Why do the ring wing love Israel ?

[eekee 182]

It's necessary for the Rapture or some other weird Fundamentalist thing.

[Danno 1,228]

It's necessary for the Rapture or some other weird Fundamentalist thing.

MInd explaining how that works?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Israel was and is America's #1 Middle East ally.

Lots and Lots of oil in the Middle East.

Non-sequitur: Israel doesn't control the oil.

[Vi-Jay 218]

Non-sequitur: Israel doesn't control the oil.

I know Israel doesn't control the oil.

My point, Israel provided the US a stage for the theater.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Vi-Jay

[Captain Oates 911]

To discuss the US support for Israel as a subject is not anti - semitic etc etc

Every time I turn on the telly - especially CNBC, all I see is many more Jews than would be proportionate

I am not saying that is a bad thing, in fact people like Oppenheimer and even Cramer and so many more, know their subject and get their jobs on merit and not because they are Jewish - but to deny that Jews have a disproportionate presence in these areas of life in the US is patently not in accordance with reality. That is not to criticize it - let me repeat that I have always been attracted to well paying clean and 'easy' jobs.

I don't think we are there yet with the a single strong reason for the USA's unconditional support for Israel's actions. Jewish influence via powerful Jews in the USA is a part of it. Evangelicals who don't want Muslims living in the holy land is part of it. A forward base in the oil producing areas is part of it. People who are afraid to query it for fear of being called anti-semitic is part of it.

Perhaps there is no reason and it is just the power of all these factors that mean that many people are scared of discussing it

It is a little incongruous though as Israel discriminates in its immigration policy for people of a single religion. A person borne of a Jewish mother or a person who has converted can claim the 'right of return'. How does immigration law based on religion, square with the US constitution and therefore American values ? It doesn't. Yet Israel gets a free pass on these issues. Any American politician who compares this aspect of Israel's policies to American values, does so at their peril.

Israel is considering re drawing its borders to avoid being a democracy made up of people of various religions. There can be few first world countries who can get away with that. Imagine if the UK tried to put all it's Pakistanis in Scotland and then moved for Scottish Independence.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Alan the Red

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I know Israel doesn't control the oil.

My point, Israel provided the US a stage for the theater.

Not even close. That would have been Saudi Arabia at first, and then Jordan, Kuwait, and now Iraq and Afghanistan. Soon we will have an overt military presence in the entire area.

Israel was not our friend until after the Six Day War, when they provided the US with lots of Soviet hardware with which to practice on at NTC. The US never wanted a strong presence in Israel.

U.S. European Command (EUCOM) has deployed to Israel a high-powered X-band radar and the supporting people and equipment needed for coordinated defense against Iranian missile attack, marking the first permanent U.S. military presence on Israeli soil.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3744319

[Vi-Jay 218]

I like this read too

Some snippets;

Truman Administration, 1945-1952.

American duplicity in the Middle East was born: While opposing Soviet influence in Iran, Truman solidified America’s relationship with Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, in power since 1941, and brought Turkey into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), making it clear to the Soviet Union that the Middle East would be a cold war hot zone.

Truman accepted the 1947 United Nations partition plan of Palestine, granting 57 percent of the land to Israel and 43 percent to Palestine, and personally lobbied for its success. The plan lost support from U.N. member nations, especially as hostilities between Jews and Palestinians multiplied in 1948, and Arabs lost more land or fled. Truman recognized the State of Israel 11 minutes after its creation, on May 14, 1948.

Kennedy Administrations, 1961-1963

John Kennedy was supposedly uninvolved in the Middle East. But as Warren Bass argued in “Support Any Friend: Kennedy's Middle East and the Making of the U.S.-Israel Alliance,” John Kennedy tried to develop a special relationship with Israel while diffusing the effects of his predecessors’ cold war policies regarding Arab regimes.

Kennedy increased economic aid toward the region and worked to reduce its polarization between Soviet and American spheres. While the friendship with Israel was solidified during his tenure, Kennedy’s abbreviated administration, while briefly inspiring the Arab public, largely failed to mollify Arab leaders.

The Johnson Administration, 1963-1968

Lyndon Johnson was absorbed by his Great Society programs at home and the Vietnam War abroad. The Middle East burst back onto the American foreign-policy radar with the Six Day War of 1967, when Israel, after rising tension and threats from all sides, preempted what it characterized as an impending attack from Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank and Syria’s Golan Heights. Israel threatened to go further. The Soviet Union threatened armed attack if it did. Johnson put the U.S. Navy’s Mediterranean Sixth Fleet on alert, but also compelled Israel to agree to a cease-fire on June 10, 1967.

Nixon-Ford Administrations, 1969-1976

Humiliated by the Six Day War, Egypt, Syria and Jordan tried to regain lost territory when they attacked Israel during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur in 1973. Egypt regained some ground but its Third Army was then surrounded by an Israeli army led by Ariel Sharon (who would later become prime minister).

The Soviets proposed a cease-fire, failing which they threatened to act “unilaterally.” For the second time in six years, the United States faced its second major and potentially nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union over the Middle East. After what journalist Elizabeth Drew described as “Strangelove Day,” when the Nixon administration put American forces on the highest alert, the administration persuaded Israel to accept a cease-fire.

Americans felt the effects of that war through the 1973 Arab oil embargo, rocketing oil prices upward and contributing to a recession a year later.

___________________________________________________________

The Middle East has oil. The USA wanted and wants it.

Truman had a seat in Iran.

Eisenhower blew that relationship with a coup.

Kennedy decided Israel was the best place for America to hang its hat.

[Pooky 3,786]

Israel is considering re drawing its borders to avoid being a democracy made up of people of various religions. There can be few first world countries who can get away with that. Imagine if the UK tried to put all it's Pakistanis in Scotland and then moved for Scottish Independence.

Not quite. Israel doesn't want to go back to its 1967 borders, because to do so would be military suicide and has nothing to do with religious "cleansing" as you imply.

[Vi-Jay 218]

Not even close. That would have been Saudi Arabia at first, and then Jordan, Kuwait, and now Iraq and Afghanistan. Soon we will have an overt military presence in the entire area.

Israel was not our friend until after the Six Day War, when they provided the US with lots of Soviet hardware with which to practice on at NTC. The US never wanted a strong presence in Israel.

Are you categorically denying US/Israel alliance had anything to do with oil?

I'm not discounting the benefit of the Saudi relationship.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Vi-Jay

[Captain Oates 911]

I think the reason the UK was always cool on Israel was the bombing by Zionist terrorists of the King David Hotel in which 91 people were killed including many British. The later Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin carried out these killings.

It was a bad start to UK/Israeli relations and the US does not have that history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Are you categorically denying US/Israel alliance had anything to do with oil?

Yes. Our relationship with Israel actually complicates things.

[Vi-Jay 218]

Yes. Our relationship with Israel actually complicates things.

I agree but, Saudi to the west and Israel to the east gave the US enhanced strategic position.

It was not just the Arabs that the US was concerned about, The Soviets were a threat too.

I also agree that it is obvious the US wants to stretch a US presence from Saudi to the East

If not for the oil, Walmart would be the only one's eyeing the Mid-East.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Vi-Jay

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Jews in the US are 1.7% of the population but 65% of the talking heads on all US TV channels on average and they have all the money.

Careful now, you sound a little bit like a certain Austrian.

[^_^ 5,021]

Careful now, you sound a little bit like a certain Austrian.

Anti-Semitism in the tradition of Adolf Hitler runs strong in Europe to this day.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Anti-Semitism in the tradition of Adolf Hitler runs strong in Europe to this day.

Not just in Europe.