The US is supporting Israel through what we can mostly all agree is a genocide of the Gazans. Clearly, Biden isn’t a genocidal maniac, yet he’s all in with unwavering support. Why are we doing this? There has to be a logical reason that isn’t just “we want Israel to kill everyone in Gaza and take their land a la lebensraum.”

We know this is an emotional topic, so please be respectful of each other so that we can have open and clear authentic discussion on the matter.

  • TheAlbatross
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    This alliance allows the US to maintain a stronger foothold in the Middle East and exert hegemonic power via proxy.

    This isn’t the only reason, of course, but it’s part of it.

      • TheAlbatross
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        I don’t think the US isn’t interested in the oil opportunities in the Middle East, but I think the US wants a foothold everywhere and anywhere across the globe to maintain its position as a global superpower.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        Yes, the US wants that foothold because of oil. It’s not because we wish to become rich off it, it’s because oil is essential to keeping our economy stable. Keeping the region stable, or at least “stable” in America’s best interests, is paramount.

        Doesn’t matter what anyone’s opinion on our oil consumption is, even in the face of global warming. At this point in time, we need it.

        Without oil our economy plummets and that affects the whole world. And we can’t fix it anytime soon. I’m seeing hope, but it’s painfully slow. FFS, trying to fix this mess bucks the richest interests on the planet. And if we guillotined every one of them, we’d still be in the same place.

        I see a lot of talk around here calling talk of the “economy” bullshit, like those numbers only affect the rich, and fuck 'em. Like it or not, we all participate in the economy.

        In turn, we’re all hurt if it crashes. And that includes the rest of the world. Anyone here old enough to remember the gas station lines after the Iranian revolution?

        And spare me talk of coulda/shoula/woulda. America could have done a dozen things better to avoid all this. We didn’t. And here we are.

        • msage@programming.dev
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          In case you didn’t notice, many people are in the middle of the crash right now. So yeah, it’s going to suck for everyone, but what are the alternatives?

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      Read a lot of answers and yours is succinct.

      Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.

      ~ Alexander Haig

    • ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
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      It also allows Israel and other relugional institutions to influence US politics.

      Who is the hegemon, the vassal or the collector?

  • Microplasticbrain@lemm.ee
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    Biden said it himself back in the day, its a foothold in the Middle East, “if israel did not exist we would need to create an israel” im paraphrasing but the clip is on YouTube

    • xkforce@lemmy.world
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      Everyone that understands military doctrine would understand that one of the main purposes of Israel was to act as a staging ground to extend power throughout the middle east. There is also a sizeable voting block of christians that place special emphasis on the formation and continued support of Israel.

  • weeeeum@lemmy.world
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    The US supports plenty of fucked up countries because we gain something from them. In the same way Saudi Arabia supplies us oil, Israel provides an American stronghold in the middle east to operate out of. With the political importance and violent instability of the middle east the US finds Israel a necessity to its ambitions.

    • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
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      Let’s be honest, there’s a shit ton of money involved as well. From campaign donations to the military industrial complex, people are getting paid by Israel and jewish persons. They have a powerful lobby and influential people around the nation.

    • TheCoralReefsAreDying69@lemmy.world
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      Also worth noting Israel is very advanced with respect to cybersecurity. Considering they provide tools like Pegasus to US intelligence agencies, I’m sure the agencies value this relationship very much.

    • Amir @lemmy.ml
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      Domestically within USA there are plentiful of issues. These can be seen as opportunities for collaboration & create solutions.

      Honest/ Legit Question; Why not refocus efforts, resources, skills with experience on improving their own country in various ways? There are so much value to be gained, instead of utilizing so much resources in other regions/ countries - that don’t welcome them.

      Why bother being involved in Middle East, when if they actually work/ utilize similar amounts of resources within their borders, the country as a whole could reach results that would envy others. Isn’t that what patriotism means? There are plethora of opportunities to be gained! But it’s being so neglected.

      In transportation, health, education, nature, finances (solving various debts), jobs, scientific explorations, improved overall living, safety, etc…

  • PonyOfWar@pawb.social
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    They have historic ties and Israel is an important strategic ally in the middle east for the US.

  • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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    The answer is simple and almost no one gets it: The U.S. will NEVER give up a military foothold in the middle east. They will ignore every atrocity Israel commits if it means we have a place to sortie from.

    That’s it.

    It’s not a religious conspiracy, it’s not about back room money deals.

    It’s about military power and our ability to strike anywhere in the world with 2 hours notice.

