12-31-2016, 06:04 PM
(12-31-2016, 03:49 PM)Dill Wrote: Jordan, the country from whom Israel took the West Bank, has a very well liked king. Far from a brutal dictatorship. They have taken in the bulk of refugees, both from '48 and '67. Far from suppressing half their population, they have done their best to educate and raise their standard of living, while taking care of millions of refugees.Stellar post !
One reason we have "hard on" for Israel is that since Camp David it has received over 3 billion in foreign aid per year--by far the largest US aid recipient. It is not clear what the US gains from this. The costs are pretty clear though, as this support was one of the main reasons for 9/11. It has also led us to support dictatorships which suppress anti-Israeli dissent, especially in Egypt. Virtually all anti-Americanism in the region has its roots in this support for Israel.
Another reason we have a hard on for Israel is that, because our support floats its economy, we have (theoretically) more leverage than anyone else over its policies. Other countries pressure us act in good faith as a peace broker. We do expect a country we support because it is supposedly the only liberal democracy in the region (though it is not) to behave like one. No "brutal dictatorship" in the Middle East holds a captive population under military control the way that Israel does. The double standard in our foreign policy is recognized throughout the world. Our veto of unanimous UN resolutions against the occupation and human rights abuses makes the US an arm of Israeli foreign policy, and our media audiences a target for Israeli propaganda. Benton mentions one element of this in post #13 on this thread--the religious tourism to "the holy land" which helps align the religious right with Israeli policy as part of God's plan. Palestinians are the Biblical "philistines" whose challenge to God's chosen must be eradicated.
That is also why it is not easy at all to condemn Israel's actions in the US. AIPAC and similar groups rush to tar anyone who speaks out against human rights abuses in Gaza and the West Bank as anti-semitic. College professors lose their jobs for teaching about the Nakhba and current land theft/human rights abuses under the occupation--e.g. bulldozing homes and destroying olive orchards. Most Americans are completely unaware of what the settlement issue is about and settler violence against the Palestinians whose land they have taken. That is not an accident.
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