I get why conservative and evangelical Christians in the West support Israel, they read the same book more or less. But I don’t get why liberals and progressives do.
Progressive politics has been infiltrated by Zionist lobbyists from the Harry Truman days. Much more so than Republicans.
LBJ was a democrat who accepted the USS Liberty, while Reagan was the one who actually stopped the carnage in Lebanon, calling it a Holocaust.
Believe it or not, but Trump is actually less beholden to Israel than Biden. Trump and Republicans are actually more beholden to Saudi-Arabia, which is why MBS could quite easily get them to stop the Gaza genocide.
As to why, it’s mostly due to the Holocaust narrative and the idea that Palestine was empty and Jews needed a homeland.
Younger progressives know better, but this propaganda was immensely effective in the past among liberals and progressives.
Today, it’s mostly money and the influence they have in the party through people like Schumer, Blinken, etc.
Look how AIPAC recently primaried Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman. And a few years ago they also primaried a progressive Jewish (!) congressman who was critical of the apartheid.
Then explain how Trump got the ceasefire deal that Biden couldn’t get?
It’s quite likely Democrats would have won the election with a ceasefire in place and that’s why Biden tried his best to get it before the summer. He used the UN and put pressure on Netanyahu by withholding some weapons, but his AIPAC leash was too tight and Netanyahu and the Republicans humiliated him in front of the world multiple times, so he had to give up.
Trump doesn’t give a shit about Palestinians. But he isn’t as controlled by AIPAC as Biden was. He has Elon Musk and his own cult. He can tell Netanyahu to eat rocks without losing his power base.
It’s unproven, but there are multiple sources claiming that Trump called Netanyahu to not get a ceasefire in place to hurt the Harris campaign. Then once Trump was in office, Netanyahu suddenly cooperated and Trump brokered a ceasefire deal. It’s not that crazy to think Netanyahu wanted to punish Biden and Harris and might view Trump as an obvious ally (certainly more likely to enable Israel’s genocide than the Democrats would).
Either way, Trump has consistently been pro-Israel, and donors to AIPAC tend to be Republicans and Trump himself is one of those donors. In turn AIPAC funds more GOP candidates in elections than Democrats, even while funding both parties (source).
Trump and the GOP are more enthusiastic supporters of Israel, whether this makes them more beholden I’m not sure, but the idea that Biden is somehow more loyal to Israel seems entirely wrong-headed to me, especially as Biden has been openly critical of Netanyahu and was harsher with Israel than expected, esp. for being a typical pro-Israel conservative Democrat.
Maybe Trump cares less about alienating someone like Netanyahu, but who knows - my impression is that these two are more like natural allies. Maybe that relationship will sour with the influence of Saudi Arabia, but Trump won’t be concerned about Palestinian civilians being killed and certainly won’t have the same pressure from his base to intercede on behalf of Palestinians. If anything, it’s the opposite - Trump has immense pressure from his evangelical base to take pro-Israel positions, and it even extends to his family - his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, are Orthodox Jews who keep kosher and observe the Shabbat, and guess who Trump put in charge of coming up with a “Middle East peace plan” during his first term? Kushner, who came up with a plan criticized for being lopsided and requiring too few concessions from Israel and too many harsh requirements on the Palestinians. Kushner reportedly has business ties to Israel, and Trump illegally negotiated with foreign officials like the Egyptian president to try to kill a UN resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements.
Anyway, the examples of Trump’s loyalty to Israel are extensive (more so than Biden’s), even if you’re right that Trump’s loyalty could shift due to other influences like Saudi.
The ones that do that don’t fit into the religious aspect as well, are in it for the money. Just like most politicians, they’ve sold their souls for the greenbacks.
The church I grew up in in the '80s and early '90s went on about synagogues of satan and jews killing jesus, so I’m not sure that’s exactly true (or, perhaps more accurately, true of the government/inhabitants vs the place).
They supported some idea of Israel, but not a Jewish state of Israel, for their own ends. Yeah, rural Ohio where I grew up was full of antisemitism and racism (and in many places probably still is)
I get why conservative and evangelical Christians in the West support Israel, they read the same book more or less. But I don’t get why liberals and progressives do.
Progressive politics has been infiltrated by Zionist lobbyists from the Harry Truman days. Much more so than Republicans.
LBJ was a democrat who accepted the USS Liberty, while Reagan was the one who actually stopped the carnage in Lebanon, calling it a Holocaust.
