The evil acts of a few terrorists on September 11, 2001, caused a dramatic shift in American foreign policy. Since that day, America has spent untold billions of dollars in the pursuit of eliminating anti-American terrorists wherever they may be found, at home or abroad.

Despite this display of strength, however, a weakening of this nation is becoming more clearly detectable. And nowhere has this weakening surfaced so clearly as in the U.S.’s relationship with the small Middle Eastern nation of Israel.

Israel is by far America’s strongest ally in the Middle East. In some ways Israel is more similar to the U.S. than Britain is. Even the language difference is minimal, as most Israelis speak fluent English.

Traditionally, America has been Israel’s greatest supporter. Today, the U.S. continues to provide military and monetary support to assist Israel—but it comes with many strings attached. The U.S. is all too willing to tell Israel how to run its own terrorism problem. The Israeli government, while it may not be publicly stated, knows that the flow of financial and direct military aid could stop if it should ignore Washington’s “suggestions,” even when those suggestions may be detrimental to the welfare of Israel.

On occasion, America will take a stand for Israel, if it is determined that such a stand is either necessary for U.S. security or the stand will not offend too many other nations. Such was the case with a United Nations resolution against Israel last December—an Arab-supported expression of discontent for the killing of UN workers by Israeli soldiers during a fight with terrorists. The U.S. veto of this resolution has no real adverse affects on U.S. foreign policy.

In the day-to-day struggle against terrorism, however, America encourages tolerance and negotiation on the part of Israel—just the opposite of what the U.S. itself is doing.

A look at some of the terrorist attacks in Israel will help us to gain a perspective on what the Israelis are facing. Terrorists in Israel have placed fruit near elementary school playgrounds to entice Jewish children—fruit that is booby-trapped to explode if anyone should pick it up. Arab children have been trained to strap bombs to themselves and blow themselves up in crowded areas in Israel. During the first weekend of 2003, 23 people were killed and more than 100 injured as two murderers set off bombs attached to their own bodies in Tel Aviv.

America’s response to such events has been essentially to ask Israel to “negotiate” with the people who manufactured the bombs and taught their own children to carry those bombs into malls and restaurants and detonate them while they themselves remained a safe distance away. These are the people Israel is “asked” to enter into agreements with so the U.S. can be seen as “reasonable” by other nations. If the U.S. were to tell Israel to hunt down and destroy such people—which would be consistent with the U.S.’s own strategy—America’s international standing may be soiled, and support for its own actions against terrorists would diminish. It seems American officials consider the support of other nations more important than Israel’s right to protect its citizens.

The fact is, America’s weaknesses are becoming more evident, even to its enemies. Notice what the Texas thinktank Stratfor Systems said about the issue: “Al-Qaeda persistently has argued that the United States is fundamentally weak. From Beirut in the 1980s to Desert Storm, Somalia and now the Afghan war, the United States, the argument goes, has failed to act decisively and conclusively. Unwilling to take casualties, Washington either has withdrawn under pressure or has refused to take decisive but costly steps to impose its will. Al-Qaeda has argued repeatedly that the United States should not be feared because, at root, it lacks the will to victory” (Dec. 11, 2002; emphasis mine).

Al-Qaeda seems to be right. America’s willingness to tell Israel to sit and tolerate murders within its own borders can only be interpreted as weakness. What other explanation is there?

History clearly teaches what happens when a nation negotiates with violent enemies. John F. Kennedy said in 1962,”The 1930s taught us a clear lesson: Aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war.”

But the truth is that mankind, the U.S. in particular, has done a poor job of learning from the past. We allow ourselves to ignore the things that have happened in the past, and the reasons why they have happened, and fall into the same situations over and over again. We thereby force history to repeat itself. Trumpet Editor in Chief Gerald Flurry wrote in his booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy (request your free copy), “The deadly delusion that ‘all problems can be solved by negotiation’ is going to lead Israel and the U.S. to disaster! Such a philosophy destroys nations. No great nation has ever been built or sustained by such a belief! Any good history book should teach us that. Bible prophecy certainly does. It is a philosophy based on weakness. Any powerful nation that reasons from such weakness is plummeting to disaster!”

The posture of the U.S. toward Israel will soon cause Israel to seek support from other nations, especially the EU, and Germany in particular. This is already happening to some degree as the U.S. proves itself ineffective in protecting Israel. But this move toward Europe will lead to Israel’s destruction. The friendship between Germany and Israel will lead to one of the biggest double-crosses in the history of man! (Ezek. 23:9, 22).

The current terrorism problem sheds light on its root cause: failure of Israel and the U.S. to rely on God and keep His commandments. The power of the U.S. will continue to decline, as prophesied in Leviticus 26. Sadly, that weakness will drive little Israel right into the arms of its worst enemy.