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What explains Americans’ strong support for Israel?

What explains Americans’ strong support for Israel?

Jet lag finally caught up with us. Three days of running on adrenaline stopped cold.

But the day was not lost.

I had a chance to spend some time with reader Israel Pickholtz, better known as Jerusalem Genealogist. I didn’t recognize him without his beard.

(me and Israel Pickholtz aka Jerusalem Genealogist)

(me and Israel Pickholtz aka Jerusalem Genealogist)

Later, we visited the cemetery on Mount Herzl, where many of Israel’s founders and political leaders are buried, including Golda Meir:

Golda Meir Grave Mount Herzl

And Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister who was assassinated, and now is buried next to his wife:

Yitzhak Rabin Grave Mount Herzl

(Yitzhak and Leah Rabin Grave Mount Herzl)

A group of military officers was gathered in a field near the cemeteries.  It was explained to us that this exercise was conducted each year among officers who would make the trip to visit Auschwitz.

(Israeli Officers, Mount Herzl)

(Israeli Officers, Mount Herzl)

Then on to the Ben Yehuda Street market:

(Ben Yehuda Street Market – Jerusalem)

Then I was off to meetings with more people who shall remain nameless to get a better understanding of the challenges facing Israel.  Let me boil down the explanation:

Israelis are few, the enemies of Israel are many, so Israel has to be innovative, and learn to improvise to deal with the many.

I also offered my take on American politics — nothing you haven’t heard here before — including the overwhelming support for Israel in the conservative blogosphere and the Tea Party movement, and the lack of any political traction for anti-Israel sentiment outside of certain pockets of influence.  Even the liberal mainstream U.S. media, though often implicitly biased against Israel in presenting the conflict, would not consider itself anti-Israel.

Those pockets of open anti-Israel hostility include college campuses and academia, exploited by the BDS, Pinkwashing, and other movements, which while themselves not significant in the country as a whole, disproportionately make noise and risk influencing younger people.  Another pocket is left-wing Jewish circles — where psychiatric analysis probably would be more informative than political analysis.

One simple and obvious question came up toward the end and caught me off guard.  To paraphrase:

What explains Americans’ strong support for Israel, this tiny county of 8 million people so far away?

I babbled something about shared enemies and so on.  Undoubtedly the rise of radical Islam was part of it. But I struggled. The best I could come up defied data points.

At some point in the last 40 years something fundamental happened in the relationship between the American people and Israel far deeper than government policy, which fluctuates.  The friendship with and support for Israel became a part of the American psyche.

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Comments

The Drill SGT | July 24, 2013 at 8:16 pm

I’ll give you a few one liners.

– Support for the underdog?
– Americans like a winner? (I know, they contradict each other.)
– Anerican / Jewish exceptionalism
– Frontier spirit
– Payback for the Holocaust
– Democracy

    Ditto! Spend some time in neighboring Arab countries and in Israel and Israel only looks better and better.

    ClinkinKy in reply to The Drill SGT. | July 25, 2013 at 7:32 am

    One more: B.O.’s determination to see them destroyed:)

    Musson in reply to The Drill SGT. | July 25, 2013 at 9:17 am

    Americans my age remember the six day war and the Yom Kippur War and Israel fighting like David against Goliath. But Americans my kids age only know Israel from biased TB news reporting of Israelis killing Palestinian children. So, unfortunately, support for Israel is dying in the USA.

    The fact that so many American Jews are anti-Israel greatly damages our relationship as well.

    creeper in reply to The Drill SGT. | July 25, 2013 at 10:16 am

    Moses.

    Christians are fascinated by Moses. The story of the baby in the ark and who he grew up to be is one of the first religious stories children hear, after the Nativity. It forges a connection that remains for a lifetime.

    We atheists just admire their guts.

The Drill SGT | July 24, 2013 at 8:21 pm

PS: The first time I really related to Israeli’s was in 1974. I was a student at the Armor School at Fort Knox. The story relates back to the 1973 war. Apparently the war broke out and the next day, every Israeli exchange student was missing, while all the Arabs were still in class.

It sent ripples of Duty, Honor, Country through my American Brethren

Carol Herman | July 24, 2013 at 8:25 pm

It used to be social security that was called “The 3rd Rail.” If we’re lucky? When obama went after Israel just now, his job approval numbers began to plummet downhill.

Yes, it’s obvious Israel has support in America. Because after obama dissed Bibi at that infamous white house visit; where he left to “go and eat dinner with his family,” Bibi then went to Congress. And, got a standing ovation.

