In 2000, the New York Times published an excerpt from Norman Podhoretz’s book My Love Affair with America, a book that bears the delightful subtitle The Cautionary Tale of a Cheerful Conservative. This excerpt contains no explicit reference to the author’s Jewish upbringing, but it’s hardly a coincidence that the robust enthusiasm for America he expresses therein is a defining feature of neoconservatism, a movement largely founded and led by those like Podhoretz whose parents and grandparents were East European Jewish immigrants. Jews, of course, and despite everything, have particular reason to be grateful to the United States. Since tomorrow is Independence Day, this seems like especially timely reading:

[E]ven a lifelong radical like the philosopher Bertrand Russell could say of his own country that “Love of England is very nearly the strongest emotion I possess.”

I feel much the same way about America, land of my birth, “land that I love.” (I can still hear those words being belted out every week on the radio by Kate Smith, a big star of the 1940s, in her signature song, “God Bless America.”) But I only plumbed the depths of this feeling in the course of being driven, almost against my will, to defend the country with all my might against its ideological enemies on the left from the late 1960s on. These were people who had been my own political allies and personal friends up to the point where they were seized by a veritable hatred of America; and it was because I could not stomach the terrible and untrue things they were saying about this country that I wound up breaking with them.

Beyond being defended by a counterattack against its assailants and an exposure of their misrepresentations and slanders, America deserved to be glorified with a full throat and a whole heart.

That is exactly what I want to do here through telling . . . the story of how and why my love affair with America developed, how it ran into a rough patch, and how it then emerged with all doubts stilled and reservations removed, leaving me uncharacteristically full of optimism and good cheer. America, according to some who have preceded me in their attitude toward it, is “God’s country.” This is, as the pages that follow will attest, a judgment with which I have no inclination whatsoever to disagree.

For more than a year, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching drones and missiles at ships traversing the Red Sea, as well as at Israeli territory, in support of Hamas. This development has drastically curtailed shipping through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, driving up trade prices. This week, the Trump administration began an extensive bombing campaign against the Houthis in an effort to reopen that crucial waterway. Burcu Ozcelik highlights another benefit of this action:

The administration has a broader geopolitical agenda—one that includes countering China’s economic leverage, particularly Beijing’s reliance on Iranian oil. By targeting the Houthis, the United States is not only safeguarding vital shipping lanes but also exerting pressure on the Iran-China energy nexus, a key component of Beijing’s strategic posture in the region.

China was the primary destination for up to 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports in 2024, underscoring the deepening economic ties between Beijing and Tehran despite U.S. sanctions. By helping fill Iranian coffers, China aids Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in financing proxies like the Houthis. Since October of last year, notable U.S. Treasury announcements have revealed covert links between China and the Houthis.

Striking the Houthis could trigger broader repercussions—not least by disrupting the flow of Iranian oil to China. While difficult to confirm, it is conceivable and has been reported, that the Houthis may have received financial or other forms of compensation from China (such as Chinese-made military components) in exchange for allowing freedom of passage for China-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea.