this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2024
217 points (80.1% liked)

Ask Lemmy

33413 readers
1501 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The US is supporting Israel through what we can mostly all agree is a genocide of the Gazans. Clearly, Biden isn't a genocidal maniac, yet he's all in with unwavering support. Why are we doing this? There has to be a logical reason that isn't just "we want Israel to kill everyone in Gaza and take their land a la lebensraum."

We know this is an emotional topic, so please be respectful of each other so that we can have open and clear authentic discussion on the matter.

(page 3) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Aceticon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Racism.

You can see that by how American politicians go on and on about Israel being a "Jewish Nation", a characteristic that is wholly unimportant unless ones is a racist.

Since WWII and what was done to millions of Jewish people because of their etnicity (and not only them: there is this "strange" forgetfulness that for example people were also being exterminated for having the Roma etnicity) by the German racists that, even though the racism itself never died, Jews became "one of us" for the racists in many countries with a predominant white majority (in other words, they're considered just another kind of "white").

Israel itself seems to have invested a lot into portraying itself as a "Western Nation" to further entrench and capitalize on that "one of us" perception in Western nations,

Palestinians, on the other hand are seen by the racists as "muslims" and as some call it "brown people", with quite a lot of nasty prejudices associated with both characteristics.

For the racists this is an "people like us" vs "them" fight, hence why even very overt and extreme racist statement of the Israelis like calling Palestinians "human animals" don't shock them (they're pretty much aligned with the racists' prejudices about "muslims" and "non-whites") and hence too the vastly different reaction from how the invasion of Ukraine by Russia was seen, since that one from a racist point of view was "people like us" vs "people like us".

This, by the way, also explains Germany's behaviour on this: the Nazis might have been kicked out of power there but that very "special" way of looking at other human beings as primarily members of an etnicity and "like us" or "not like us" has never left, so Israel gets unwavering support no matter what and that's very overtly stated as because "they're the Jewish Nation" (notice how it's people etnicity that determines if support is given).

[–] Keeponstalin@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The history of the conflict is pretty complicated. As far as US support goes, the US can utilize Israel and wars as a destabilizing force in middle east which is beneficial to the Military Industrial Complex, and influence in the region with Hard/Soft Power. Reductively, because of Money and Power.

Following Israel’s stunning victory and occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Washington concluded that Arab nations had moved into the Soviet camp and so increased weapons sales to the Jewish state, including Phantom jet fighters.

Initially as an anti Soviet position under LBJ

Military support for Israel solidified under the Reagan administration which also began a more vigorous diplomatic defence of Israel – particularly shielding it from criticism at the United Nations.

And especially to sell weapons under Reagan

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/16/why-israel-allies-explainer

The US has been supporting the ethnic cleansing of Palestine since the 1967 war and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and that position has led to the US supporting the ongoing genocide in Gaza today.

Biden is also a strong Zionist, so... There's that too

[–] MyDogLovesMe@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago
[–] yogurt@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Biden isn’t a genocidal maniacBack during the Iraq War, Biden and Blinken came up with the idea of partitioning Iraq into 3 different ethnostates. "We should take [ethnic group] and PUSH it somewhere else!!" is the kind of thing Biden thinks makes sense.

"It is important that whatever you do succeeds quickly. We would be able to influence the reaction in America if whatever happens happens after we return."

[–] Masterblaster@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you really need to go back and look at the history of post WWII. How that cookie crumbled has set the world stage for where it is today. Israel is part of a long term geopolitical chess game that hasn't fully played out yet.

[–] NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] Masterblaster@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

for the US to have a vassal state in the middle east.

[–] NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

OK never mind we are in agreement

[–] Masterblaster@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

that's a weird statement. i never saw your question as an argument for or against anything, nor did i see my replies as such either.

"that's just the way it is" is a complicated issue. it's okay to talk about things without taking sides.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Postreader2814@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Israel is an ally in the middle east, the only one who does what the US says whenever they say it.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›