Winston Churchill once held that magic. So when he came to give a speech to a joint session of Congress, he said, “if only my father was American, and my mom British” … Ta da.

Americans pick winners and losers.

Europeans pick their noses. (Which is really the reason there are buttons on a man’s jacket cuffs. And, a breast pocket for a hanky.)

You know, in a sense, the law is just the same, in terms of comparisons to a small unit keeping a giant sized world at bay. For example, there are really so few lawyers to the many law abiding citizens. And, there’s a big pool of bad guys. If we didn’t have a sense of fairness in our laws … It would be lawlessness that prevails. And, that ain’t pretty.

PS: Golda Meir had to resign. There was a general, named Ashkenazi. Who had seen the slaughter in the Sinai campaign. The day after the l973 war ended. He stood outside (by himself) in front of Golda Meir’s knesset office window. The sigh read: 3000 OF YOUR SONS ARE DEAD. RESIGN. Peole passing honked their horns. And, then more people arrived. She’d look out her window and she’d see Israelis weren’t happy with her prime-ministership.

The sad news is that politicians are never ready to hand over their powers to another team. It took Arik Sharon until 1977 just to get Menachem Begin to move into position to head the Likud. It would have been easier to herd cats.

But, again, the beauty of being small. When a change happens its very recognizable.

    David Yotham in reply to Carol Herman. | July 25, 2013 at 7:48 am

    re: Americans pick winners and losers.

    Europeans pick their noses. (Which is really the reason there are buttons on a man’s jacket cuffs. And, a breast pocket for a hanky.)

    I laughed so hard that I feel off my chair! That is one great contrast. Now, if we could just get rid of our present crop of losers in Washington….

easy explanation for many of us.
judeo christian underpinnings, and we’re also smart enough to realize there are people that do not want them to even exist let alone prosper.

    David Yotham in reply to dmacleo. | July 25, 2013 at 8:02 am

    Yes, at first glance, you would appear to be correct. However that judeo-christian underpinning you speak of also speaks strongly concerning divorce (Malichi 2:16), love (First John 3:14-16), sodomy (Leviticus 20:13 Romans 1:27) and a host of other issues. The Judeo-Christian population within America has no problem with divorce, while at the same time supporting Israel.

Yes, it’s part underdog, part shared enemies, part shared (Judeo-Christian) foundational values, part the fact that our nation has–until very recently–stood by Israel (so we, too, stand by and with Israel in that way that permeates one’s socio-cultural being), part that Israel–alone among countries in that region–stood by us after 9/11 (no cheering in the streets there), part outrage that Israel’s enemies want Israel quite literally wiped off the map, and it’s also, for those of us who believe it, that Israel is God’s chosen nation, Israel’s people–the Jewish people–are God’s chosen. Many Christians believe that just as firmly as we believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior. So it’s everything that’s been said above (and will be said below), but the sum of it all is that intangible thing, part of our psyche (as you note) and maybe even part of our souls, that makes it difficult for others to understand or for us to adequately explain the depth of our unwavering support for Israel.

If I were not a committed Catholic, I would become Jewish – well, O.K., that is contradictory at several levels. Those of us who are not Jewish who support Israel recognize that Israel is a bastion of civilization in the midst of barbarians. It does trouble me some, though, that Israel seems to have a significant minority of leftists who seem unable to recognize the best interests of their country and who occasionally cause real trouble.

    Juba Doobai! in reply to nomadic100. | July 25, 2013 at 8:31 am

    Hear, hear! But, we may consider ourselves Jews, grafted in by Christ, and Jews we were called until Antioch.

Humphreys Executor | July 24, 2013 at 9:37 pm

I admire their chutzpah (in the positive sense of the word).

Perhaps I’m biased because many years ago I was fortunate enough to have friends who were holocaust survivors….they were reluctant to speak in much detail of what they endured but the pain was evident in their eyes.

Like you Professor, it’s difficult to put into words so I’ll describe it this way:

Israel to me is a tiny version of us yet in it’s own way on a grander scale.

If you look for it on a globe you may need a magnifying glass to see it, but when you do it shines with that old American spirit known as freedom.

    LukeHandCool in reply to Joy. | July 24, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    Yep, Joy.

    Mr. Feder, a Holocaust survivor, worked for my dad.

    He was a heckuva role model. Lovely, lovely man who’d been through absolute hell.

    Every gentile boy should be so lucky to know a Mr. Feder. He made a huge impression on me. In a way I feel I’d be dishonoring his memory if I didn’t support Israel and try to make supporters out of others.

