One of the intriguing aspects of the debate over Chas Freeman’s selection as Chairman of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) has been the attempts by his opponents to suggest that his support for strengthening U.S. political and economic ties with China reflects cynical Realpolitik tendencies as opposed to the sense of idealism that supposedly drives U.S.-Israeli relationship.

One observer has already raised the possibility that these critics should be suffering from a case of cognitive dissonance since most of them while bashing China for its conduct in Tibet have failed to draw attention to their idealistic inclinations when it comes to Israel’s conduct in the Palestinian territories.

Why is it that these people who are so concerned about China all of a sudden have never demonstrated concern about Palestinian human rights. I mean, there was just a terrible war in Gaza in which 1300 Palestinians were killed, a third of them children. Did any of the “get Freeman” crowd protest this violation of human rights? Just asking.

But what is more fascinating in all of this is fact that both Israel and Ambassador Freeman seem to share a common interest in engaging China which according to the members of the“pro-Israel” crowd opposing Freeman runs contrary to core U.S. national interest:

Three of the major foreign-policy challenges the United States faces today involve the survival of Israel, the Saudis’ promotion of radical Islam, and the ambitions of China. To navigate them, Obama has chosen a fierce critic of Israel — our only reliable ally in the region where threats to the United States are most immediate — whose track record is one of kowtowing to our enemies in the Mideast and our rivals in Beijing.

But then according to press reports that have never been denied by the Israelis, China and Israel have maintained close relationship, especially when it comes arms sales and other national security and economic concerns. In fact, according to Reuters, Israel was second only to Russia in providing arms to China (at a time when both the U.S. and the European Union have maintained an embargo on arms sales to China). Is Israel “kowtowing” to “our rivals in Beijing?” Interestingly enough, Israel’s ties with Beijing expanded in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacres in 1989.

It seems that Israel has been doing what it considers to be in it national interest when it strengthens its relationship with China even if that doesn’t fit into U.S. national security agenda — not to mention the neoconservative narrative (Israel=Good China=Evil).

And my guess is that if Israel were to establish diplomatic and economic ties with Saudi Arabia, a long line of Israeli businessmen and arms traders would be forming to sell their services to the Saudis. And who knows? AIPAC and its satellites would be trying to convince Congress and the media that the Saudis are actually the good guys.