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Notes -
US support for Israel is not and never was driven by oil. The oil is controlled by the Gulf Arabs, and the Gulf Arabs hated Israel as much as everyone else in the region until the 2010s when the Middle East became a giant proxy war between Iranian and Saudi-backed jihadi groups. The first oil shock in 1973 was engineered deliberately by the Gulf Arabs to punish America (and other western countries) for supporting Israel. The "realist" policy in the post Cold War era (as practiced, for example, by both Bushes) was to unofficially tie American pressure on Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians to commitments from the Fremen to keep the Spice flowing.
True I left out the support of Israel causing a lot of pre-2010 issues. And that’s a big reason we had negative Middle East issues back then.
The broad security blanket we provided the ME wasn’t that expensive and necessary. Supporting Israel was expensive. Mea culpa I wasn’t thinking about the costs of Israel back then and it’s a glaring omission.
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