Why do (most) Americans instinctively back Israel?

This always strikes me when we discuss the ME - the majority of Americans seem to instinctively back Israel.

Hats off (BTW) to those dissenting yanks on here and elsewhere who do look at things in the round but I suspect you are in the minority.

A few possible reasons:

1. Your president's ceaseless attempts to link any muslim / Arab group who fight back against occupying forces / Israel and make out there's a co-ordinated bloc comprising the taliban / Hezb'Allah / AQ / Saddam / Syria / Iran etc etc.

2. US media's simplistic view of the World leading to biased reporting and thus an incomplete view.

3. US fundamental christian groups who see the establishment of a greater Isreal as fundamental to the second coming of christ (apparently it's in the bible so they support Israel despite Israel being predominantly a jewish state) - this was covered on the BBC recently and it was news to me.

Is the reason most Americans seem to support Israel, fundamentally and seemingly with little room for debate, one of the above or are there other reasons as well?

I could give a political answer to that one but I refrain..I,m sick of politics in this forum by now myself.Instead I,ll give a social one,

As you know,people are scared of the unknown,it,s a simple fact of life..

You were scared on your first day off school.Well I was..No friends,family.All the other kids around you screaming..WHAT? IS THIS PLACE???arrggghhh..lol

You get scared if you hear that your place of work is making cutbacks,could it be your head on the block?

You get scared when you move house.It has been listed as one of the most stressful times that humans encounter.What if it the move goes wrong..Your stuff gets broken/lost.Do you have bad neighbours?etc

Also,as you know,there are a considerable amount of Jewish people living in America,a lot of them in powerful positions I will add.ahem..So therefore you are familiar with them.Judaism becomes familiar to you.Jewish custom becomes familiar.Their beliefs are no longer strange or alien.

Now all it takes is a little apprehension.You see reports of far off countries with strange men in strange clothes.They are in the middle of a strange ceremony in a strange surroundings.It,s the dreaded A-rab..

Now all it takes is a little bias in the media to prevent you from learning more about this strange group of people to instill fear...

It doesn,t have to be a blatant..in your face bias..Just enough so that you are prevented from learning the culture of this strange new creature..
The only reports you see of these Arabs is ones of violence,disruption...

THE DREADED TERRORIST WORD.

Then you become paranoid..
''But I didn,t do anything to them..why would they harm me??''
sure enough up pops a reason..

They are Anti-christian..ANTI-CHRIST you see in your head..
Anti-Semetist..But why?you say..I,ve lived with Jewish people in my community and they seem ok to me.

Very soon you find out that there are MILLIONS of this strange new breed..and you associate millions of them dancing around firing guns in the air and jumping on burning American flags.

In a nutshell..You have to see the sides of every story to make an INFORMED opinion...PERSONALLY..without bias.without it being twisted by the media and it,s agenda.

Try taking a trip to Haifa if you are ANTI-JEWISH..you will see a lot of off duty soldiers there..
Bear in mind that these guys are usually between the ages of 18 to 21..(Girls included.. and they are HOT!!! guys:up
They are happy to talk to you and give you a true perspective on their own personal suffering in times of conflict and you will also find..
THEY DO NOT HATE ARABS!!!..Only hate Arab conflict

Take a trip to Lebanon(conditions permitting)If you are ANTI-ARAB.You will meet the widest range of cultures Co-exiting anywhere in the world.
Lebanese are proud of their country and most of all proud of their people.They have suffered more than anyone should due only to a weak government and powerful oppressive neighbours.You can visit one of the many military funded beach resorts there.
It cost about $5 to enter but they keep the water and beaches clean and serve the largest hotdogs for ridiculously low prices

I know it has been said before in MANY jokes about 95% of Americans don,t even hold a passport.But I beg anyone who is in doubt or scared..Take that trip.. go learn for yourself.Don,t rely on what someone else is prepared to present to you as truth...FLY ...AND DENY ...IGNORANCE.!!

We are taught that the Jewish people are chosen by God as His people, and that whoever blesses them shall also be blessed.
Reading on this thread makes me think of a commercial I saw just the other evening giving a 1-800 # to show support for Israel. I've never seen anything like that before. They are wanting solidarity, and they want to know who is in support.

Thanks for those - interesting answers.

bothered:

I'm intriqued: who teaches you that?

So (if i've got this right) it's a duty of christians to support the state of Israel (or is that the jews per se?) to obtain some christian 'blessing'?

From your post I'm assuming you accept this as a truth?

What about the jews being the ones who killed christ (accepting, for the purposes of the argument, that the bible is correct) doesn't that put the jews and christians at odds?

What happens if you don't support / bless Israel?

Originally posted by bothered
We are taught that the Jewish people are chosen by God as His people, and that whoever blesses them shall also be blessed.

yeah, who does teach you that? If that is what you get in School, that is disturbing and certainly a far cry from the secular Government your supposed to have.

