History/Poli Sci Lesson Needed...

[masomenos]

Can anyone explain our deep ties to Israel to me? The whys, the whens, the whos, anything. It's something that I've been curious about for a while now but haven't really found the info that I'm looking for. Please, school me on this.

[Danny White]

That's quite a question... one I know I'm not qualified to answer off the top of my head.

Just googling, here's some links... I can't attest to how good or biased any of them may be.

http://www.meforum.org/article/433

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/roots_of_US-Israel.html

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/282

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel-United_States_relations


Hope something in here helps.

[DragonCowboy]

This is what I THINK happened:

After the Holocaust, Britain (?) promised Israel its own country with Jerusalem, and U.S. and Britain resolved to protect Israel from any belligerents in the Middle East. Also, being committed to Israel gives U.S. a good strategic point in the Middle East I guess.

I'm probably wrong, but this was what I thought had happened.

[hairic]

Mostly books:
http://www.questia.com/library/history/middle-eastern-history/u-s-israel-relations.jsp

[burmafrd]

Actually we did not start to really support Israel untill the 60's. We gave them VERY little help up till then. Military help anyway. In the 60s Egypt and Syria got closer to the Russians= so we naturally got closer to who they were against. Also the natural US inclination to cheer for the underdog probably factored into that. AND the Jewish part of the Democratic party got some strength in the 60s and that had a lot to do with it as well.

The interesting thing about the Brits is that their Foreign Ministry was about as anti semetic as you could get and not be called Nazi's.

[Ben_n_austin]

This is what I THINK happened:

After the Holocaust, Britain (?) promised Israel its own country with Jerusalem, and U.S. and Britain resolved to protect Israel from any belligerents in the Middle East. Also, being committed to Israel gives U.S. a good strategic point in the Middle East I guess.

I'm probably wrong, but this was what I thought had happened.

You got the just of it. Nobody wanted the Jews around. They wanted them dead. The U.S. or Brittain wanted to protect the Jews. But they were in a region that was hard to protect. So they established that the Jews would occupy Israel. And we would help them out against "belligerents". ;)

That's the dumbed down version, I think.

[burmafrd]

We really did not help Israel out much at all for quite a while. Their war for survival in 1948, they pretty much did on their own.

[yeahyeah]

AIPAC. Dig on that and you might find your answer.

[Ben_n_austin]

We really did not help Israel out much at all for quite a while. Their war for survival in 1948, they pretty much did on their own.

I could be wrong, but I thought we sold them weapons. . . .

[Ben_n_austin]

That's quite a question... one I know I'm not qualified to answer off the top of my head.

Just googling, here's some links... I can't attest to how good or biased any of them may be.

http://www.meforum.org/article/433

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/roots_of_US-Israel.html

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/282

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel-United_States_relations


Hope something in here helps.

Ah, what a refreshing day. Thanks for those links. You learn something every day. I have a good friend who is Israeli. I miss him a lot because he was truly a good guy and would go the extra mile for friends and then line you out for screwing up at the same time. He was great at getting people motivated to do the "unachievable".

He had already done his mandatory time in the Israeli army, then he lived in the U.S. about 4 years before 9/11. He is now trading dollars for shankles (sp?), but before then he made some pretty outstanding films documenting Randy Coutoure that never went on to get published because Randy signed with FX shortly before they got their contract with him signed (which I told them to do first, by the way).

In any case, he was then living with B.J. Penn in one of his basement houses while also doing a film on him that he's still working on in Israel. Though it seems the money has shifted his film priorities to the bling, he is still a cool guy who I know deep down will have big dreams and an open mind to the world, life and its oppositions

[Ben_n_austin]

I found this portion of the wiki link provided by Dani had some relevancy to your question.

=====
U.S.-Israeli ties strengthened during the second Reagan term. Israel was granted "major non-NATO "ally" status in 1987 that gave it access to expanded weapons systems and opportunities to bid on U.S. defense contracts. The United States maintained grant aid to Israel at $3 billion annually and implemented a free trade agreement in 1985. Since then all customs duties between the two trading partners have been eliminated.
In 1985 US support the Israeli economic stabilization plan by grant of $1.5 billion for two years and advice of economic exports.

On a side I found the below portion interesting as well. . .
=====


In November 1985, Johnathan Pollard, a civilian U.S. naval intelligence employee, and his wife were charged with selling classified documents to Israel. Four Israeli officials also were indicted. The Israeli government claimed that it was a rogue operation. Pollard was sentenced to life in prison and his wife to two consecutive five-year terms. Israelis complain that Pollard received an excessively harsh sentence, and some Israelis have made a cause of his plight. Pollard was granted Israeli citizenship in 1996, and Israeli officials periodically raise the Pollard case with U.S. counterparts, although there is not a formal request for clemency pending.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel-United_States_relations