    • JIMMERZ@lemm.ee
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      This is the most simple answer and the truth. Not only that, but our hands are generally tied to a fault when it comes to these allies. This is why Biden has had some words to say, but there’s no actual teeth to them. He literally can’t do shit. Any other administration would be the same.

      • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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        Well, Trump might do something because he’s willing to break any and all precedents … but the something he does would likely be much worse, impulsive, and generally lacking much forethought.

      • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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        Yeah but that won’t prevent every fuckdamn armchair admiral from weighing in with their wikipedia based knowledge.

        The problem is that those trolls are significantly out-shouting the truth.

    • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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      The U.S. will NEVER give up a military foothold in the middle east.

      They will, only once all the oil’s been extracted, which will take some decades yet.

      While it’s not a religious conspiracy, there is plenty of religious support from certain christian denominations, on the USA and other countries, because of some weird interpretation of the bible about Israelis getting their “promised land” back.

      • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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        It’s not only about oil. I mean sure, some of it is but even without oil they’d want military access simply because of how much a hotspot it is.

        I already told you this has nothing to do with religion and the fact you believe this means your sources aren’t trustworthy.

        • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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          Oh, you mean that people who use religion to preach support for isreal aren’t real? The pastors in my country that do that during the cults and on TV must be a figment of my imagination, then!

          • mods_are_assholes@lemmy.world
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            And exactly what kind of impact do you think those religious nuts have on our top military brass’s positions?

            I find it funny that you moved the goalposts so readily. I don’t have time for intellectually dishonest people.

            • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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              I never implied said religious support happened at or was directed at the top of the hierarchy, political or military. Why you came to that conclusion eludes me. Let me quote myself:

              there is plenty of religious support from certain christian denominations, on the USA and other countries, because of some weird interpretation of the bible about Israelis getting their “promised land” back.

              My intent was pointing out that this is to generate public support. But I guess I’m the one “moving the goalposts” and being “intellectually dishonest” because I’m not replying to what you thought I was saying implicitly. Next thing you’ll tell me I’m trying to squirrel out of what you’re wrongfully accusing me of.

  • sloppy_diffuser@sh.itjust.works
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    Roughly 4 out of 5 companies I’ve seen that have received investments in my industry in the past 5 years have been Israel R&D startup companies.

    Not my wheel house, but if I had to guess, the ruling class in the states has a lot of investments tied up in Israel.

    Take with a grain of salt, as this is just an anecdotal observation.

  • testfactor@lemmy.world
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    I think this issue is also more nuanced than you’ll see it given credit for in the media.

    I think there’s some strong “War in Iraq” parallels that can be drawn that might help reflect why the US is reacting the way they are.

    To summarize, small group of terrorists commit an attack that is one of the worst in the nations history. This country that was attacked has a much better funded military, and they roll in to exact retribution, notionally under the banner of “stopping the people who did this and not letting it happen again.” The war of revenge is hugely detrimental to the civilian population therein, and human rights violations occur.

    Most establishment politicians were/are fully on board with the War in Iraq. Why wouldn’t they be on board with Israel right now? It’s basically the same situation again.

    I think that a lot of what you see online forgets that this wasn’t some random thing where Israel just decided to commit a genocide out of nowhere. But just like how 9/11 didn’t justify the War in Iraq, 10/7 doesn’t justify what’s happening now. But it’s somewhat understandable why it’s happening, and why people support it.

    I remember right after 9/11, the vast majority of people were on board with sending troops in. The dissenters were super few and far between. This is just that again, but Israel this time.

      • testfactor@lemmy.world
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        You are technically correct. The best kind of correct. :)

        I was using “The War in Iraq” as a cover term for the whole ongoing conflict that arose in the aftermath of 9/11.

        I think that your point actually furthers my parallel though. As the US was in Afghanistan, the Bush Administration’s obsession with Iraq ended up with them pushing questionable Intel that there were Al Queda controlled WMDs in Iraq, and that we had to invade there as well if we really wanted to win the war.

        There’s a pretty clear parallel between that logic and the “Hamas Tunnels” arguments we’re hearing out of Israel at the moment.

    • Paragone@lemmy.world
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      Understand this, all reading this thread, though:

      The DarkHexad of human-evil’s dimensions, is:

      • Narcissism
      • Machiavellianism
      • Sociopathy ( mentally/experientially induced ) / Psychopathy ( intrinsic defective mirror-neurons function, NO empathy, NO other is “human” )
      • Nihilism
      • Sadism
      • SystemicDishonesty

      The more abused some population is, the more they become embedded in DarkHexad mind/meaning.

      Hamas went nihilist.

      They knew that Israel’d commit to genociding all Palestinians, to all the extent they could, and that’s why they did the attack.

