Why does Israel need US military aid anyway?

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You cannot hope to understand the complexities of the Middle East if you focus on only one aspect of the equation. Yes, petroleum is important, and, thus the political stability of the region is important.

But if political stability was the goal, the regieme in Iraq would have been left in place. For all his shortcomings, Hussein's regieme was secular, and it was stable. The venture into Afghanistan was driven first and foremost as a response to terrorist activity, and the Taliban's harbouring of al qaeda leadership.

American support for Israel long precedes her reliance on the Middle East for petroleum. Frankly, if oil was the only motivator, then Israel would be left to twist in the wind.

For one thing, it's easier for Israel to pay for US military technology than to steal it (e.g., Jonathan Pollard). For example, the Israeli Air Force wants the new F-35 Lightning II whenever it is released--why? It keeps them at a qualitative advantage to their neighbors, who have (last time I checked) mostly Soviet/Russian-made equipment, although I hear Iran is starting to make indigenous aircraft, tanks, missiles, etc. Receiving military aid from the US is also beneficial to the Israelis because it means that they don't have to reverse engineer American technology that they already have and rely on that if they get cut off--although I think the Israelis probably have the technical know-how to do this anyway (think of their air force: F-15 and F-16 fighters, C-130 tactical airlifters, Boeing 707 aerial refuelers, AH-64 attack helicopters, etc.). In the past, the IDF has also used American-made tanks and small arms, though I've read that they are currently using an Israeli-designed tank and are starting the phase out some of the American-made infantry weapons. Ultimately, US military aid makes it easier for Israel to maintain a qualitative advantage over its neighbors, which will be important in any future war.

In a sane world, Israel would not need U.S. aid. They are a mineral poor country but rich in brains. In a peaceful world Israel would prosper like Japan, producing high value added products. They would invent and innovate their way to prosperity, not unlike the Japanese did after they rebuilt post WW2.

ruveyn

Which is why they are dogged determined to occupy a piece of land surrounded by hostile countries who question their motives and legitimacy to their own sovereign state. Because finding an innocuous piece of land would be too obvious and the anti-semites might have too hard of a time finding them.


/Israel's legitimacy is only through the false perception of constant threat of genocide.

Where else you going to move them to that won't result in the same problem? The history of that area is a mess, and they have as much right as any of the other claimants to be there. Whittling about "legitimacy" is irrelevant and unhelpful and doesn't un-kill anyone.

To quote Pindar, dulce bellum inexpertis. So is persecution and genocide.

False you say? What happened to the Jews in Germany and Europe between 1941 and 1945? False. Balls. And Jews have been subject to removal and ethnic cleansing ever since the time of King Xerxes of Persia. Read the Book of Esther.

ruveyn

And/or read about the Crusades (wasn't just Christians killing Muslims, you know), the Inquisition, the European pogroms, etc. When one has our people's experiences, threats of genocide must be taken seriously.

Humans have been subject to removal and ethnic cleansing at various points in history in general. There's only one clan of humans who makes it their "culture" to be history's bullseye.

You can't make events that covered broad spectrum of people only about one group of people. The Gnostics were effectively genocide-ed in The Inquisition and the vast majority of their books burned (except a few that were hidden and have been found).

Those events weren't all about the Jews. Not even Germany's extermination were only about the Jews. Quit trying to own history's tragedies as if they're yours alone. Others have suffered, too.

The fact that those are mixed race genocides doesn't make them any less genocidal. The line wasn't just Christians killing Muslims, you know" pretty much covers the fact that the poster is fully aware of other races being involved as well.

BS. Then why are they attributing it to what's culturally considered a special designation of the Jewish tragedy of history and always being a target? It wasn't a direct targeting of Jewish people so much as it was a targeting of all non-Catholics and the distinction in this discussion is very clear. There's a difference in motive which changes the narrative from Judeo-specific to a general "wrong place, wrong time".

And again: the fact that several races were involved does not make a genocide any less murderous. The fact that the Concentration camps were also populated with Slavs, political undesirables, Gays, Gypsies and Catholics does not reduce the Jewish bodycount, nor does it erase the recorded Anti-semitism of the Third Reich. The fact that the Muslim population of Jerusalem got slaughtered in the First Crusade does not magically re-life the Jewish population of Jerusalem that got killed too.

The Crusaders slaughtered their way through a large number of Jews in places where there were no Muslims at all, so it would be quite accurate to say that there was a "direct targeting of jews" as well.

I'm not saying that the dead aren't dead. I'm saying that the semantics of the narrative are beyond absurd in the case of The Jewish Tragedy and has turned real life tragedies that were mostly shared into this selfish victimhood narrative that minimizes others' tragedies in their scope because they deserve their own country. Without the the strong sense of victimhood within the Jewish political identity, there would not be this absurdity today of proposed thought crimes and the absurdness of assumption that antisemitism is somehow naturally occurring in all non-Jewish people.

There are also recorded bigoted statements against more than just Jewish people. Hitler didn't exactly have kind words for the blacks who participated in the Olympics for America nor did he have kind words for the gays.

BP as in the oil conglomerate formerly known as British Petroleum? The oil industry is definitely influential in the United States, but I think your conspiracy theory needs some work.

I think a major reason Israel has so many apologists and advocates in the West is because it is run largely by people of European descent, in contrast to the browner-skinned Palestinians. Were Israel also run by brown-skinned people, people in the West would view its conflict with the Palestinians as being just another insignificant skirmish between "darkies", not unlike wars in Sudan and the Congo Basin. Instead, Israel's white leadership allows the country to be seen as a shining beacon of Western civilization in a sea of Oriental barbarism.