Believe it or not, but Trump is actually less beholden to Israel than Biden. Trump and Republicans are actually more beholden to Saudi-Arabia, which is why MBS could quite easily get them to stop the Gaza genocide.
As to why, it’s mostly due to the Holocaust narrative and the idea that Palestine was empty and Jews needed a homeland.
Younger progressives know better, but this propaganda was immensely effective in the past among liberals and progressives.
Today, it’s mostly money and the influence they have in the party through people like Schumer, Blinken, etc.
Look how AIPAC recently primaried Cori Bush, Jamaal Bowman. And a few years ago they also primaried a progressive Jewish (!) congressman who was critical of the apartheid.
I’m highly skeptical Trump is less beholden to Israel than Biden.
Then explain how Trump got the ceasefire deal that Biden couldn’t get?
It’s quite likely Democrats would have won the election with a ceasefire in place and that’s why Biden tried his best to get it before the summer. He used the UN and put pressure on Netanyahu by withholding some weapons, but his AIPAC leash was too tight and Netanyahu and the Republicans humiliated him in front of the world multiple times, so he had to give up.
Trump doesn’t give a shit about Palestinians. But he isn’t as controlled by AIPAC as Biden was. He has Elon Musk and his own cult. He can tell Netanyahu to eat rocks without losing his power base.
It’s unproven, but there are multiple sources claiming that Trump called Netanyahu to not get a ceasefire in place to hurt the Harris campaign. Then once Trump was in office, Netanyahu suddenly cooperated and Trump brokered a ceasefire deal. It’s not that crazy to think Netanyahu wanted to punish Biden and Harris and might view Trump as an obvious ally (certainly more likely to enable Israel’s genocide than the Democrats would).
Either way, Trump has consistently been pro-Israel, and donors to AIPAC tend to be Republicans and Trump himself is one of those donors. In turn AIPAC funds more GOP candidates in elections than Democrats, even while funding both parties (source).
Trump and the GOP are more enthusiastic supporters of Israel, whether this makes them more beholden I’m not sure, but the idea that Biden is somehow more loyal to Israel seems entirely wrong-headed to me, especially as Biden has been openly critical of Netanyahu and was harsher with Israel than expected, esp. for being a typical pro-Israel conservative Democrat.
Maybe Trump cares less about alienating someone like Netanyahu, but who knows - my impression is that these two are more like natural allies. Maybe that relationship will sour with the influence of Saudi Arabia, but Trump won’t be concerned about Palestinian civilians being killed and certainly won’t have the same pressure from his base to intercede on behalf of Palestinians. If anything, it’s the opposite - Trump has immense pressure from his evangelical base to take pro-Israel positions, and it even extends to his family - his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, are Orthodox Jews who keep kosher and observe the Shabbat, and guess who Trump put in charge of coming up with a “Middle East peace plan” during his first term? Kushner, who came up with a plan criticized for being lopsided and requiring too few concessions from Israel and too many harsh requirements on the Palestinians. Kushner reportedly has business ties to Israel, and Trump illegally negotiated with foreign officials like the Egyptian president to try to kill a UN resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements.
Anyway, the examples of Trump’s loyalty to Israel are extensive (more so than Biden’s), even if you’re right that Trump’s loyalty could shift due to other influences like Saudi.
Your first point just proves that Trump has control over Netanyahu, while Netanyahu had power over Biden/Harris.
I’m not denying that Trump is pro-Israel and has financial interests.
But where Biden was cucked by Netanyahu, Trump definitely has the upper hand over Netanyahu.
That’s what I mean by beholden. Who has the power over who.
Aligned interests are not the same as control.
The ones that do that don’t fit into the religious aspect as well, are in it for the money. Just like most politicians, they’ve sold their souls for the greenbacks.
It’s that sweet aipac money spending hundreds of millions in the last American election.
Did you forget the afhgan, iraq war, gulf war?
The church I grew up in in the '80s and early '90s went on about synagogues of satan and jews killing jesus, so I’m not sure that’s exactly true (or, perhaps more accurately, true of the government/inhabitants vs the place).
Fundies supporting Israel as a means to immanentize the eschaton doesn’t imply that the same fundies aren’t also antisemitic.
They supported some idea of Israel, but not a Jewish state of Israel, for their own ends. Yeah, rural Ohio where I grew up was full of antisemitism and racism (and in many places probably still is)