      Israel’s now is demonstrating its nihilism/sadism so blatently that their “deterrent” is being permanently corroded-away:

      Within a few years, the surrounding Muslim region won’t care how much damage/violence Israel does to them while they’re annihilating Israel, they’ll HAVE TO annihilate Israel, at ANY cost.

      Israel’s guaranteeing its own within-decade annihilation.

      Exactly as Hamas’ ( either unconsciously or consciously ) strategy determined.

      Israel walked into the trap, they ate the bait.


      2 millenia ago, the ONLY Jew in the world that no Zionist would tolerate to have any validity, Yehoshua “Jesus” benJoseph, warned that when the abomination Daniel spoke-of was becoming real, that Israel would be annihilated.

      ( Matt 24, iirc … here, I dug it up, just in case anybody wants to read the actual text: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+24%3A15-22&version=AMPC )

      Perfect & correct warning.

      Within 1 decade, Israel’s going to be annihilated, exactly as benJoseph warned, and the Zionists, themselves, are the ones enforcing that no alternative-future can happen.

      Comical, really: one’s-own ideology/prejudice absolutely determining one’s fate, in a way that makes one’s most-hated-individual proven-right.


      “Deterrent” only works when the ones hating your life are hesitating because of their aversion to the harm you can do them.

      Israel’s not going to have any “deterrent” soon.

      And they’re too ideology/prejudice rabid to know that simple human-nature meaning.


      When, in a decade, perhaps less, Israel’s been annihilated, how is the rest of the Middle East, now committed/allied with BRICS, going to tilt the world’s geopolitical table?

      No matter: Trump’s already said he’ll “delete” the constitution, leave NATO, back Russia, create crime in Washington DC, be dictator, & “MAGA”, right?

      That is going to happen, unfortunately, and the incompetence of the Biden-institution is playing directly into handing the entire US into Trump-cult’s hands.

      The economic rug-pull that they’re delaying can’t be held-back forever, either.

      Backlash-vote always torpedoes the incumbents, in that situation.

      It doesn’t even matter if legalism “prohibits” Trump becoming GEOTUS, now: legalists ignore all the letter-of-the-law that contradicts their intention, …

      … and that is sooo traditional for legalists that benJoseph railed against their doing that 2 millenia ago.

      Something like “you who hold the letter-of-the-law rules, who ignore even 1 part, are guilty of ALL”, iirc.

      That is exactly the nature of the legalism of nowadays.


      The real game going-on is that human-unconscious-ignorance is trying to enforce a simplistic “mythic” “importance” through global tantrum/pogrom.

      And arguing with humanity’s unconscious-toddler … requires a bit of rather-brutal experience-induced-understanding enforcement, and that isn’t going to happen until “armageddon” has beaten that understanding into our unconscious.

      The Great Filter.

      Won’t-grow-up is the most-fundamental religion, in our unconscious.

      _ /\ _

  • Delphia@lemmy.world
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    Nobody else has pointed out that theres roughly as many Jewish people in the US as in Israel. Which in the run-up to an election is not a voting base you would want to upset.

    • TheAlbatross
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      Jews are not a uniform voting bloc, divided on many issues, Israel being one of them.

      • Uriel238 [all pronouns]
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        In the 1980s through the aughts, it was a lot easier to turn a blind eye to the inhumane treatment of Palestinians because media agencies controlled the narrative. Once the internet allowed for unvetted video to leak the pubic have a better grasp on what is actually going on.

        In other controversies, the ubiquity if phone cameras plays a significant part, but I don’t know how many phone cameras are in Palestine.

        I think it is this, how the internet affects narratives of violence against oppressed peoples, that drives the save the kids from the internet policies like KOSA and SESTA/FOSTA. The US federal government doesn’t really care about children, but it does care about leaks that embarrass the administration or the state.

        • TheAlbatross
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          I think this is a good observation, though I’m not exactly sure how it applies to my comment, unless you’re trying to imply that people as a whole, Jews included, are more divided on Israel today than in the 80’s because they have better access to information from more varied perspectives.

          I’d say that sounds true.

      • Delphia@lemmy.world
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        Never said that they were, but I imagine theres a notable percentage who would be very single issue on the subject.

      • Crashumbc@lemmy.world
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        Several things to consider.

        Much of the information the Israels get is controlled. Many probably aren’t aware how bad the genocide is (and the it is genocide).

        Most Israels have been subject to ongoing missile attacks and bombings their whole lives. Everyone there knows someone hurt or killed in an attack. They just want it to stop.

        I don’t say this to in any way condone the genocide. I’m fully against the genocide. But, this is a complex issue with a lot of factors on both sides that can drive normally reasonable people to do bad things.

