It's not about Iron Dome, it's about the future - opinion

• Published date: 28 September 2021
• Author: EMILY SCHRADER

On the one hand, the aid package that has long been a bipartisan consensus is suddenly being used as a political tool by anti-Israel members of Congress to prove a point and stir up trouble.

On the other hand, the response to the games of Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), and other Squad members has been a decisive shutdown of these anti-Israel elements in the Democratic party.

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There are two major takeaways from last week's events in Congress that are important to understanding the evolving US-Israel relationship: first, that it's not as bad for Israel today as we initially thought it was, and second, that it's about to be a lot worse for Israel if we don't act.

After The Squad strong-armed the Democratic party and insisted on removing $1 billion for Israel's Iron Dome system from the proposed US budget, the Democratic party immediately sprung into action and pushed a new standalone piece of legislation to fund Israel's replenishment of the Iron Dome missile defense.

No doubt, the fact that the few anti-Israel members of Congress were able to have such influence over an issue that literally means life or death for Israelis is frightening, and the reaction from Israel and the Jewish community in the US reflected that.

At the same time, the fact that the Democrats (and Republicans) immediately banded together in a humiliating rebuke of The Squad's cynical agenda says a lot about the current US-Israel relationship.

Ultimately, the funding for the Iron Dome was passed 420-9. As of today, the US-Israel alliance remains strong, so much so that it may just be one of the only issues that Democrats and Republicans can agree on. But there's more trouble brewing ahead.

What The Squad's actions led to was a stark increase in anti-Israel chatter, and more extreme arguments than we have previously seen. Unsurprisingly, their actions and statements (both before and after the votes) had a direct relation to an increase in antisemitic rhetoric surrounding Israel and US support for Israel online, even from the right.

Twitter was suddenly riddled with commentary about how, if missile defense is important, then "Israel should pay for it themselves," a point that demonstrates a complete ignorance of the background of the US-Israel joint efforts in missile defense, and that the original Iron Dome systems were...