Reply With QuoteGood, brief synopsis, Ordie. You managed to get through a minefield successfully!
a big part of US aid to Israel is in grants (fully payable loans for military purchases). Israel has never defaulted on a US loan and pays back these loans fully. A major reason for continuing US aid is that it keeps US def. industry workers employed and many congressmen are lobbied by lockheed, honeywell and other companies to continue the aid.
US gives billions to lots of nations, including Egypt which gets nearly as much as Israel.
Good, brief synopsis, Ordie. You managed to get through a minefield successfully!
easy.
i'm probably gonna get banned for this.
israel is the excuse for US bases in the middle-east. I.E as long as israel exists the US can justify their presence in the middle-east by saying "hey we are just defending an ally".
generally good posts in this thread. His "negative view might simply be his friends opinions which he didnt know that much about.
I didn't know we had a base in Israel? We are in the ME for national intrest..ie; Keep the Spice flowing.Originally Posted by Foxbat
when has US ever used Israel as an excuse for a base? the only other bases it had was in S Arabia (to protect oil shipments from Hussein), and currently in Iraq. None of these was ever offered as a gesture to protect Israel.
The closest thing US has done to protect Israel was move a carrier battle group into the Mediterranean during the 1973 war to warn the Soviets. This was 30 years ago.
There are many more important reasons for bases in that part of the world.
No, your not going to get banned, maybe a special title.
That's really stretching things a bit.
That's pretty much true for any country, they will do what is in their perceived best interest. Every other country knows that too. We could say being allies is at best, a tongue in cheek expression.
I want to be clear too, we have some really good allies and it would take a lot to split that relationship.
I just want to get a little historical fix on a small detail in that nice summary member Ordie posted.
A small history class:
The US wasn't the first one to recognize Israel. The first one to recognize Israel was the USSR, because Israel was born as a socialist state. Our "Founding Father" David Ben-Gurion than made a conscious decision to go west. He was a no small socialist himself but he wasn't amazed by Stalin as so many others at the time, and he was pro-democratic. He was elected and so were his successors in what is today Israel's labor party - The major left-wing party in Israel.
And back on-topic-
As far as I know our relationship with the US was born after 1967. We had contacts before, but our victory impressed them and the French have stopped suppling weapons to us. Since we were using Western equipment and the Arab side Soviet ones, we were a good test/intel source for the US. According to the Israeli armored corps official magazine: (read that while serving in 2005) The U.S doctrine for defending west Germany was based on our defense of the Golan heights in 1973. We were outnumbered and surprised just as the US forces might have been in Europe. Just one example.
And why support Israel after the cold war? Well why have NATO after the cold war? Because you don't just throw allies to the wind, one day you might need them.
ase, My understanding was Truman was real instrumental in helping Israel survive the '48 war.
I always thought it was interesting the Left was so anti-Israeli and so pro-Arab (Islamic). A contradiction in terms at best.
I'm sorry if you believe that this is bait, I had no intentions on making it so. The things I have said are the only things that I know, it does sound like negitives but if these are true or false please let me know, and let the truth stand as it is. In asking about the relationship between the US and Israel I was also assuming that people would explain to other viewers and myself not only the negitives (as you pointed out) but also the benefits.
I obviously did not do any research before this and seeing that this is a forum populated by individuals who have knowledge around this topic I didnt think it would hurt to ask. Sorry if I offended anyone by question.
Hollis I am not familiar with Neilson or his actions nor am I a spammer/troll, just a person asking a question which he does not know the answer too.
Thanks for the info thus far
Kevin
Last edited by Jackal01400; 12-31-2007 at 01:53 AM.
Well you have been getting answers. I hope they work for you.
Many of the posts are very helpful and I appreciate it!
I think that 2 other factors have been overlooked not quite as concrete as the cold war theory, but that, I believe, contribute (at least in a small way)to the United States relations with Israel:
The U.S. has a large Jewish population with a lot of Jews in positions of prominence and power spanning all industries including politics. They are a very strong lobby for the support of Israel.
There is also the religious conservative right that believes that helping Israel is mandated by the Bible and that the creation of modern day Israel is a fullfillment of Biblical prophecy. They are also a very strong lobby.
And, no, my post is not intended to be anti-Israel.
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