As far as I am concerned, religion is bunk. If they believe that they have a God and he blesses them, that's fine, but if they ask me to believe in this fictional childrens story and bless them as well, well, they can kiss my big, white, hairy behind.

Humanity has had it's fill of hokey religions and the charlatans that exploit them, it is high time we did away with millenia-old folk tales and moved on.

I personally support Israel for religious matters. I am christian, but i do know that Israel is Gods chosen land for HIS chosen ppl the Jews. I have read the Bible enough to know that it doesnt' matter if you're jewish or christian, or even a gentile, Israel is Gods holy land and should be treated as such. IMO also God will allow Israel to receive blessings for doing the right thing or punished for doing the wrong things. He punished the Jews in ww2 with the Holocaust, he is currently punishing Sharon for giving up HIS land. After the Jews punishment was over with after ww2, he let the good ppl remaining return to Israel and become a state. I support and always will support Israel, coz i know there is a plan at work here, and i know that 1 day ALL nations will come against Israel, and i believe it will include the US in this plan. I still will support Israel. Theres no hokey pokey childrens stories in the Bible either. As far as the Jews and christians being at odds over Jesus death, I personally thank Jesus for dying on the cross every single day. He died on that cross so that i may live eternally. I do not look at it as the Jews are the bad guys or whatever, i know that is why Jesus was sent here to earth, to die for our sins and make it so myself and my family can all be allowed in Heaven. Dear God, i want to thank you right now for sending your only son to die on the cross for my sins. Amen!!

I know there are Muslim Jihadists out there but is there a such a thing as a Christian Jihadist? If not then I got dibs on credit for first use of that word on the interweb.

We are not taught it in school or by the gov't, but rather through the accepted translation of the Bible. There are many claims that the gov't lends support due to interest in the ME region and its oil. I think that it is based on biblical teaching and many's beliefs in the prophecies of the Bible.
I've been reading Isaiah and 66:7-14 tells of Jerusalem and foreigners acting towards her.

Does this mean I bow before Israel. No, but I do believe in the reference as God's chosen. More as a representative people who should be acted towards as such.

[edit on 1-8-2006 by bothered]

Well I think Snazuolu's post explains part of it very clearly.
Charming sig banner BTW, "let those who disbelieve suffer eternally"?!!?
Cute

If any Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, pagan, or Muslim Americans (or even non fundie Christians) want a clue what's in store for us from our local Christian equivalents of the fanatical Islamists, I'd take that as a hint.

There is of course only one solution in the long run: we take them out of the picture before they take us out of the picture. Because they want the rest of us dead. But I digress.

There are other factors behind US support for Israel: a massive pro-Israeli political lobby, plus the fact that Jews are an important and well-integrated segment of this society. And since Israel's supporters have successfully sold the bogus idea that opposing Israeli policy is anti-semitism, and nobody wants to be a bigot, support for Israel has become a reflexive position. I suspect that support is beginning to erode quickly with the atrocities in Lebanon however.

[edit on 8/1/06 by xmotex]

Originally posted by stumason

yeah, who does teach you that? If that is what you get in School, that is disturbing and certainly a far cry from the secular Government your supposed to have.

As far as I am concerned, religion is bunk. If they believe that they have a God and he blesses them, that's fine, but if they ask me to believe in this fictional childrens story and bless them as well, well, they can kiss my big, white, hairy behind.

Humanity has had it's fill of hokey religions and the charlatans that exploit them, it is high time we did away with millenia-old folk tales and moved on.

No, it doesn't get taught in school. Americans value far more than what is taught in their heads at school, and school is still quite secular.

Unlike in Europe, many Americans are very religous, and attend church very regularly. Thus, it is taught in the more fundemental or more conservative churchs.

I was raised penecostal, and it was something they constantly preached. Israel the holy land, support Israel no matter what, god will curse you if you dont, blah blah blah. When I stopped being a Christian, I stopped believing Israel was gods gift to the world.

I know there are Muslim Jihadists out there but is there a such a thing as a Christian Jihadist? If not then I got dibs on credit for first use of that word on the interweb.

Sorry, no such thing. Jihadist is strictly a Muslim term. The christian crusader would be the Christian equivilant of a jihadist. A crusader will fight "war in the name of god" as opposed to the holy war Muslim extremists fight.

Originally posted by xmotex
Well I think Snazuolu's post explains part of it very clearly.
Charming sig banner BTW, "let those who disbelieve suffer eternally"?!!?
Cute

you think EVERYONE should be entitled to Heaven, even if they dont' believe?? sounds typical me, me,me,me that i hear so much of today.

Great question Strangerous.

Of course, we all know that "Terrorism" started on September 11th 2001.

NOT.

I started a thread here - Terrorists - Drawing Parallels

Which - as the title suggests - draws a few parallels with the intent of questioning this "support"

I would suggest that the main defining thing is that its easy to label, and once something is labelled it tends to stick. Hence the use of buzzword by propagandists like "anti-american" (which was coined by the Republicans instead of "anti-president or "anti-Bush") and "anti-semitic" (which used to mean hate against a jew purely based on their religion and has now been shanghaied into use against people who question the actions of the IDF and Israeli governement regardless).

