hey, this is probably a stupid request but can someone kind of sum up the reasons as to why America is so supportive of Israel. I've glanced over a few articles but the most I've been able to get out of them is HISTORY behind it and not any actual MOTIVES. I'd preferably like to hear what Ryan has to say but I guess it would be FUN to hear the other nutjobs speak too

israel is the only country in that region that shares the "values" and cultural ties and democracy (the kind we want) with the USA. by values i mean they're a willing ally in a region that the USA desperately wants to influence and control. (control the mid east, control the worlds supply of oil)

there is also a massive pro-israel lobby in the USA

you could also claim RACISM (we're supporting a government of white people in the land of brown people) and stuff but i think race has a lot less to do with it than imperialist objectives and strategic objectives do. (o god i sound like truth)

isn't there an insane religious angle to it, also? that fundamentalist christians believe israel must be protected cos it's the holy land?

yes that too.

though i think that's less of the actual reason and more of a ruse the conservatives use to justify why we're doing what we're doing over there.

thanks. yeah i read a similar statement

While there have certainly been ups and downs, the basic bond between the US and Israel, the only country in the Middle East that resembles the US in its values and democracy, is very strong. Both countries have long-recognized that their mutual interests of deterring war, promoting stability and eventually achieving peace are only possible if the United States continues to stand firmly behind Israel.

and ended up bursting out laughing


ok so if we want to have influence in the middle east and LOTS OF OIL we can't just be friends with saudi arabia because?? dirty muslims??? not so democratic?? possible terrorists???

well, we have been friends with a lot of the mid east governments. saudi arabia and pakistan to name two, however pakistan has a new government now and both countries populations largely hate us. coincidently both saudi arabia and pakistans former governments have been oppressive regimes, which further contributes to public opinion largely being anti-west.

we had a policy of "replacing" or supporting governments in the mid east with dictators (see iraq, iran, pakistan, saudi arabia, etc) who in exchange for the privilege to oppress their people and weapon shipments would sell us oil at a favorable price and would be diplomatically favorable to us. you can see why that would piss the populace of those countries off!!!

sugAR SUGar SUGAR is a reference to barkley bled.

also lol at truth quoting a sarcastic racist post and saying I AGREE...

jesus christ man like five minutes ago you were arguing ALL I'M SAYING IS FACTS WHY ARE THEY GETTING MAD.

Wow, I thought it was impossible, but I have found yet another reason to despise Nancy Pelosi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel-United_States_relations is a good article on some of the reasons for the ongoing US support.

lets not forget that what I said has a shred of truth in it but it was mostly just BLAH BLAH RAWR POOP

for instance, I got to talking to a roommate of mine who is jewish about this last night, and I couldnt get him to understand that the jews of israel are mostly at fault in this situation (while I recognize that both sides have committed many crimes, we wouldn't be having this problem in the first place if palestine was not subject to a military occupation stretching back for decades). ultimately a lot of them are just too caught up in their own jewiness to understand that because 'the world is out to get them' isnt a good enough reason to justify what israel is doing

and this is an attitude that I would say a majority of jews my age in america have. but all the other inflammatory shit I said was pretty insensitive and stupid

no it was actually a pretty bigoted statement and a really gross characterization of the jewish people

I clarified what I said re read my post

ugh secretly i feel like highlighting the 20 year history of Hamas (20th year anniversay let's kick down the egyptian wall and kill some jews, eh?) has with israel and why they're both fags but frankly it's not worth the time.

you guys know the deal with hamas.  israel didn't begin the blockade until last year but ever since hamas came into power poverty, spending, and inflation have doubled. 

if you care about what's happening in gaza then look up six-day war.  reading up on that will tell you 100% the dispute between israel and gaza and why that wasteland is so important to palestine.

I clarified what I said re read my post

no it was actually a pretty bigoted statement and a really gross characterization of the jewish people

but i guess it's alright you've got a jewish friend??


also protestant zionism contributes a lot financially to israel. christian zionism is more religiously fueled than jewish zionism

I don't think that the 'heh truths in the middle' argument really works here. Hamas is a pretty disgusting band of thieves and murderers regardless of what 'the Truth' (boy better take him seriously with that username!!) says, no doubt, but israel has a certain kind of pragmatic responsibility to act like the mature individual here because frankly you can't expect the Palestinians to - they're an oppressed minority living in desperate poverty whose perceived territorial boundaries are continually violated by a richer country with massive firepower that uses indiscriminate force. Israel needs to be a bit more mature in these situations because frankly all they end up doing is pissing off the Palestinians even more.

but i guess it's alright you've got a jewish friend??

you missed my entire point

truth, its cause hes jewish and the entirety of the world jewry has a persecution complex that lets them think they can get away with anything because through history they have been discriminated against/made to live as subcitizens in one capacity or another basically non stop and that somehow allows them to channel their frustrations against the world by blowing up a bunch of brown people I dont know

in this post you say that jews have a persecution complex from being the target of persecution so they think it's ok for them to attack anyone to avoid this persecution

lets not forget that what I said has a shred of truth in it but it was mostly just BLAH BLAH RAWR POOP

for instance, I got to talking to a roommate of mine who is jewish about this last night, and I couldnt get him to understand that the jews of israel are mostly at fault in this situation (while I recognize that both sides have committed many crimes, we wouldn't be having this problem in the first place if palestine was not subject to a military occupation stretching back for decades). ultimately a lot of them are just too caught up in their own jewiness to understand that because 'the world is out to get them' isnt a good enough reason to justify what israel is doing

and this is an attitude that I would say a majority of jews my age in america have. but all the other inflammatory shit I said was pretty insensitive and stupid

in this post you say that most jews have a persecution complex from being the target of persecution so they think it's ok for them to attack anyone to avoid this persecution, but you take back everything else you said in your previous post

i was going to end this with AND THIS ONE IS FROM THE US but all the us ones made my head hurt. have this instead:

in this post you say that jews have a persecution complex from being the target of persecution so they think it's ok for them to attack anyone to avoid this persecution

in this post you say that most jews have a persecution complex from being the target of persecution so they think it's ok for them to attack anyone to avoid this persecution, but you take back everything else you said in your previous post

the first post was largely a jokepost, most people here have recognized that by now.

my second point was that even though I was largely just spouting bullshit in the first post, there is still a shred of truth to what I was saying.