Israel is a burden on U.S.

The chief of Mossad, Israel's legendary secret service, apparently pointed out to leaders in Israel, in light of the flotilla failure, that Israel is becoming a burden on the U.S.

Well, no shit.

We are in Iraq, in some respects, because of the neo-cons in the Bush Administration who were looking out for Israel. (In most respects, we are in Iraq because of oil. This second go-round with Iraq is now known as the Second Petroleum War.)

Americans have always cared about Israel. Heck, in 1973, when I started college, I was all fired up for Israel after it was attacked in the Yom Kippur War.

But that's nearly 40 years ago. Times have changed. When scud missiles rained down on Israel during the First Petroleum War in 1991, Americans still defended Israel.

But then came 9-11 and Americans are now more concerned about America than Israel.

Israel is not our 51st state as some in the Israeli lobby would have us believe.

Israel is in the Middle East, which is home to the most intractable problem in the world. Palestinians and Arabs want the state of Israel to disappear. Israel wants to expand its settlements to counter this anti-Israel sentiment. There can be no winners, only losers.

Americans now know this. That is why many of us side with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip even though it's represented by Hamas, a brutal terrorist organization that wants to destroy Israel.

The narrative has changed from post-Holocaust sympathy for Israel to identification with the oppressed Palestinians.

Many in Israel know this change has occurred. They also know that Palestinians are reproducing faster than Israelis. In time, Israelis will be outnumbered. Hey, we got our own problems in America. Soon enough, Hispanics will outnumber all other ethnic groups in this country.

Israel is no longer America's obsession. Heck, most Americans couldn't even place it on a map.

In this post-Cold War era, Israel has become a burden that most Americans no longer want to shoulder. We don't care about the Middle East, because the Middle East doesn't care about itself.

Why would Iran, an Islamic state, want to obliterate Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites for Muslims? Maybe Iran does want to nuke Israel. In that case, Iran chooses suicide. And, if that's true, Americans would rather watch from the sidelines.

And, of course, it all boils down to oil. We're addicted to it and the Arabs have the goods.

Israel can only hope our addiction to oil lasts for years, otherwise we wouldn't care what happens in that god-forsaken corner of the world.