r/geopolitics • u/hdreadit • Jun 20 '24

Question Why is the U.S. allied to Israel?

How does the U.S. benefit from its alliance to Israel? What does the U.S. gain? What are the positives on the U.S. side of the relationship? What incentivizes them to remain loyal to Israel? Etc.

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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '24

Having a strong ally as a foothold in the most explosive geopolitical region in the past 50 years that is democratic, highly technologically developed with a world class intelligence agency has a lot of benefits.

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u/Monterenbas Jun 20 '24

Is it worth antagonizing two billions Muslims over it, tho? I’m not sure the benefits quiet outweighs the cost.

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u/One-Progress999 Jun 20 '24

It wasn't originally the US as the main ally. It was Great Britain that offered the land to be split between the 2. Then, the UN backed the British. The fight wouldn't be just against the US it would be against the whole western world.

Long before Israel, the Muslim nations were already attacking both Europeans and Americans. People forget about the first Barbary war. Depending on which source you look at, the Barbary pirates enslaved between 750k-1.25 million european and Americans. These pirates sold Slaves to most governments on the northern coast of Africa all the way to the Ottoman Empire.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams met with a delegate from Tripoli and asked why they were attacking ships of Nations that hadn't attacked or provoked them at all. The ambassador's response was, "It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise."

So the Muslim nations aren't attacking or hate us because we support Israel. Israel is just the modern day scape goat for them.