      • rammer@sopuli.xyz
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        A sizable portion does. And the whole political system is built such that the extremists get a disproportionate say in policy.

  • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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    Israel’s an ally and America doesn’t exactly have the moral high ground to stand on cutting off israel for terror bombing civlians in the middle east.

    More practically, Biden seems to think he can negotiate more from israel by playing at being on their side in this conflict than by joining the international condemnation against them, and to his credit he has achieved concessions from israel in the hypothetical post war, and managed hostage swaps between israel and hamas.

    Lastly there’s the old saying about never letting a good crisis go to waste, the houthis have gone and made absolute asses of themselves with their red sea blockade over this war, and the US and KSA MICs are both explosively orgasmic at the campaign against them going from being labelled a humanitarian disaster to suddenly being a borderline service to the international community.

    The longer Israel keeps it up, the longer the Houthis keep making everyone hate them, the longer MBS has to wipe what he sees as one of his biggest security threats off the map without catching flak from most of the international community. You could almost argue that Israel and KSA are passing the “everyone hates us!” ball back and forth to cover for each other’s designs on complete subjugation of their immediate neighbors.

  • Politically Incorrect@lemmy.world
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    Christofascists and Zionists are pretty good friends, and as they are at the head of both countries it’s pretty reasonable for them to support eachother country.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      Christofascists and Zionists are pretty good friends

      It’s the same picture. Evangelical Christians are Zionists, because the Jews returning to the Holy Land is a precondition for the Rapture.

      (They don’t actually give a flying fuck about the Jewish people themselves, to be clear. They just wanna get Raptured.)

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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        You’re underestimating the impact of their hatred of Muslims. They looooove this. Two kinds of infidel killing each other? The kind they admit needs to exist killing the kind they don’t?

        They’re all hard as rocks.

    • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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      This. They believe Jews belong in Israel which will bring the 2nd coming of Jesus and the rapture.

      It’s called Christian dominionism.

  • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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    Racism.

    You can see that by how American politicians go on and on about Israel being a “Jewish Nation”, a characteristic that is wholly unimportant unless ones is a racist.

    Since WWII and what was done to millions of Jewish people because of their etnicity (and not only them: there is this “strange” forgetfulness that for example people were also being exterminated for having the Roma etnicity) by the German racists that, even though the racism itself never died, Jews became “one of us” for the racists in many countries with a predominant white majority (in other words, they’re considered just another kind of “white”).

    Israel itself seems to have invested a lot into portraying itself as a “Western Nation” to further entrench and capitalize on that “one of us” perception in Western nations,

    Palestinians, on the other hand are seen by the racists as “muslims” and as some call it “brown people”, with quite a lot of nasty prejudices associated with both characteristics.

    For the racists this is an “people like us” vs “them” fight, hence why even very overt and extreme racist statement of the Israelis like calling Palestinians “human animals” don’t shock them (they’re pretty much aligned with the racists’ prejudices about “muslims” and “non-whites”) and hence too the vastly different reaction from how the invasion of Ukraine by Russia was seen, since that one from a racist point of view was “people like us” vs “people like us”.

    This, by the way, also explains Germany’s behaviour on this: the Nazis might have been kicked out of power there but that very “special” way of looking at other human beings as primarily members of an etnicity and “like us” or “not like us” has never left, so Israel gets unwavering support no matter what and that’s very overtly stated as because “they’re the Jewish Nation” (notice how it’s people etnicity that determines if support is given).

  • Marin_Rider@aussie.zone
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    I am more curious as to why these completely legal (non rule breaking or trolling comments) are being deleted by lemmy moderation. My app shows removed comments.

    If you think you are seeing what people really think of the conflict on this site, you are not. Agendas are being pushed

    • kava@lemmy.world
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      We need more transparency and community engagement. I think instead of someone being banned or their comment being removed, it should go up for a vote between a random selection of users.

      Sort of like the criminal justice system. Be judged by a jury of your peers. Not just some arbitrary official who decides your fate and you have zero recourse.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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      It was getting a bit too based. People are stating to realize that there is very little difference between israel and the Nazi’s expanding their Lebensraum.

      After that, you ask the question if fighting back against Nazi’s is justified, but answering that is not allowed yet.

    • bartolomeo@suppo.fi
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      Sorry I’m really bad at reading between the lines, what’s the agenda being pushed?

  • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
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    Western powers support Israel because the Middle East is a strategically important region and Western powers have exactly one reliable partner there. I mean, look at what the House of Saud can get away with just for being a semi-reliable partner.