Genuine question - why does the USA support Israel so strongly?

[Bathsheba1789]

Genuine question. I just don’t understand it. I do know some of the history, and the feelings about the need to create a Jewish homeland post WW2. However currently - Netanyahu and Biden don’t get on, Obama had a very frosty relationship with Netanyahu. The current Israeli coalition government contains some openly extremist politicians who have used racist rhetoric against the Palestinians in the past.
The IDF are clearly committing war crimes and the international pressure for a ceasefire is mounting.
So why is the US so pro Israel? The current debate about the UN resolution - why is the US demanding the language be watered down to keep Netanyahu happy - for goodness sake the USA is the most powerful country in the world.
genuinely don’t get it. This isn’t a goading question I just scratch my head at the whole thing (when not feeling utter despair at the terrible suffering in the world).

Guilt.
and lobbying

I have no idea but it's embarrassing to watch them stand at their podiums and argue that black is white and up is down. The cognitive dissonance is just unreal.

Its legal policy written in stone, possibly literally lol. It's rooted in Christianity.

@flowerchild2000 how can it be rooted in Christianity?

Yes I believe AIPAC are incredibly influential. But guilt? I get why Germany and Austria are generally very supportive of Israel from a guilt perspective. Why would the USA feel guilt?

It is an essential ally in a hostile region and as such is strategically very important to the US.

Because the alternative is to support Islam. America will never do that.

@chickadeeky so you think it’s basically Islamophobia?
it’s interesting that the evangelical Christian right are so pro Israel - you don’t need to go too far back in history to see that that wing of American society used to be profoundly, and violently, anti semitic.

@Bathsheba1789Many US businesses and politicians were Pro Nazi and did not want to join WW2. It was only after Pearl Harbour and Hitler opening an Eastern Front (Soviet Union)did public opinion change. The US had it's fair share of anti semites, as did Britain but prior to this, Britain and Commonwealth were on it's own. The Israel/US bond is more strategic. Think of the countries surrounding Israel. And the access Israel can give to the US via her land.

@JamSandle are you kidding me? I can't believe people are still coming out with these nazi comments about jews in 2023. Oh wait actually I can.

America want a foot in the Middle East

I don't know if I'd call it Islamophobia, but Islam is the most popular religion behind Christianity, but Christianity is declining due to increasing secularism. I just think they see Jews as closer to Christianity than Islam and Israel/palestine is a symbolic fight for them.

It's true that American has a big Jewish population though too.

I think its history. A lot of Jews fled to America and made a success of life there. They are influential, have power, have many prominent much loved figures across various platforms.

eye roll

@Bathsheba1789 and yes the slaughter is horrific...

@chickadeeky America doesn't have a big Jewish population. Jews make up 2.4% of the population in America. Yet more antisemitic rubbish.

They have twice the number of people who are Jews than Israel. This figure includes different groups of those who identify as Jews but you can see how big the difference is between the US and Israel and then the rest of the world.

Having an foothold in the Middle East. Significant arms trade. Also evangelical Christian’s with some bizarre belief system about Jews in the Middle East saving mankind - not quite clear on this. A very small percentage of Americans are Jewish so they aren’t “controlling everything “

Okay maybe big was the wrong word, maybe I should've said "significant".

@chickadeeky what does 'significant' mean? Please explain

Because they see it as a 'little America' in the Middle East, they don't really have any other friends on the region, so they cling to this to try to retain some control.

I think they're also a 'very good customer' in terms of arms.

Significantly more than most other countries that aren't Israel?

I think there’s a lot of things at play. Some I think comes from anti Muslim sentiments and it’s fair to say Isreal is an important ally to them and the UAE in the Middle East. Americas Muslim population is much smaller than here and possibly less culturally ignorant. On the other hand I think some of the support also comes from American cultural connections with Israeli jews. I met several American Jews travelling in Europe for whom the tour of European concentration camps and then Jerusalem was clearly a huge life event. I suspect Isreal and Zionism are big influences even though they never plan to move there. There’s also a surprising number of American Christian zionists. For some they believe conflict in Jerusalem is an inevitable precursor to the second coming. There’s a few who believe this who are influenceable Republicans. As are arms manufacturers.

I'm surprised no one is mentioning the influence of Christian fundamentalists in American politics. Israel is very important for them and some of their support is related to fundamentalist Christian beliefs about e.g. the circumstances needed in the world for the rapture to come about.
This sounds like it would be the concerns of a fringe group but it's actually a very powerful influence on the US senate- they are the same people who got Roe V Wade overturned after all.

Ok and how is that relevant to why America supports Israel's right to exist?