# Why/what is the relationship between Israel and the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-what-is-the-relationship-between-israel-and-the-us/473201 "2008-11-17T23:19:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-what-is-the-relationship-between-israel-and-the-us/473201/41 "2008-11-19T01:51:19Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > OK, I was bored so I did find a Chick tract: [God Loves The Jewish people](http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1000/1000_01.asp) Which was a rehash of an early 1970s Chick tract- “Support Your Local Jew”. Btw, as perhaps THE Christian Zionist Doper, I’ll kick in on this later when I have time- gotta get ready for work now. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-what-is-the-relationship-between-israel-and-the-us/473201/42 "2008-11-19T03:04:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Basically, Israel was surprised that several weeks before the war, Egypt had large numbers of forces (although I don’t know how much “large numbers” means - 50% of their armed forces? 25%? 10%?) in Yemen, although that doesn’t tell us much - Egypt, a country with ten times Israel’s population, had a pretty massive military. It looks like 160,000 total troops in the Egyptian army w/15,000 - 20,000 still in Yemen. The Egyptian involvment in Yemen reached its peak in 1965 where they had anywhere from 55,000 - 70,000 troops in country ( estimates seem to vary, I’m not sure which is the most accurate - I expect it is based on counting formations, not actual bodies, so it depends what the manning level was ). Regardless the manpower constraints caused by the Yemen War appears not to have been a major factor by 1967. If anything many of the Egyptian regulars were veterans of that conflict and thus had picked up some operational experience. My understanding is that even post-war Israeli analyses said the average Egyptian trooper fought well when properly led. The problem with the Egyptian army was not lack of manpower or even decent footsoldiers, but rather more complex systemic issues, especially at higher levels of command. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-what-is-the-relationship-between-israel-and-the-us/473201/43 "2008-11-19T04:24:56Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Don’t leave us hanging… 😕 Politicians in the US who are ant-semitic are targets of Jewish lobbyists. Politicians in Europe who are anti-muslim are targets of bombers. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-what-is-the-relationship-between-israel-and-the-us/473201/44 "2008-11-19T04:30:26Z")
I think Europeans have the luxury of being pro-Palestinian. It lets you support the underdog with the full comfort of knowing that the US will support Israel and the stated goals of many muslim extremists will not come about. If the US stopped supporting Israel militarily then there would be nothing to hide behind and Europeans would need to think long and hard about whether they would stand by and allow another holocaust to occur. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-what-is-the-relationship-between-israel-and-the-us/473201.md?page=2)