[throwaway9917]

The thing is, Israel doesn’t protect U.S. interests in the middle east. All the U.S. has really ever wanted there is oil, and because of U.S. support for Israel, we’ve been the subject of two oil embargoes.

Israel provides us zero military bases, even when Arab countries provide us dozens. Despite all of the support we give them and have given them, they have repeatedly escalated conflicts when the U.S. asked them to stop. Today, we are unable to ship goods through the Red Sea because the Houthis are upset over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

[dlubarov]

Has the US asked for a base? They do have Site 512, not a typical base but still a base.

In many ways Israel does the US' dirty work, like crippling Hezbollah which is responsible for numerous attacks against US (and other Western) personnel.

The Houthis are squarely to blame for the disruption of Red Sea shipping; Israel's military operation in a different country isn't a legitimate reason to attack (almost) random ships.

[throwaway9917]

I think you’re missing the point here. The only reason the U.S. cares about Hezbollah is because they attack Israel. The only reason Hezbollah exists is because of Israel. The reason the Houthis are attacking shipping is because the U.S. supports Israel. Being an ally to Israel has imposed huge costs on the U.S. and virtually no benefits.

Many in the U.S. feel that protecting Israel is a moral cause, but it is undeniably a strategic albatross for us.

[weatherlite]

> The only reason the U.S. cares about Hezbollah is because they attack Israel. The only reason Hezbollah exists is because of Israel

You can't know that. The Iranian Islamic revolution happened not because of Israel. Iran would have probably tried to gain influence through proxies and destabilize the Middle East regardless of Israel. It would have joined forces with Russia and China. It would have probably tried acquiring nuclear weapons and it would have hated the U.S (which it calls Big Satan to this day). In short Iran would have been a huge headache and security risk for the U.S and the West even if Israel didn't exist imo. The U.S is definitely strong enough to deal with Iran without Israel, but its helpful to have allies in a very very unstable neighborhood.

[dragonwriter]

> The only reason the U.S. cares about Hezbollah is because they attack Israel.

No, another is that they are proxies of Iran, which the US has problems with that go beyond attacking Israel.

[Tostino]

Now go back a few years and take into account the US meddling with Iran. You'll notice some cause -> effect with our intended consequences coming back to bite us for decades.