Political Irony

4 Comments

1. Jeff wrote:

   I still haven’t gotten an answer as to why Israel is so important to US foreign policy, and why it’s like kryptonite for any politician to voice the slightest concern for them. I know that the Jewish community in America is pretty substantial, and politicians are trying to get their vote, but as the cartoon so adequately portrays, being a loud supporter of Israel isn’t really firing up most members of the Jewish community. So, why keep doing it?

   Monday, October 1, 2012 at 8:14 am | Permalink
2. Arthanyel wrote:

   @Jeff: Here is one answer. Israel has been our staunchest ally in the region, and is a nuclear power. They also provide a market for our defense industry, and are one of the most innovative countries – as a result, generating new businesses that hire workers in the US. None of the other Middle Eastern powers do anything for us as all – Israel does.

   Also, keep in mind that while the Arab world can unite based on their opposition to Israel, if Israel wasn’t there they would be warring with each other as they have done throughout history. In some ways, Israel is more an excuse and a way for them to focus the animosity on someone other than other Arab nations.

   Finally, Jews have disproportionate representation in many centers of political power and capital – financial services, pharma, defense, etc. While being a staunch supporter of Israel may not “fire them up”, being ANTI Israel surely would – and in a bad way for a politician.

   All that said (and my family is Jewish and my father was a rabbi) I think the US has not seriously considered the costs and results of our relationship and the political danger has prevented anyone from taking a stronger hand in influencing them.

   There must be a Palestinian solution, and everyone knows it includes the creation of a Palestinian state – we also know that left to themselves they will argue until the heat death of the universe before reaching a conclusion. The US should not go it alone – what we should do is take a strong consortium of powers in the UN (England, France, China, etc.) and use the leverage we have NOT used to get a solution hammered out and implemented, even if that means stationing UN troops semi-permanently at the Israel-Palestine border.

   Maybe it wont solve all the problems, but it should help greatly.

   Monday, October 1, 2012 at 11:29 am | Permalink
3. Arthanyel wrote:

   @Jeff – and in case it wasn’t clear, if someone in the region everyone else wants to destroy has nuclear weapons and could wipe out 50% of the world’s access to oil, its probably a good idea to stay on their good side.

   Monday, October 1, 2012 at 11:30 am | Permalink
4. Anonymous wrote:

   Part of the reason israel is important is that the evil Soviet Union was courting them for influence in the Middle East. We were able to wrest the influence away from them. Carter leveraged that influence into giving Egypt first nation trading status with us. um, yeah, I’m not sure we got much in the deal but Carter got a Nobel Peace Prize. And then other stuff happened, and, um. Yeah, why are we still supporting Israel?

   Monday, October 1, 2012 at 9:40 pm | Permalink