Quote from hapaboy:
They do have something that Americans want - a strong democratic presence, and an ally, in a very hostile region.
'Allies', as I understand the term, tend to help each other out. How, specifically, has Israel helped America?
As far as democracy goes, the
Palestinians are democratic. For the love of God, why won't you neocons admit it? Hamas was democratically elected. (Which might suggest that, erm, democracy, as a goal of itself, isn't all that flash.)
And if it's more than 'mere' democracy you're after, if it's
liberal democracy, then America and Israel, you understand, are ideologically
at odds. Think about 'multiculturalism' - America is betting it's future that allowing massive numbers of essentially unassimiliable third-world populations will, in the long run, be beneficial (a policy overwhelmingly supported by US Jews, mind you), while Israel won't even allow the people with moral, if not legal, claims to live in Israel to move there (and all that after being responsible for their removal in the first place).
As for hostility, one might well ask,
why is the region hostile? Is it not at least
possible that America's blind support for Israel has given rise to such hostility?
It's not about what Israel 'adds to the mix'. It's about the benefit to
America (or Australia, or anyone else who gives them more or less uncritical support) of supporting Israel. When the ideological blinkers come off (poor, historically mistreated Jews etc etc) there appear to be few reasons for it.
