Did you know that many of our top officials from the US Attorney General to ambassadors to other countries hold Israeli passports as well as American passports? Nothing against Israel, but what if Israeli and American interests are ever in conflict? How will they honor both? Will they pick America over Israel? Do they know? Can we know?
We are all global citizens – country lines and even family lines are blurring. For example, my stepson belongs to two families – it’s not hard to imagine people belonging to two countries. However, while countries still go to war, I think having people in positions of power who have this conflict of interest can cause problems. We wouldn’t ask our son to take sides in a disagreement between families. I don’t want our diplomats to be torn like that. Who knows whose side they will take? They represent America but what if they decide they need to defend the other side? Can we trust them to resign? Should we even ask them to be in that position?
Stormy,
It can be a good question to ask, as we surely want our government officials to serve the interests of our country and government. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that these people all must take an oath of office (as I did in my two year stint working for the federal government). I don’t remember exactly the oath, but I am pretty sure it involved serving this country’s interests and laws. If people are willing to take an oath to put this country’s interests ahead of any others, does that solve the problem?
An oath would solve the problem except for the fact that that oath might conflict with their duties as a citizen of another country. Which set of responsibilities, promises and oaths comes first? If the oath was the last thing they “signed up for,” do we assume it supersedes all previous obligations?