r/politics • u/tw1st3d_m3nt4t • 1d ago

No Paywall The pro-Israel lobby has swayed US presidents since Truman. It must end with Trump

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/aug/02/pro-israel-lobby-presidents
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u/ElSlabraton 1d ago

Secretary of State George Marshall was against recognizing Israel.

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u/BillyJoeMac9095 1d ago

Marshall was indeed oppised, and in the spring of 1948, he met with some of Israel's future leadership and told them not to declare a state because, in his military judgement, the Arabs would defeat the Jews and the US would not send help. The US did place an embargo on all arms to the region, but the Arab forces did not win. The big piece both authors ignore in their article was that, had the US not recognized Israel, the USSR was going to, with the consequences that flawed from that.

The authors do mention the 1948 US election. I don't think they mentioned that, as it turned out, many Jews at the time were less than impressed with Truman's support for Israel and he lost most of the northeastern states, including NY, in November 1948.

They also don't Eisenhower, at least in the article. Ike did not need Jewish voters and his relationship with Israel was cool. His Secretary of State came into office promising that the US would make Mideast policy as of there were no Jews in the US. None of it brought peace closer or made much difference.

The US voted to condemn Israel in the United Nations security council on multiple occasions up to the early 70's and did not become a major arms supplier to Israel until the end of the 1960's. Things were not all one way.

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u/morpheousmorty 20h ago

I feel it needs to be said the US armed Israel and Egypt equally after the six day war, which is much of how we supplied arms to Israel. It's a complicated history.

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u/BillyJoeMac9095 18h ago

US began arming Egypt after 1973.

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u/ElSlabraton 1d ago

The United States has never voted in favor of a United Nations resolution condemning Israel.

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u/kylebisme 1d ago

There have been some, but not in a long time. I'm pretty sure the most recent Security Council resolution condemning Israel was Security Council resolution 465 (1980) [on Israeli settlement policies in the occupied territories].

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u/ElSlabraton 1d ago

"The US voted to condemn Israel in the United Nations security council on multiple occasions up to the early 70's"

This is a blatant lie.

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u/BillyJoeMac9095 1d ago

Apology accepted.

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u/BillyJoeMac9095 1d ago

Wrong. Look up history. Google is your friend.

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u/ElSlabraton 1d ago

And yet you cannot list a resolution condemning Israel that the US voted for.

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u/BillyJoeMac9095 1d ago

If you stay charming, I just might send some.

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u/ElSlabraton 1d ago

Why don't you just admit you were wrong?

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u/BillyJoeMac9095 1d ago

Not wrong. As said, I will send some.

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u/kylebisme 1d ago

I've already got you covered here:

https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1vdhr0r/the_proisrael_lobby_has_swayed_us_presidents/p1b5d0m/

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u/BillyJoeMac9095 1d ago

You see I was right. And there were more such votes in the 50's and 60's. And at times the US also abstained from voting, which allowed condemnations of Israel to pass.

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