Should the US drop Israel?

[ingemann]

Us and Israel have too much to defend in these times to drop one another. They're our strongest ally and as far as I'm concerned they're really the only other country that matters in this world.

Name one thing that Israel has done for the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident

Well you didn't say it needed to be a good thing

[dead0man]

Us and Israel have too much to defend in these times to drop one another. They're our strongest ally and as far as I'm concerned they're really the only other country that matters in this world.

Name one thing that Israel has done for the United States.

They piss off nearly everybody on the far left AND far right, that's got to be worth something.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

Of course not.

[Bull Moose Base]

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-peace-conference/1.603324

Obama's op-ed strikes the right note.

[MalaspinaGold]

A more disorganized jumble of platitudes and waffling, and awkward rehash of US policy I have rarely seen. God awful op-ed.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I favor blanketing the entire Middle East with a fine powder of ground up psychedlic mushrooms, as a holy war will seem insane to even the biggest fundamentalist after tripping on that stuff.

Jokes aside, we have to remain involved in the Middle East, as the largest threat to our national security remains terrorist organizations that are based in and recruit from the Arab world.  Having Israel as an ally is a great strategic move.  That said, we have to make it clear that they need us as well, and that the secular republic of the United States won't stand by and continue to support either side in this ridiculous holy war between the Jews and Muslims anymore.  Stand down and work towards peace or the U.S. steps out and you morons can annhilate each other over this barren, useless piece of desert all you ******* want.  (Speaking of the spot of land where God is supposed to come back and set up His rumpus room or whatever)

The Arab-Israeli conflict specifically, as opposed to other conflicts within the Middle East, has not traditionally made particularly strong use of religious rationales or rhetoric on either side, although such can certainly creep into some of the interested parties' statements from time to time. It's obviously religious for Zionist American Evangelicals, and for a lot of the outside organizations elsewhere in the Middle East that support the Palestinians, but for the Israelis and Palestinians themselves it's mainly about thoroughly secular questions of land ownership and who did what to whom first and it always has been. Neither Zionism nor Pan-Arabism or Arab nationalism are religious ideologies and indeed they have been at many points opposed by the most religiously committed groups of Jews and Muslims.

[Vosem]

The United States should maintain or strengthen its relationship with the only free country in the Middle East instead of abandoning it.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-peace-conference/1.603324

Obama's op-ed strikes the right note.

The right note? That's complete fluff.

[Dixie Reborn]

US should take a European stance on Israel, that is not supporting them unconditionally and treat Israel and Palestine equally, as two separate nation states

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Some of the posts ITT:

[Adam Griffin]

We should drop every nation that we support in the Middle East.

I agree. We need to let all these pseudo-nations (and yes, this includes Israel, which receives 5% of its annual revenue from U.S. taxpayers; $230 billion since 1948) work their machismo out in a series of holy wars or whatever equivalent squabbles they see being necessary - just like most of the rest of the civilized world went through at some point. When the casualties become so massive and everyone's left licking their wounds, then they'll finally decide to co-exist in peace. Whomever remains can then enjoy their prize of joining the rest of us in the civilized world.

[RI]

No, we shouldn't blindly support Israel but at the same time they are the freest and the least horrible state in the region.

An argument can be made that Lebanon is a less "horrible" state than Israel. It is the most religiously diverse country in the Middle East (easily the most Christian) while being relatively free of sectarian violence for the area, is one of the most if not the most Westernized Islamic-majority country in the Middle East (example), has a GINI coefficient nearly identical to the US, has a long history of a developed financial sector and a free market, has a functional parliamentary government that ensures Christian representation, etc. It is clearly a flawed country that gets bullied by Syria historically, but it seems to have more potential and seems at least as good a place to plant your flag as an American as Israel.

[dead0man]

Indeed...if only they weren't 1/3rd over run with Hezzies, it might not be a bad place.

[SNJ1985]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

[bedstuy]

Let's try to turn the anti-Semitism down to medium please. 

[Orser67]

From a realist perspective, I don't think their ability to be a "bad cop" outweighs the long-term damage they do to US diplomacy, or the amount of attention they seem to require from our top diplomats. For me, the "only democracy in the region" argument holds any weight when they're almost universally reviled by the rest of the region; if anything, they could do damage to the idea of democracy by showing how easily it can mistreat minorities.

With that said, after supporting them for so long, I don't think we can just totally withdraw our support. We should push them to make reforms that work towards a long-term settlement with the Palestinians, while slowly dialing down the aid we send to them.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

[Deus Naturae]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

Opposing Israel means you hate Jews?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

Opposing Israel means you hate Jews?

Read the article he posted.

[H. Ross Peron]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

Opposing Israel means you hate Jews?

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[Deus Naturae]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

Opposing Israel means you hate Jews?

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That paragraph is many things, but anti-Semitic is not one of them.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

Opposing Israel means you hate Jews?

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This comment in particular is a tad less subtle-

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It's contradictory doublespeak like the rest of the garbage on that site, of course, but I'm convinced that anyone who draws counsel from jesus-is-savior is a literal psychopath.

[H. Ross Peron]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

Opposing Israel means you hate Jews?

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That paragraph is many things, but anti-Semitic is not one of them.

The Rothschild Dynasty is a staple of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

[SNJ1985]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

I don't hate either group of people, I just disagree with their religions and think they both have too much influence in Western countries.

[bedstuy]

Yes. We should drop recognition of Israel and cut off all relations, then recognize the State of Palestine.

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Believer%27s%20Corner/Doctrines/israel.htm#12

Oh wow, a fundie who hates Jews more than he (presumably) hates Muslims.  Now I've seen everything.

Opposing Israel means you hate Jews?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

That paragraph is many things, but anti-Semitic is not one of them.

That is anti-Semitic, obviously.  You might not be educated on these matters, but trust me, it is anti-Semitic.  You should be ashamed of yourself leaping to the defense of NJ Christian here, whether it's out of ignorance or hatred of Jewish people.