And so the word "Terrorist" has been shanghaied with a new meaning, which is "People who the Bush administration deem to be terrorists", post September 11th 2001.

This is getting interesting!

I'm now really confused - the head of the anglican church (Arch Bish - canterbury branch) doesn't teach this modern Isreal is the home of god's people stuff - neither does the pope, the leader of the other great christian sect.

I'm assuming there's only one current version of the bible in circulation (? ) - are the two above big holy cheeses wrong or has american christianity gone down a different path from the rest of the world?

If this is the case why on earth (or in heaven / nirvana / wherever) has this occurred?

I'm just trying to work this one out - please don't set snakes, locusts or Pharisees on my ass - thanks

Strangerous! GOOD POINT...

why is it that Americans specifically believe all that stuff? From what I can remember of Sunday School (UK Baptist - not like the US "holy roller" baptists) there was a lot of stuff about the Jews being God's chosen people but this was superseded by JE-sus coming down and dying for ALL of us, not just the Jews, who turn out to be not quite such a special deal after all. What a bloke, getting nailed to a cross so you and I can... er... what was that again? I forget. And of course anyone who doesn't believe on JC gets slung into the ol' lake of fire.

Anyway, these days I'm a Taoist. MUCH more sensible religion - and you will look in VAIN for historical examples of Taoists persecuting anyone else, engaging in holy wars, or any of that nonsense. Plus, it actually has, in chi gung and its associated meditative practices, a well-trodden path to spiritual development... and no THREATS. No going to hell. You do the work, and get on with it, and have a better, stronger, healthier, more sensible life... or you don't. And carry on as you are, whatever that means for whoever you are. No celestial bogeyman with a flaming sword, no lakes of fire. In fact, I'm not even sure that it qualifies as a religion in the usual sense because there's no sense of having to prostrate yourself before any bloke with a beard who lives in the sky.

But it is an interesting point that you raise. And I have to say that while the religious aspects of supporting Israel may give some sense of comfort to US policymakers, I certainly believe that it's not the driving force... or at least not in the early days. I am pretty sure that there was a powerful Jewish lobby in the immediate post-war period and the Gentiles involved had their eyes on the oil and building up an ally in the region. I'm also pretty sure that these days the tail is wagging the dog - the number of neocons with, shall we say, dual loyalties, is quite remarkable.

The reason why most Americans support Israeli is because an overhwheming amount of terrorist attacks are committed by Muslims, Muslims say Down With America, they burn the American flag, call us the Great Satan, scream our downfall. Since the Israeli people really don't do this, I think it is safe to assume why most Americans support Israel over the Arab/Muslim world...

[edit on 1-8-2006 by RetinoidReceptor]

Originally posted by ThePieMaN
I know there are Muslim Jihadists out there but is there a such a thing as a Christian Jihadist? If not then I got dibs on credit for first use of that word on the interweb.

You can have the credit but I agree with you. As I stated in my ATSNN piece It Isn't About the Oil After All, "Jihad isn't just for Muslims anymore"...

And I agree with the majority here that the reason is religion. It's the deeply ingrained religious fervor of extremist Christianity that's driving one side of the conflict, while the deeply ingrained religious fervor of extremist Islam drives the other.

And for those who aren't religious, Christians and their supporters have done a fine job of demonizing Muslims as "terrorists" to get the blood boiling of all Americans, religious or not.

I do not support Israel, nor am I against them. I am neutral in this insanity.

I do not support Israel, nor am I against them. I am neutral in this insanity.

me too

Originally posted by ThePieMaN
I know there are Muslim Jihadists out there but is there a such a thing as a Christian Jihadist?

Just to be completely clear, the Christians don't call it "jihad", they call it a "Crusade".

A few days after the assault, George W. Bush did this. Speaking spontaneously, without the aid of advisers or speechwriters, he put a word on the new American purpose that both shaped it and gave it meaning. "This crusade," he said, "this war on terrorism."
...
For George W. Bush, crusade was an offhand reference. But all the more powerfully for that, it was an accidental probing of unintended but nevertheless real meaning. That the President used the word inadvertently suggests how it expressed his exact truth, an unmasking of his most deeply felt purpose. Crusade, he said. Later, his embarrassed aides suggested that he had meant to use the word only as a synonym for struggle, but Bush's own syntax belied that. He defined crusade as war. Even offhandedly, he had said exactly what he meant.

The Bush Crusade

One man's Crusade is another man's Jihad.

Jihad: The usual translation of jihad as ‘holy war’ is misleading; ‘exertion ’or ‘struggle’ is more accurate...

Source

In a post 9/11 world you shouldnt even have to ask why Americans support Israel right now. DUH!!!

Well, if somebody did ask what would your answer be?

Perhaps you don't think people should ask, but they are. Your answer doesn't really shed any light on the subject.