Please excuse my ignorance on this Israel question

[AppleCottageCores]

Why does the U.S fund Israel? They give billions every year....

Because they're allies. Same reason Iran gives money to Palestine.

But isnt the UK an ally too? We dont give that much money....

What does the US get in return...?

Its political, but the funding is tied, generally to arms sales

Israel is a natural ally for US in the region - in terms of social values, Israel is much more aligned with the West than any other Middle Eastern country. It's much easier to work cooperatively with a country where the cultural expectations are similar.

The US needs a strong Middle Eastern ally for lots of military, power and security reasons (having been at war with neighbouring countries in the not-too-distant past). Politically, the US population wouldn't be too impressed if US picked a different ally and suddenly started funding a gulf state for example (or almost any other Middle Eastern country), that would be political suicide. So Israel it is.

If you think about other powerful countries - Russia and China fund various African and Asian countries because it gives them power in those regions. Why do they want that? Partly because they hope that the investment will be returned through economic growth (in China's case, arguably direct theft of resources). But also because the more allies you have, the less vulnerable to attacks from other nations.

In simplistic terms, one of the things stopping Iran from bombing the US is that Israel would then bomb Iran. The UK doesn't give that kind of money because a) it doesn't have it and b) it's not a major power so doesn't require that level of strategic protection.

So the way these threads generally work is:

1. Excuse my ignorance as I don't know much about the Arab Israeli conflict but could someone please explain to me [insert something emotive]
2. post some factually incorrect comments and deny certain events took place
3. when countered / challenged or corrected immediately shift to whataboutery
4. quickly moving on to conspiracy theories
5. once seeds of doubt are planted revert back to denial

The thing is both sides of this debate are driven by conviction and will dismiss any factual information that shows their comments to be fake news. Nothing will ever change both sides views and unless we stop emotive opinions and instead stick to the facts then it will be impossible to reach a peaceful solution.

In simplistic terms, one of the things stopping Iran from bombing the US is that Israel would then bomb Iran.

I dunno about this - not that I'm any kind of military expert (evidently!), but wouldn't the US's ability to bomb Iran directly be enough of a deterrent?

Loads of Jews in the US I should think, possibly influential.
Who funded the IRA ? I've always assumed it was expat Irish.

@AskNotForWhomTheBellCurves I mean in terms of actually having a geographical base - it's not easy to fly or even shoot missiles from the US to bomb Iran, it's quite far! Perhaps a better way to say it would be "the US would try to persuade their ally to let them use their military bases to bomb Iran".

Of course long-range or nuclear warfare are options but they are difficult, risky, expensive and generally less desirable than attacking from close range.

Oh yes, lots of money flooded into the IRA from the ex pats, it was noble to send money home to the cause........ They had a very distorted view of what was actually happening.

Yes.
And I wonder how US Jewish people may feel about Israel going forward. Whether they’ll feel that the reality is different from what they would have liked.

Thank you for all the replies.

This is so spot on.

"Jews" aren't a hive mind.
Some support Israel, some don't. Plus every opinion in-between.

But isnt the UK an ally too? We dont give that much money

How can you possibly compare the amount of money a huge country like the USA gives to a country the size of the UK?

I went to meet an American on a London railway station. The American said, "There aren't any trash cans." I said, "No, they were taken out because they used to have bombs left in them by the IRA, who might be funded by...................................."

What a peculiar conversation.

@1dayatatime yep!

I’m just guessing but possible reasons include:

A lot of Jewish people fled to the US after WW2 and the Holocaust. I imagine some of them lobby for support.

Its strategic. The US wants on ally in the Middle East and Israel is quite formidable (in terms of its army)

America also sells them the weapons they buy with the money so maybe it’s an economic thing too.

The US also funded the Mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union and Sadam Hussain in Iraq against Iran. So there is political expediency to further geopolitical aims but there is also a massive pro-Israel lobby in the US and a media narrative that tends to be pro-Israeli and anti-Arabic, I presume as part of the effect lobbying

Really? You do know that only approx 2% of the USA are Jews. You are verging on anti - semitism here. Do you realise that?

Sorry, massive should be ‘very influential’

Again, I will draw everyone's attention the fact that only approx 2% of Americans are Jewish.
Stereotyping Jews as being able to control Governments is anti - semitism.

2% of 300 million is quite a lot

Read below what I said about making stereotypical allegations that Jews help to control the government.
It's anti- semitism.

Off-topic I know, but can I ask why you chose that username?

Historically there were more Jewish people living in Manhattan that in Israel

Say 10-15 years ago

Not so many in other parts of the USA