Why does the US support Israel?

A lot of reasons.

Here are a few off the top of my head. Feel free to agree, disagree, nitpick, whatever. I am throwing out ideas to get the conversation going. I am not trying to make a complete list or have the final word.

—- 82% of the world’s Jews live in the US or Israel

—- After WWII and the Holocaust, there was a huge amount of goodwill owed to the Jews, and Americans were very supportive of aid to the new nation of Israel. That support became policy for

—- With the big influx of Europeans, Israel was the only country in the region “like us”, a Western outpost.

—- Without US support, Israel would not survive. No US administration or Congress has wanted to be responsible for “losing Israel”.

—I don’t think the electorate would let it happen, either.

—- The Soviets poured a lot of support into surrounding regimes. We had to compete.

—- Jews have a big influence in US politics and media. Yes, this is overblown and seen as a problem by anti-Semites. But it’s a fact. (It is also overblown when US conservatives freak out and pretend stating the fact is anti-Semitic).

—- Money is steered to Israel because the US military and munitions industry enjoy having a testing ground where tactics and strategies and products get real-world testing.

—- There is a religious aspect, where evangelical Christians expect The Second Coming soon, and they believe modern Israel is a fulfillment of prophecy. I think that has only become a big factor in the past 30 years.

PS
Here is a funny topical article from The Onion

Historically, Israel gives America a power base ally in the space that is the center of oil and thus vital to economic prosperity. The rest is probably not that relatively important, save for the dwindling logic of religious iconography. If America was energy self-sufficient, they would probably not give a rat’s ass worry about Israel, notwithstanding the funding of this or that party in an election.

It is one of the most strategic places on earth and Israel plays a major role in our interest in the region. Yes, we share Palestine as a Biblical connection. We have only really been close friends in recent history since the fall of the Shah. I think one of the biggest reasons is because we share a common enemy.

The top reasons I would name are:

Geopolitically, strategically, they are an ally in the middle east where there is oil and also some countries over there that don’t like America very much.

Israel is a Democracy in a region full of theocracies and dictators. America has a history of wanting to promote democracy around the world.

In America it behooves politicans to support Israel because at this time in history many of the Evangelical Christians are fairly obsessed with their support of Israel. Jews in America tend to be politically active, including donating money to campaigns and throwing their support behind politicians. Not that all Jews are extreme one sided supporters of what should happen with the Palestinian Israeli conflct, but most American Jews support Israel in general.

@uberbatman All the reasons you’ve gotten above are quite valid. I’d just add that the whole world turned a blind eye to the beginnings of the Holocaust. I think it wasn’t so much indifference to human suffering as it was the fact that the truth of what was happening was so horrific, so unfathomable, that people thought it must just be hyperbole and didn’t believe it. When the allies finally captured the concentration camps and saw firsthand what had really happened, the whole civilized world felt a wave of revulsion and guilt.

That led to the United Nations Resolution 181(II) to partition Palestine into two areas and establish one as Eretz-Israel, or the State of Israel. There’s history stretching back to when the British took the area from the Ottomans and a previous British attempt to partition, which led to the 1936–39 Arab revolt. But to keep it simple, let’s look at post WWII.

The establishment of the State of Israel almost immediately touched off the 1948 Arab–Israeli War with the Arab League united to destroy Israel. Instead of doing so, the corruption within the Arab states led to columns of tanks stalled in the desert on the way to the front because Arab commanders had sold the fuel on the black market and pocketed the proceeds. The newly formed but fiercely determined IDF cut the attackers to pieces. Their air force strafed and decimated the stalled tanks that had been advancing on them. In the end, Israel had expanded the borders assigned to it by the UN by 50%.

Between US love of a David vs. Goliath story (think the British Empire vs. the 13 American Colonies) and US disgust toward Nazi atrocities extending to disgust aimed at antisemitism in general, US sympathy was strongly on Israel’s side and has remained so ever since.

Just one more thing to add to the equation. Jewish cuisine is to die for.

@Etpro: Jewish cuisine or Israeli cuisine? Youth wants to know.

@susanc I’ve actually been to Israel and samples Israeli cuisine, as well as testing Jewish cuisine both hear and in Europe. I love both, but was referring specifically to Jewish cuisine.

@ETpro I think you are a little idealistic regarding why the creation of Israel was voted for by the United Nations. I do think it partly was a reaction to the horrors of the Holocaust, but I also think Europe was happy to see Jews leave their country. I don’t believe it was purely an altruistic act for the Jewish people, but also selfish and add in the geopolitical reasons.

In addition to what has already been said:

Same values, similar mindset based on the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment i.e. science, engineering, critical thinking, pluralism, etc. Israel is part of the Western cultural realm.

We wanted a democratic ally in the land of Arabs and oil (possibly compounded by the fact that the US perceived that Europe was fixin’ to lose influence in the area after World War 2), we felt guilty for turning back boatloads of Jewish refugees during World War II, we have fellow-feeling since they are a settler colony as well, and some Christians believe that Jesus Christ won’t come back to Earth unless the Jews are in possession of the Holy Land, because of God’s covenant with them.

