And it was a west-leaning country in a region full of oil and big trade routes.
Other way around - their loyalties weren't firmly lodged with either of the superpowers, so the US in the 70s and 80s put a lot of time and effort into wooing them.
Their loyalties still aren't lodged with anyone, but we keep sucking them off anyway.
Contrary to the delusions of realpolitik types, international relations are a matter of relations, not purely moment-to-moment vulture capitalist behavior. Israel is coasting on internal factors within the US government at present - the lack of actual mutual loyalty means that, should those internal factors (Israeli dark money and the political influence of evangelical millenarians) ever weaken, the institutions of the US will see little reason not to throw Israel to the wolves.
… is something important enough to kill a 100 JFKs for.
To the Israelis, maybe. To Americans, Israeli money has become a polarizing issue over the past decade.
It’s a state sporting F35s and such.
Man, plenty of US allies are involved in the F-35 program and the US doesn't bend over backwards for them. It's really not that important in the grand scheme of US-Israeli relations.
It's rather weird that a Christian cult would spend so much on people who are, according to that cult, pariahs.
I don't think support of Israel is that much connected to Christianity. It's rather that when you have Israel, supporting it is a huge reputational counterweight to any fascist action you take.
Pariahs who need to have their own state for armageddon to happen. Remember that these are the same mental giants who invented the prosperity gospel. Not a cult so much as the entirety of southern baptism.
I did read it a lot, it's just that Christianity over the pond is weird. Weirder than in China and Japan, I can understand where their traits of it come from, but in USA it's something hard for me to emotionally grasp.
The USA's relationship to Christianity is unique in that the first fuckers to come colonize the place were too strict even for Christianity in 17th century Europe. The Puritans were a blight upon this world and the ramifications are still sending aftershocks to the present day.
I should have added that practical Catholicism in South America doesn't seem to have this kind of weirdness, so indeed it's Puritans or even more generally, the spirit of a closed small sect, where the religion itself is not as important as the sect loyalty and uncritical following. Only it's neither closed nor small.
Yep, starting with the first paragraph. The author might have skipped his Sunday school or something. In Christianity it's considered that "God's chosen people" has been extended to the whole humanity.
"I don’t think these people even know what that truly means" - maybe most of them don't, but they are using the designation correctly.
"Arab citizens of Israel have the same rights as Jewish citizens" - well, the statement is kinda true ; technically false due to Israeli laws being a patchwork of weird shit with some inheritance from the Ottoman millets system, which is the same as apartheid give or take, but that's not why the author is wrong. It's just that most of Arabs living under Israeli military control are not citizens of Israel.
Why am I even commenting that, there are sometimes outrageous texts with which it's a dubious, but still pleasure to argue with. This one is just some jellybrain's product.
OK, it's totally false now, but before that bill it was technically false, but practically usually true. I don't live in Israel and kinda forgot that whole thing due to being more interested in it in the context of Israel arming Azerbaijan.
Israel has a huge intelliegence network that the US help them build by giving them billions of dollars.
The US relations with that area is already really poor. Pulling support of Israel will bring the US back decades of relationship building, billions of dollars invested, and losing the location. The location is important because Israel is in the center, near water, and isn't an island.
Morally, being allies with Israel is not good, logically it makes sense.
It being that important, surely somebody in the US government and intelligence have thought that they might not be abusing only that importance for funds, but the ties themselves for influence. In the sense of spying at the US, corruption and such.
Over an active genocide? I would immediately end a friendship with a country and as many times as it takes to not be responsible for enabling a genocide. Allies don’t let allies commit genocide, everyone knows that. Besides it takes more than a president to do a genocide.
I knew this would come up, which is why i specified this. Might as well as cut the head off the “every country has committed genocide at some point” argument. Not every country is actively committing genocide, Israel is. America is their chef supplier of power. America is actively Shielding them from the consequences of committing genocide.
So we should stop backing a country that is actively committing genocide full stop. No money, no weapons, no blocking sanctions, no threatening countries and organizations trying to help the victims. This is the literal bare minimum, as we should be sanctioning them, we should be guaranteeing humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
When is it not an active genocide? When the genocide stops.
Possibly, at that point it would be based on trust that the administration would not continue genocide actions. If Israel changed the ruling party and immediately stopped their genocide then that would be the fastest means to return. I have issues with the land grab into Palestine for the same reason i side with Ukraine. But genocide gives me more than just issues.
Okay you have an issue with the land grab so you stop being allies with Israel. They won't stop the genocide. Israel will continue with the weapons they already have. Now they think they absolutely need to take over Palestine because they can't have neighbors that are controlled by Hamas.
Was that the right choice? Should the US stop the genocide by sending troops and money to government of Palestine? Maybe the money that was intended for Israel?
That sounds like an abusive relationship to me, regarding Israel. But if we could not stop Israel from committing genocide no matter what, then i would have us not enable it. If they have the resources available to commit genocide without our help, then they don’t need our help covering their defense, economy, nor political sway either.
Would actively sending our money and troops to Palestine to attack Israel be the correct play? It’s not so cut and dry as the Ukraine/ Russia war. But that money could go tword humanitarian efforts in Palestine, i am not so much concerned about the Palestinian government as i am the Palestinian people.
I did not know it was so many, but i know they were specifically targeted.
I guess i should answer your real question, what would it take before the US should go to war with Israel? I am hesitant, they are possibly a nuclear armed power, and a war would cost even more innocent lives. But if i had to choose i would have already effectively done so.
This article is from 7 months ago so it is more. Some people just want to feed children and their trucks are being blown up. It is fucking horrible.
I ask you these questions because these are the questions I have asked myself and I always end with the same conclusion. Israel is an information super power. The US needs Israel more than vice versa. The infromation provided by Israel has helped keep the US and other allies safe.
The question I get asked is "if that information is so valuable, then why didn't they keep themselves safe?" They did know about the attacks. Israel allowed the attack to happen thinking it would allow them in the eyes of the public to take Palestine.
Wikipedia link - look at the "Events leading to the attack" and the "Israeli intelligence failure" sections.
I agree that Isreal getting attacked was needed to begin the land grab and to maintain power of the political party, and to attempt to justify murder. I also agree that one reason the US is allied to Isreal its for a for hold in the region for us to project power. But that is about it. I don’t hold that America needs this partnership, to such a degree to overlook genocide.
At this point I don't know which country is more ridiculous, Israel or North Korea. They're basically the same, a tiny pariah state barking loud at anyone that looks at them while getting support from a rich neighbor.
They're the same country but ones wrapepd in religous propaganda and backed but the US and the others wrapped in Leftist propaganda and tolerated by the Chinese.
Leftist and progressive is different. Unless I missed the part where Israel claims it's buisnesses are owned in common by the people through the government.
The US has couped and attempted coups of better nations for worse reasons and yet they give this genocidal maniac all the leeway and weapons he could ask for. This is who the US is. There's simply no money to be made saving victims of genocide so they will go unsaved.