Why do we Support Israel?

[rsliu]

I've read in several places that the US gives more of its foreign aid budget, not to mention diplomatic and military support, to Israel than it does to any other country. My question is, why is this good US policy? I've thought of three reasons, but they all seem bad:

Morality - Yes, Israel is the only democratic country in the Middle East, and yes, it would be morally wrong to abandon an ally. But if you look at the history of US foreign policy, morality has never been a prime concern for American decision makers. We supported a corrupt, dictatorial regime in South Vietnam and needlessly wasted thousands of lives in order to further our anti communist agenda. We overthrew popularly elected leaders in several Latin American countries because they were too far to the left. We deposed a popular and democratically elected prime minister in Iran (in the 50's, and now it's coming back to bite us in the ass) because he had the temerity to nationalize Iran's oil production in order to prevent Britain and the US from stealing Iran's oil. The list goes on and on. Clearly US foreign policy is guided by American interests first, and morality second. This is exactly as it should be.

Strategic Benefits - Yes, Israel and the US share much of the same intelligence, and many of Israel's enemies are the same as the US's enemies. But if you take a step back, you begin to realize that many of these enemies hate us precisely because of our support for Israel. If you read bin Laden's speeches after 9/11, it's clear that al Queda attacked the US for two primary reasons: our military bases in Saudi Arabia, and our alliance with Israel. The leader of Hezbollah stated that he had no quarrel with the US but for it's partnership with Israel. What worth are having these strategic benefits if they are the root cause of, and not the solution to, our current problems in the middle east?

Israel needs the US - Some argue that Israel will be destroyed without American help, which as the current conflict shows is a patently ridiculous argument. Even if we cut off all aid to Israel today, it's current armed forces are more than a match for all the surrounding Arab countries for decades to come. Furthermore, it's not exactly a secret that they possess nuclear weapons. In fact, it may be because Israel is so grossly overpowered from decades of US aid that believes it can act with arrogant impunity instead of working to build better relations with its Arab neighbors.

Those are my points, I'm curious to hear what others think on this subject. FWIW I do not deny Israel's right to exist, nor do I hate Jews. I'm simply questioning the alliance from a pragmatic standpoint.

[iron81]

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rsliu's post

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QFT

I would only add what I said in a previous post about the Israel - US relationship and point out that Israel's oppression of the Palestinians doesn't exactly make them a model democracy.

[Good Idea]

Israel is also surrounded by neighbors who want them destroyed. How would you handle the situation if you were Israel?

Regards,
G.I.

[Blizzardbaum]

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Israel is also surrounded by neighbors who want them destroyed. How would you handle the situation if you were Israel?

Regards,
G.I.

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I would build a fence around my own land and stop taking the land of my "enemies." That way I wouldn't have to continue with an oppressive check-point policy that chokes any potential out of the Palestinian economy. It took them almost 60 years to figure it out, but they might be starting to get it.

[irvman21]

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Israel is also surrounded by neighbors who want them destroyed. How would you handle the situation if you were Israel?

Regards,
G.I.

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I would build a fence around my own land and stop taking the land of my "enemies." That way I wouldn't have to continue with an oppressive check-point policy that chokes any potential out of the Palestinian economy. It took them almost 60 years to figure it out, but they might be starting to get it.

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And when you enemies invade, you beat them back and gain defensible positions in land that they lost, you would just give it back to them immediately so they can invade again?

[Blizzardbaum]

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Israel is also surrounded by neighbors who want them destroyed. How would you handle the situation if you were Israel?

Regards,
G.I.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would build a fence around my own land and stop taking the land of my "enemies." That way I wouldn't have to continue with an oppressive check-point policy that chokes any potential out of the Palestinian economy. It took them almost 60 years to figure it out, but they might be starting to get it.

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And when you enemies invade, you beat them back and gain defensible positions in land that they lost, you would just give it back to them immediately so they can invade again?

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Are you talking about any number of military incidents between Israel and Arab state armies like Egypt (in some cases provoked by Israel) where Israel retaliated by taking Palestinian land? Or am I thinking of a different 58 years of modern history?

And what about the policy of allowing settlers to blatantly steal land without even the pretext of a military provocation?

[boracay]

geopolitics

[canis582]

Don't for get the rapturists that believe Jesus won't come back until the Jews return to Israel. (GWB wouldn't have been elected without them)

[Blizzardbaum]

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geopolitics

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This is obviously wrong. Supporting Israel is about the worst geopolitical maneuver in the history of geopolitical maneuvers, as it does nothing but furiously piss off the countries we depend on for our energy needs and enable Islamist propaganda machines. In return, we get absolutely nothing.

As one poster already noted, we support Israel because of AIPAC and domestic political considerations.

[boracay]

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geopolitics

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This is obviously wrong. Supporting Israel is about the worst geopolitical maneuver in the history of geopolitical maneuvers, as it does nothing but furiously piss off the countries we depend on for our energy needs and enable Islamist propaganda machines. In return, we get absolutely nothing.

As one poster already noted, we support Israel because of AIPAC and domestic political considerations.

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ok, here are some reasons.
1. you can't have a better ally than israel. it would support you no matter what, like no other country. it's like 51st state of USA.
2. USA need a partner like that especially in that region.
3. USA cannot depend on muslim countries in that region like this because it is shortsighted. not because they are muslim, but because of power of people (they might change regime, etc - you never know what will happen there in 10 years; this can't happen with israel)
4. i guess it's not that they like you so much (neither you like israel that much), it's their need for existance, there's noone else who they could trust.

said that, it happens many times when you can predict politics and actions of USA when israel says something (as they never do anything alone, but always with cooperation with USA). like this war now - precise plans for attacking lebanon were made more than 6 months ago in USA - they just needed an excuse (or they should produce one).

one more thing about geopolitics - read what rumsfeld was saying about middle east region 15 years ago - that they should get control over two countries (just think about which two countries). again they just needed an excuse (or they would produce one).