@JLeslie, you make a very good point. In the past, Antisemites could be counted among the ranks of Zionists. Zionism sounded like a good idea to them, because that meant that Jews would leave their countries.

History is a strange place, and humans get used to their little tiny chunk of it far too quickly.

I will only echo some of the points above

-Israel is a culturally “Western” outpost
-With voting sympathizers in democratic Europe and the US
-In a choke point where two antagonistic cultures have clashed for centuries
-Where there is a currently irreplaceable natural resource (oil)
-And where, in the worst case scenario, the US, Europe and their allies would need a staging area if it appeared that they would be cut off completely from the oil

The united states knows if they didn’t support Israel, not only would they lose a valuble ally, but due to the amount of Jewish extremists in Israel, the US would become a direct enemy. That same reason is why the US doesn’t support any of Israel’s current enemies.

@Silence04, what do you mean by Jewish extremists? And do you mean that “the US would become a direct enemy” of Israel, or of these “Jewish extremists”?

A brief history lesson. Jewish settlement in what used to be known as Palestine started with the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War long before the Holocaust. The British foreign secretary Lord Balfour issued the so-called “Balfour Declaration” in 1916 declaring the former Ottoman province of Palestine a Jewish homeland. The reasoning behind this is twofold:
1) Religious- The return of Jews to Palestine fulfilling Biblical prophesy , leading to the “Second Coming” of Christ. People in power such as Balfour a Presbyterian and prime-minister Lloyd George from an evangelical Welsh background believed in these things.
2) Geo politics the creation of a western style state in the Middle East to keep “an eye on” the natives. The alternative for the Powers Britain and France was committing large numbers of troops to the region.
After WWII and the beginning of the Cold War the US took over from the old imperial powers and no doubt with with urging of the powerful Zionist lobby began their support of Israel as the Soviet Union nailed their colours to the Arab mast. Good old fashioned geo-politics. Perhaps what is not widely known is that when the State of Israel was formed in 1948 the Soviets briefly supported the Israeli cause.

Lots of great answers here guys. Thanks for all the information. Knew I could count on all you smart Jellies to inform me :)

@JLeslie I’m sure you are right that European antisemitism played a role as well. So many bases to cover in answering this question fully.

The US should support Israel as it should support any free and democratic country. The trouble is that US support for Israel is blind and unquestioning. The US appears not only to support Israel but to support the unfair and sometimes illegal policies of its government as well. Any criticism of Israel by a US politician spells political suicide and so debate within the US is stifled. There is no examination of Israel’s policies, no sensitivity to the rights of other people in the region only unconditional support.

Supporting Israel because it is an enclave of Western values within the Middle East seems wrong and helps explain the enmity of its neighbours. Israel isn’t a spearhead of Western values stuck in the side of the Middle East it is simply a country in its own right like any other. To support Israel because it helps guarantee our access to oil reserves isn’t doing the country any favour. Israel doesn’t exist for our benefit.

@flutherother Also, everything you just said.

The US is the jockstrap to Israeli dickishness.

@Silence04 I want to know also what you mean?

@basstrom188 Used to be known as Palestine? Would you agree that land was Jewish first? I am not. Zionist. I don’t think in terms of the Jews get that land because they were there first, but if you go down that path of who lived there when, then the Jews win in my opinion. I think the Ottomoan Empire screwed up a lot of things in the middle east. I sympathesize with the feelings and positions of the Palestinian people. I can understand why the Palestinians have their persective. But, histroy happened, the Ottoman Empire did exist, the vote happened in the UN, Israel is kegitamte in my opinion. If we think in terms of who lived there when; well, if you are American I hope you are ready to possibly give your land back to the Native Americans. Countries all over Europe need to redraw borders.

I don’t assume either way from your answer if you have more sympathies for the Palestinians or the Israelis because the beginning of your answer is what spurred my response here, but later it seems you are being objectibe and just stating your take on the facts.

Maybe Jewish extremists was the wrong choice of words. But I was referring to how Israel has a history of a “with us or against us” metality in terms of nations that support the state of israel. Israel is at war for land, and has been for a long time. if the US backed out of supporting them, Israel would interpret that as the US no longer recognizing the state of Israel nor support of jewish beliefs. Not only would the US lose an ally, they would lose any forms of neutral relationship with them, their people and would have a serious fallout among the jewish population in the US.

@Silence04 It seems like in the middle east there only is for and against. But, I am an American viewing from the outside based on my own media mostly. It can’t be true I guess? The Iranians and Arabs I know in America don’t seem like they want to wipe Israel off the map. They certainly, well the majority, are fine with Jewish-American people. Most Israelis and Jews I know want a two state solution, I have never heard a Jew wanting to wipe a country or people off the fact of the earth. I really feel for the most part Jewos people are reacting to hatred around them, no matter what country situation you pick, not the aggressors. However, I do agree sometimes Israel is overly aggressive in their reactions. But, how can they not be paranoid? And, how can they not show power to try and prevent something worse from happening in the long run? So many cultures around them show no respect for life in general, and throughout history peoples have shown no respect for Jewish lives.