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).

Thereissomelight
That's what is so depressing. Many countries are dealing with the fallout of conflicts that affect their civilian population far more than the global powers who act like the globe is one big game of Risk.
A lot of the problems stem from leaders and powerful people in wealthier and powerful nations deciding that those countries (and their civilian populations) don't matter, which is why those leaders don't seem to care too much about the long harms to those countries. It's short term politics for many world leaders, who care more about domestic opinion polls than intergenerational cycles of harm.It's no wonder some countries end up with civilians having access to terrible infrastructure, poor sanitation systems, poor education quality, unstable government and so on.

Glad to see the original comment has now been deleted after my complaint about why two similar messages didn’t have the same response from mnhq

@EasterIssland I don't disagree with that tbh.
I have not seen a level playing field today either way and it's Shocked me. Instagram posts as fact... blatant racism. Antisemitism. Islamophobia.

We have to move beyond this. Sorry you had to deal with that @EasterIssland one of my kids lives in one of the 'uncivilised' countries.
We all need to get off this trajectory.

Anyway night. Let's hope for a better day.

Interesting opinion article about how this US support is side affecting Ukraine and Russia
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/26/why-us-double-standards-on-israel-and-russia-play-into-a-dangerous-game

Surely this is because Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East no?

Worth supporting considering the way of life for many (especially women) in the surrounding countries?

WW, basically what I was trying to say but was deleted for some reason. Israel is a democracy like the UK and US and Europe. This is the kind of system most of the 67m here in the UK support. It is better, say, than the dictatorships of Russia or North Korea or the theocracy of Iran or the regime in Saudi Arabia. The UK has its army, nuclear weapons etc to ensure we protect our democracy and those of our friends to ensure we do not live in regimes without our democratic rights and freedoms It is not about being unkind to religions which want women as second class or not allowed out without a man or fully covered as in Afghanistan. indeed Pakistan, a friend of the UK is expelling 1.7m Afghans because of the Taliban's support of terrorism in Pakistan.

If we are not allowed to say in the UK that a democracy like the UK or Israel is better than dictatorships then it is a sad day for British freedom of speech.

However that freedom of speech comes with my supporting the rights of people in the UK who may even hate democracies being allowed to express their desire for a dictatorship in the UK or communist regime or a theocracy or what was planned by so-called Islamic State.

Bloody hell, Syria is a beautiful country filled with amazing people, the war caused untold damage obviously, but to call it a shit hole is disgusting. And yes I do know, I lived there for many years, the people are the most amazing kind and wonderful humans. The culture, food and history was wonderful. I feel privileged to have experienced it. Some posters on here have no clue.

The UK has its army, nuclear weapons etc to ensure we protect our democracy

——

so we use weapons and army to protect a democracy ? Thought we had other ways to protect it and respect it. I’ve said it many times but I’m glad people like you that threaten to use nuclear weapons aren’t the PM

Our nuclear weapons are for our protection. I don't think it's particularly controversial to say that is why we have them and an army, navy etc. Why else do we have them? Are they there just for show or decoration?

I have not threatened to use nuclear weapons. They work because both sides - ours and Russia know if we fire they will fire. it is why we don't disarm. However if we need to use them we will.

Syria is indeed a beautiful country. However its regime is not. Assad has had Russian help and if you believe the polls is pretty popular there "Assad secured his fourth 7-year tenure; by winning 95.2% of the eligible vote" "In 2023, Canada and Netherlands jointly filed a lawsuit against the Assad regime at the International Court of Justice (ICJ); charging Assad for ordering torture, rapes and other de-humanising tactics on hundreds of thousands of detainees in Syrian prison networksin Syrian prisons, including women and children. The joint petition accused the Syrian regime of organizing "unimaginable physical and mental pain and suffering" as a strategy to collectively punish the Syrian population.[240][241][242] In a separate statement, Dutch Foreign Ministry accused Bashar al-Assad of committing severe human rights violations, war crimes and inhumane tactics against the Syrian people "on a grand scale".[243] This was after repeated Russian vetoes in the UN Security Council that blocked efforts to prosecute Bashar al-Assad over war crimes in International Criminal Court.[244]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad

It is a dreadful regime and in no way is comparable to that of the UK, USA nor Israel.

You are right about the regime, of course, but the poster who called it a shithole was out of order.
You could always hear the clicks on the line of the secret police whilst making a phone call, and your telex messages ( some of you younger folk may need to google that) were always read, but the people and the place was amazing.

BBC News - US evangelicals drive Republican support for Israel
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67422238

An interesting article by BBC North America Correspondent Anthony Zurcher that gives some answers to your question @Bathsheba1789

You could even make the argument that secular/agnostic/atheist citizens are discriminated against because only religious wedding ceremonies are recognised. There is no such thing as a civil ceremony which provides a legally recognised marriage.

"The Supreme Court has ruled that the Interior Ministry is obligated to register as married couples who wed in online civil ceremonies through the American state of Utah, in a ruling which is certain to further increase the government’s ire toward the court.
The decision means that couples who cannot marry in Israel through the Chief Rabbinate, or do not wish to do so, are now legally able to get married without physically leaving the country"

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-must-recognize-online-marriages-conducted-via-utah-supreme-court-rules/

Extremists supporting extremists.

The Ben Gurion canal project.

Is that supposed to mean something?

Worth supporting considering the way of life for many (especially women) in the surrounding countries? I’m just curious , have you been there ? Or met any women living there?

@queenofarles do you mean in Israel or the surrounding countries?

surrounding countries .

Where is the original post this was taken from? Would be curious to read all of it.

I have female friends from Jordan who have lovely, enviable lifestyles, great education and careers. Same for Qatar. Ditto female (and male) friends in Egypt.

Have several friends, female and male, and also Muslim and Christian, from Syria, who had great lives there (beautiful homes, great lifestyles, great communities) before the war broke out. Sadly many have had to leave, and obviously people’s lives there have been affected.

Which surrounding countries are being referred to exactly? Might it be worth being more specific? It’s a pretty diverse place?

Fynetanksfather that’s exactly what I’ve witnessed too, so I really want to know what Wilmawonka is basing her assertions on.

What sort of image comes up when they think of women in countries from that region ?
do they think all women are huddled up in home looking after 3 children under 4 and pregnant with number 4 cleaning and cooking ?

Female literacy rate in Jordan is highest in the region , higher than Isreal.
ive met female doctors , academics, engineers , entrepreneurs , politicians from all over ME , from Jordan, Lebanon , Kuwait , Egypt, Qatar. all enjoy fabulous lifestyles.

its really so demeaning to just repeat something someone mentioned on social media , without doing the slightest bit of research .

Christians are treated like scum when they visit Jerusalem, it’s baffling why they support Israel.