Democratic congresspeople with the anti-aid-to-Israel vote. Just what was their message? What is the new reality? What are America’s values in their thinking?
Their message was: Do not attack Hamas fighters hiding behind human shields in homes, hospitals, mosques, schools and UN facilities. Just let them be. The same for terrorists firing from Lebanon. Just let them be. Let them fire away.
Their reality was: Israel needs to know that it is no longer comfortable for Democratic politicians to support Israel because Democratic Socialists are nipping at their heels, threatening their electability.
Their values were: As long as threats to America (“Death to America!” “America is the Great Satan!”) are far away, the US should not engage in the ugly business of letting others defend themselves against the haters in Iran, in Hezbollah, in Hamas and in Yemen.
The Colorado Democrats’ vote amounts to return to the days long past when the US thought that because it had two big oceans on each of its coasts it was invulnerable. Yes, a return to the pre-Dec. 7, 1941 mentality, when Japan stunned America with its attack on Pearl Harbor —an act of aggression that brought the US into WW II, woefully unprepared. Before Dec. 7, the US couldn’t contemplate war. Analogously, Iran will just go away; or, it’s Israel’s problem, not ours; or, sanctions will stop Iran’s missile production and military nuclear program.
That is essentially the thinking behind the Colorado’s Democratic congresspeoples’ message, reality and values. Colorado’s Democrats said Israel broke American laws — but didn’t name any.
John F. Kennedy wrote in 1940 of England in the 1930s, Why England Slept. If he were alive today, he would write, Why Many American Democrats Sleep.
© IJN 2026
