Why is this thread in elections? Simple: because its a big electoral issue, hence why all the serious candidates went to AIPAC (Bernie is not serious, IMO, hence his absence, as well as pandering to the far-left).
Additionally, Israel is extremely popular among the American people of all stripes, and has been consistently over the years.
Majorities of each major political affiliation, ages, church-frequency, sex sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians, and by wide margins. Margins so big they’re usually ratios. Older polls have it popular across ethnic/racial groups.
Heck, in fact, if a presidential candidate won the popular vote by 47% points (margin of victory, not raw vote percentage), he would win every single state and DC, if after all, 18% and 22% margins were enough to give Reagan and Nixon 49 states.
But I’m here to tell why I support the Jewish State of Israel, and hear other takes.
Why I support Israel:
- Its the only country in the Middle East that Freedom House ranks as “free,” opposed to “partly free” or “not free” (think every Muslim majority country on Earth except Tunisia, only “free” for last 2 years). Israel has been ranked “free” since Freedom House’s inception. You can see for yourself.
1A. It has that rating because there is rule of law, independent media and judiciary, free/fair and competitive elections, not show elections like its neighbors, women are neither forced to wear traditional clothing nor do they on a widespread basis (NOTE: Ultra-Orthodox are a small minority of the Jewish and overall population, thus aren’t representative of Israel at large). Gays are not thrown off balconies or imprisoned for their sexuality in Israel. Non-Jews sit in the same parliamentary body as Jews, which is the essence of democracy. They have capitalism, not statist mercantilism like their neighbors.
- During the Cold War, it was our proxy, instead of being one for the Evil Empire like Egypt did with Nasser, a “Hero of the Soviet Union,” Hafez Assad and his predecessors, or the PLO (Bolsheviks were Arafat’s main patron, and sponsored the “Zionism is racism” resolution).
2A. Call it cynical, but us supporting Israel actually gave/gives us leverage with Arab countries; we manipulated them to side with us instead of the USSR if they let us mediate peace deals with them and Israel, whereas had we not got involved in the ME at all, the Bolsheviks woulda had the whole region, a mostly 3rd world one, and those were very fertile ground for communism. Today, this is true, but for radical Islamists.
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It stands against Radical Islamic Terrorism today, which is America’s foremost foe. Radical Islamic Terror does not exist because Israel exists; it exists because of irrendentism because radical Islamists are sad the Caliphate was vanquished, almost like Putinists are sad the USSR is gone.
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Israel achieves things; they’re winners. They have an economy which consists of more than oil (and don’t start me on US AID; fact its their oil producing neighbors also get high US aid.) Israeli innovation still stands up to its neighbors. They are at the forefront of pharma, tech, and has produced elite innovations/inventions.
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Israel has had one manifestation of its Republic since its official formation in 1948; most nations nearby have had constant coups, different state setups, secessions, etc. Part of why the US maintains its world superpower status is that it has more reliable and stable allies in more diverse places than others. Israel is the cornerstone of that in the Middle East.
What is my thoughts on the Palestinians? Well, the Jews bought land from absentee landlords, who gladly sold it, the Jews created a local economy, which Arabs benefited from too, but they rejected the Peel Commission, the 1948 partition, I mean what did they expect? In 1948, Israel defended itself against the Arab countries and one crazed Nazi collaborator Hajj Amin Al-Husseini, a Mufti. The Muslims have a million holy sites; boo hoo if they have one less (Jerusalem). They then hijacked tons of planes, killed Olympic athletes, and blow themselves up.
In 2000, Arafat turned down a great deal, and BSed Oslo, which Israelis and Americans (of both parties back then) believed in. Turned down Annapolis in 2007 too.
As Israel was on the right side of the Cold War, the Palestinians were on the wrong side. They cheered Saddam when he invaded Kuwait (Israel wanted to help but Bush Sr. stopped them). Not to mention, the West Bank was Jordanian land before Israel defended itself in 1967, yet the Jordanians relinquished their claim. Ditto Egypt in Gaza. They cheered on September 11, 2001. They spread/subscribe to anti-American ideas, mixed with anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. Independent of the partial occupation, their society is another repressive Islamic society.
Worse, they claim they want a two-state solution, but their rationale for turning it down is this “right of return” bit; Turks and Greeks never got that from Lausanne, Germans never got that from Czechoslovakia (or its successors) and Poland, nor did Indians and Pakistanis from their partition. Why are the Palestinians so special?
On the settlements, Israel has destroyed all Gaza settlements, and merely holds the ones in the West Bank as leverage. It worked with rational people like Sadat, who exchanged the Sinai for peace, and it worked out. Why can’t the Palestinians accept a Jewish State, and most of the settlements would go? Its not about settlements, which are just an excuse, a red herring. I would like to see a two-state solution, if mainly to preserve Israel’s demographic balance.
I’m usually a Democrat, but Obama (whose environmental and economic agenda I like) has really incensed me with his stance. He might have thought “if only we had ‘daylight’ between us and Israel, terrorism would decrease.” It failed miserable, but he had to be stubborn like Bush in Iraq. Sanders is pandering to the extreme left on this. Cruz is great on this, but thats the only thing I agree with him on. But this issue has turned me into a potential swing voter. I liked most of what Hillary said at AIPAC, and she was much more pro-Israel in 2007-2008 than Obama. His camp called her a “neo-con” for called the IRGC what they are: terrorists. And for saying she’d obliterate Iran if they nuked Israel, they likened her to Bush. So Hillary has potential. But somewhere, someone has got to pay for Obama and his treatment of Israel, refugees (who would be hostile to Israel and infect out electorate with it), etc. I might do that downballot if I can’t bring myself to go Trump. But there you have it; I wouldn’t have been a swing voter as I am now, but for Obama.