    You read about the Holocaust in a book as a boy and it seems like ancient history. You help a man stock your dad’s store and you see that number tattooed on his arm … the one your mother warned you never to mention … and that awful history comes alive.

LukeHandCool | July 24, 2013 at 10:12 pm

A tiny, pro-American democracy surrounded largely by barbarians who wish to destroy her … and the question needs to be asked?

I would ask, “Why on earth wouldn’t Americans support Israel?”

I’ve come across those who don’t support her. Almost all are unsavory in some aspect(s) of character, temperament, and worldview.

I worry about the anti-American and anti-Israel brainwashing that’s being done in so many of our colleges and universities (and, more and more, in K-12).

Once a worldview is set, it’s hard as hell to change. I’m not worried about my own kids as I’ve explained my worldview to them and how I came to it. They are inoculated against the PC diatribes and rantings at school. But it seems there are a lot of kids out there susceptible to this crap. I saw the heads nodding in unison to many a professor’s half-baked ideas about how the world works many a time. Seeing that, and how easily they lap it up, gives you pause.

We have to fight back by teaching our children well, and we have to take back our institutions, at least to a degree.

Anyway, what was the original question again?

    jayjerome66 in reply to LukeHandCool. | July 24, 2013 at 10:29 pm

    “Not all Americans share the enthusiasm. Certainly not the Black community, who identify more with the Palestinians, and have transferred their long history of antisemitism in the US to Israelis.

      Juba Doobai! in reply to jayjerome66. | July 25, 2013 at 8:35 am

      I’ve explained time and again to people in the black community why Israel should be their role model. People don’t listen. They prefer to hate Jews and spew Islamic filth.

        LukeHandCool in reply to Juba Doobai!. | July 25, 2013 at 2:57 pm

        I agree, except for African Americans who reject the victim mentality and playing the race card, etc.

        I worked with one black woman who was absolutely leftist bonkers. When a black USC football player doing chest presses dropped the barbell on his neck, almost killing himself, she had a conspiracy theory blaming the white coaches at the ready. A player drops a barbell on himself, and somehow a conspiracy of the white coaches is to blame. Insane. Absolutely insane.

        When I posed the simple question as to why they’d go to all that trouble instead of just not recruiting him in the first place (and were the coaches trying to kill their other black players, too? Didn’t they want to win any games?) she, in all seriousness, yelled at me,

        “You have no idea what it’s like to be a black man in America.”

        I wanted to respond, “Neither do you! Because you are completely delusional!”

        But I just laughed and rolled my eyes.

        Now, would it surprise you to know that she blamed the Jews and Israel for all kinds of problems in America and the world?

        Thank God they finally forced her to transfer out (not because of her crazy views … because, surprise, surprise, she was completely incompetent in her work … when she chose to actually do some work, which wasn’t often … She was nothing but trouble.

        Now, that is a nut that is hard to crack with reason and persuasion.

        That is the kind of nutcase Al Sharpton and his ilk help to create.

        Another black lady I work with is completely the opposite. A cheerful, hard-working, devoted Christian, it shouldn’t surprise you that she is pro-Israel. And, a lovely person.

I love the pictures, keep them coming Professor.

1) Judeo-Christian Values.
2a) The Rule of Law.
2b) Democracy.
3) Freedom.
4) Self Determination.
5) Possible destruction of anything not of the Muslim faith in the holy lands. Look at what the Muslim Taliban did to 2 of the worlds largest Buddha statues in Afghanistan. They blew them up, 1 a 165 foot statue the other 150 feet tall. 1700 year old statues made of limestone that were wiped from the face of the earth. Think the religion of peace wouldn’t do that to Christian or Jewish antiquities?http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1326063/After-1700-years-Buddhas-fall-to-Taliban-dynamite.html

    Uncle Samuel in reply to styro1. | July 25, 2013 at 5:21 am

    A more recent and relevant example is destruction and vandalism of the Cave of the Patriarchs.

    “A leading rabbi in the government has expressed outrage over destruction of Jewish holy articles at the Cave of the Patriarchs by Muslims following their worship at the site on Friday.

    Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, who serves as Deputy Religious Affairs Minister and Supervisor of Holy Sites, visited the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron after receiving reports of the vandalism.’‘

    Jewish worshipers who arrived at the site after Muslim prayers on Friday were horrified to find widespread desecration of the holy tomb. Two mezuzahs – the cases containing Jewish holy scriptures affixed to the doorpost, and the scriptures contained therein – had been torn off and stone. A third was damaged.

