[austin-cheney]

Worse, is that this was done at the behest of Israel. Israel is America’s shittiest ally in the region where the relationship is exclusively one-sided. There are good reasons why, despite all the lies and bullshit from America politicians, America has not executed military actions at their behest before now.

[jordanb]

“Every time anyone says that Israel is our only friend in the Middle East, I can’t help but think that before Israel, we had no enemies in the Middle East.” — John Sheehan, S.J.

[woah]

Before Israel, the middle east was controlled by Great Britain

[snickerbockers]

Yeah but only on a temporary basis as they had to promise independence to the Arab tribes for their support against the Ottomans. Which brings us to the land of Palestine, which they actually promised exclusive dominion over to both the Jews and the Arabs. And that brings us full circle to the true shittiest ally America has in the middle east, "Great" Britain

[coffeemug]

Thomas Jefferson sent the U.S. navy to fight the Barbary war (in modern Libya) because he refused to pay tribute to protect our trading routes. This quote is simply false. We've had enemies in the Middle East pretty much since the founding of the American republic.

[margalabargala]

Where do you think Libya is?

Libya is nowhere near the Middle East. It's not even the Near East. It's in northern Africa.

[jordanb]

1) Libya is not in the middle east.

2) This was before our war with Canada and just after our Quasi-war with France.

[nullhole]

> “Every time anyone says that Israel is our only friend in the Middle East, I can’t help but think that before Israel, we had no enemies in the Middle East.” — John Sheehan, S.J.

Before Israel? Like before 1947? When half the place was under British rule and the oil industry was a fraction of what it was today?

That's about as useful as saying that before the atomic bomb, we had no enemies in the Middle East.

What a dishonest way to make such an inflammatory accusation.

[CapricornNoble]

Yes, before 1947, back when the Secretary of State as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all seasoned professionals who had just won WW2, strongly advised AGAINST supporting Zionism in Palestine. They correctly asserted that demands from the Zionists would never end, and that it would sour the US's otherwise solid relations with the entire Arab region.

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1946v07/d5...

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1946v07/d4...

[vFunct]

Yes. Before Israel, when America had no enemies in the mideast. Thanks for confirming.

[fastball]

Who did have enemies in the ME? It was (as stated) mostly a vassal state.

[cloverich]

Oil rose to prominence during this same period; Israel is a major factor but is certainly not the only or even most important issue.

[mensetmanusman]

It wasn’t, the political pressure from Iran’s neighbors was higher, and it didn’t help that the EU was pissed at Iran for helping kill Ukraine.

[dkjaudyeqooe]

This is probably the worst thing about Trump, he's let Bibi lead him around like a dog on a leash.

Any other president would be infuriated with Bibi's actions, because they would know he's cornering the US. But he knew Trump was a pushover.

[I-M-S]

I guess any other president doesn't include Trump's direct predecessor, under whose watch Gaza was allowed to happen.

[dkjaudyeqooe]

A non sequitur followed by a claim that Biden is responsible for Israel's security on the ground against Hamas.

Well Israel's security forces were out to lunch on that score, given how Hamas literately walked all over them, so I can see how you might think that.

But don't let me get in your way while you try to divert attention away from Trump's current recklessness.

[hajile]

Israel ran out of bombs. Biden sent them more so the destruction and killing could continue.

Just one phone call from Biden saying STOP would have halted everything, but Biden is a self-admitted Zionist who never really wanted to stop things.

[0dayz]

Allow Gaza to happen? You mean Biden approved of Oct 7?

[bravesoul2]

No the "self defence" that happened in response to that. 1000s of tonnes of bombs shipped to kill civilians and enact genocide.

[0dayz]

Self defense? Afaik it was a war that now is a genocidal war.

[bravesoul2]

Air quotes because that's how Israel propogandizes it.

[ekam]

He means the genocide and forced starvation of over a hundred thousand innocent Palestinians

[0dayz]

Biden was not in office when the war went from some genuine cause to full blown they can do whatever they want.

[hajile]

The people in Gaza have been starving for nearly 2 years now. Israel was stopping most food trucks from entering for well over a year of Biden's presidency.

[Ar-Curunir]

Did we live through the same Biden presidency?

[tdeck]

A lot of folks were at brunch.

[mensetmanusman]

Weekend at Biden’s was just ice cream.

[Beefin]

you have no idea what you're talking about - every single country that experiences domestic terrorism relies on israeli intelligence for counter terrorism. almost all of europe, us, much of the middle east all have very active intelligence partnerships.

if you think it's one-sided you're either severely misinformed or bigoted.

[austin-cheney]

Obviously I must be an anti-Semite if I don’t 150% support the politics of Israel and their brutality in the West Bank.

In reality though, I have completed 5 CENTCOM US military deployments. There are few people on HN more qualified to speak to the nature of US alliances in the region.

[idiotsecant]

Israel is a terrorist state. I don't know how else you can call it. They have a state policy of terrorizing their neighbors in order to get them to leave their land and have for decades. The fact that they also help spy on our citizens for our government should not be a reason to support them.