America's Middle East Policy Needs Reform Before It Bankrupts Its Own Future

posted on: Aug 5, 2026

By: Ghassan Rubeiz / Arab America Contributing Writer

The real cost of the current US Middle East policy is America’s own future. Reforming Washington’s politics would benefit the United States first, and only then Israel and the Palestinians. American attitudes toward Prime Minister Netanyahu have shifted, but U.S. support for Israel will not end anytime soon. The political needle in Washington moves slowly. Even as traditional foreign aid faces cuts, the House just passed the FY2027 defense authorization bill committing $750 million to U.S.-Israel joint military projects and expanding weapons and intelligence integration between the two militaries. Moving from symbolic aid reductions to real sanctions on occupation, annexation, or systemic discrimination against Palestinians takes political energy that remains hard to muster. For the needle to move faster, Americans must realize that reforming Middle East policy is not charity toward others—it is an investment in their own security and economic stability.

By helping Israel end its occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories, Washington would be repairing its own strategic posture. Israel’s repeated violations of international law have occurred with substantial American backing, and that complicity signals to the world that the United States will bend or ignore legal norms abroad. That attitude inevitably corrodes domestic governance too. A reformed foreign policy would mean less spending on war, fewer open-ended deployments, and more resources for Americans in need. The stakes are not abstract: total U.S. gross national debt reached $39.39 trillion in early July 2026, up $2.81 trillion in a single year, even as Congress commits fresh hundreds of millions to defense integration abroad. Every dollar bound to open-ended conflict is a dollar unavailable for the debt or for Americans at home. A reformed policy would also force elected officials to prioritize American interests over perpetual conflict in the Middle East. Many Americans are frustrated watching their leaders pour resources into conflicts tied to Israel’s regional ambitions, particularly its fixation on confronting Iran. A March 2026 Pew survey found 59 percent of Americans now have little or no confidence in Netanyahu’s handling of world affairs, up from 52 percent a year earlier—while Trump’s own approval has sunk to an all-time low of 32 percent in Quinnipiac’s polling, with two-thirds disapproving of his handling of the Iran conflict specifically. Gallup separately found roughly six in ten Americans now disapprove of Israel’s military actions, up sharply from 45 percent in late 2023.

Many Israelis misread this shift in American opinion. They assume U.S. tolerance for occupation is permanent, that international law is irrelevant, and that coercive state power is simply necessary for survival. Settler violence is dismissed as marginal. The prevailing belief is that if things deteriorate, American Jewish organizations will step in to defend Zionism. The trauma of October 7 has deepened Israeli distrust of Palestinians, reinforcing fantasies that Gaza’s population can be displaced and that West Bank Palestinians can be forced into permanent, stateless minority status. Some settlers imagine Palestinians remaining as a “protected” but politically powerless population, or simply leaving “voluntarily,” as Gazans are now being pressured to do.

If Israelis genuinely reflect on the intent behind America’s shifting mood, they will realize that ending the occupation is the only path to lasting Israeli security. Israel cannot wish away a Palestinian population nearly equal in size to the Jewish population between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea. Relief from apartheid would let Israel reclaim its democratic aspirations, integrate into the region, and build a state where all shades of Judaism coexist without the corrosive burden of ruling over another people.

Palestinians, for their part, must find ways to rebalance power with Israel. Nonviolent resistance remains the most effective strategy—the only approach that might reliably sober the occupier’s mind and build international legitimacy. Fortunately, more Palestinians are embracing political organizing, advocacy, research, documentation, literature, poetry, and global accountability campaigns. This creative mobilization is not just resistance; it is the foundation of democratic culture and mutual trust.

As an American with a Middle Eastern background, I worry more about America’s future than about Israel’s or Palestine’s. The United States is on a dangerous trajectory—overspending on wars, expanding defense budgets, and drifting toward another regional conflict that Israel may ignite with catastrophic consequences. Reform must begin in Washington. Only then can Israelis and Palestinians find a way out of a conflict that has exhausted all three societies.

Ghassan Rubeiz is the former Middle East Secretary of the World Council of Churches. Earlier, he taught psychology and social work in his country of birth, Lebanon, and later in the United States, where he currently lives. He has contributed to political commentary for the past twenty years and has delivered occasional public talks on peace, justice, and interfaith topics. You can reach him at rubeizg@gmail.com

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America. The reproduction of this article is permissible with proper credit to Arab America and the author.

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