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So apparently after 40-some odd years, US military aid to Israel is ending. (Or at least Trump announced he is ending it. Arguably it's a decision for Congress)
In any event, this is interesting to me for a couple of reasons. First, even though I am generally pro-Israel I am against US military aid to Israel. With its advanced economy, Israel doesn't really need it, it gives ammunition to various people who like to claim that (AIPAC; the Jewish Lobby; da Jooz; etc.) control everything, and it allows the US to exercise a lot of control over Israeli military spending and sales.
Unfortunately, I am not optimistic that those who harp on the issue of this military aid will dial down their complaints about Israel. It seems to me that the military aid is more of an excuse to attack Israel as opposed to the actual objection.
I would analogize these criticisms to Trump's famous they/them attack ad. Spin doctors may have claimed that the ad was really about budgetary priorities, but it was pretty obvious that in reality, Trump was capitalizing on widespread American opposition to gender ideology.
So I guess my question is this: Among people who complain a lot about US military aid to Israel (and in fact there have been complaints here just in the last week or so), and assuming that the aid is stopped, to what extent will this satisfy them?
My gut feeling is that you could build a time machine, undo the current US involvement in the Iran conflict, and it would lead to none of these people being satisfied. The dissatisfaction has been simmering for a long time, and Iran is the cherry on top.
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Netanyahu has been talking about weaning Israel off of US aid for a while now. I thought it was some kind of talking point he was making relating to internal Israeli politics to satisfy voices critical of that state of affairs, i.e. 'we are completely dependent on a foreign state and that's a potentially giant weakness'.
That being said, US aid to Israel isn't just coming in the form of 4 billion dollars. And whether one likes being dependent or not is often inconsequential to whether you actually are.
To the extent many are critical of jews and Israel, it's not necessarily about the total monetary amount but the process and the drive behind it that got America to that point, where it must be highlighted that the aid is ending only after Netanyahu said that it should.
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I'm not a US citizen (and Germany is not about to follow suit any time soon), but if I were I think I would be about 50% satisfied if this indeed went through (which I highly doubt). The other 50% would be about the US using its political muscle to help Israel against third parties (such as sanctioning ICC judges who prosecute Israeli officials, legally punishing boycott movements, or pressuring other countries against taking actions against it).
If this stopped, again under the hypothetical where I am a US citizen, this would not make me like what they are doing, but it would demote the salience of their business back to the level of dozens of other far-flung regions stuck in a perpetual cycle of bad people making each other's lives miserable.
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Same, the only steelman I could give for aid is that is allows the US to exert leverage over them (particularly their military actions). But that only works if you're actually willing to pull the plug, and Israel has made it clear that they don't really give a damn what the US wants them to do.
It’s better for Israel to get out of the direct aid game in the current political environment. American politics are very partisan now and you don’t want Israel to be an issue. Quiet support when they need it is probably better. The old game where everyone supported Jews because of Holocaust is dead.
And honestly as a Republican I asks myself why do we support Israel? Jews mostly hate Republicans. I saw a favorability ranking of Evangelicals among Jews and it’s -40%. Evangelicals have long heavily supported Israel and it’s not even that Jews don’t vote with Evangelicals…..they hate them.
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I'll just register my prediction early - nothing is going to happen and nothing will change in the US relationship with Israel. Trump is just blustering on election day.
Concur. Bluster may or may not even have to do with election day.
It is kinda late for an october surprise.
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