    The Muslim worshipers had also hurled mud and garbage around the site – Judaism’s second holiest, after the Temple Mount – where the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah lie interred.”

    This is not the first time or first place of such destruction. The Muslims are trying to remove ancient artifacts and remnants of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

    Muslims used Jewish tombstones to build latrines during the occupation of Jerusalem.

All of the above. And like the US, a democracy, with many European settlers.

I have a tree in Israel, but don’t know where exactly. One of my uncles was a WWII paratrooper. His regiment was dropped near one of the Nazi concentration camps. What he saw there severely affected him. After the war, when news stories began to appear about concentration camp survivors relocating to the newly formed State Of Israel, he insisted all of our family members – 16 altogether – plant trees there. Mine cost me two weeks allowance, about two dollars back then. Sometime after we received paper certificates, thanking us, with a map indicating where they were planted. But that has vanished with many other threads of our family history, and if those trees are still standing, the whereabouts are a mystery.

I knew in a flash what the answer is to the question of why such a deep heart-felt kenship with a tiny nation of 8 million, so far away.

The spirit… the kenship with the American Spirit which sprung to life in 1776. We share a commonality of fates as fighting underdogs who just wont die.

Why Israel? Because it represents the deepest roots of our own civilization – along with the Minoans and the Myceneans, of course, but our cultural link to the ancient Hebrews is more of a clear, unbroken line.

Regarding why Americans support Israel. First of all, I agree with many of the suggestions some of the readers have made. Certainly, The Rule of Law, Democracy, Freedom, chutzpah, love of the underdog are all factors. Yet other nations share some, if not all of these characteristics, yet they do not capture the American imagination. May I argue for two other possibilities:
1) Judeo-Christian values. Jews and Americans worship the same God. Moreover, our the worship of God is a fundamental part of our respective national identities. As Western Europe has become more secular, it has likewise become more distant from Israel and the Jews. Yet, the US has, at least at the average citizen level, remained steadfast in its support for Israel and the Jews. Wherever there is worship of Baal (in any of his modern incarnations), there is hatred of Israel and the Jews. Wherever there is worship of God, there is only love and appreciation for this tiny state and its people.
2) Similar history. Like Israel, the US was founded by a religious people. Like the Jews, the US aimed at being a light to other nations, a shining city on a hill. We both fought against enormous odds at our founding, and with divine providence have succeeded. While in many cases our national stories differ, they are founded on similar bedrock. As such Americans appreciate this magnificent people and their nation.

    BannedbytheGuardian in reply to CV60. | July 24, 2013 at 11:43 pm

    Not sure about all that. Americans love pork.

    With this God business – there is a New Testament on one side & a whole lotta books on the other .

    Can’t be the same guy.

      Uncle Samuel in reply to BannedbytheGuardian. | July 25, 2013 at 5:33 am

      Read the Bible: Acts 10 – G-d, through Peter’s dream and that of Cornelius, removed the dietary restrictions to allow the Gospel and Salvation to reach the Gentiles. Acts 15 – the Church Council of Jerusalem through prayer and the witness of the Holy Spirit, created a simplified code for Gentiles stated twice in that chapter: Abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from (drinking) blood, from meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. Circumcision was no longer a sign of the New Covenant carried to the Gentiles, but a circumcised heart. (Deuteronomy 10:16, Romans 2, I Corinthians 7:19-20)) Circumcision remained for ministry and witness to the Jews.

      Juba Doobai! in reply to BannedbytheGuardian. | July 25, 2013 at 8:44 am

      Arise, Peter, kill and eat. With blessing, nothing is unclean.

      It’s the same God. The promise that is made to mankind in Genesis resonates through the entire Bible, OT and NT. the NT is constantly looking back at the OT, standing on it, echoing God.

      When you look at Islam, you know the Judaeo-Christian God and the Muslim god are not the same. The Judaeo-Christian God says “Thou shalt not kill” and war is an exception. Paradise is being in the presence of this God.

      The Islamic god says kill the, if they won’t believe. Moreover, the Islamic paradise is a orgiastic whorehouse I which men have multiple female partners and pedophilic sex. Women? Women have the pain of repeated deflorations.

    btdt100 in reply to CV60. | July 25, 2013 at 1:09 am

    Gee, I guess I missed the koolaid. Since when was this country founded on Judo-Christian values as if they are one and the same? I would have sworn our initial founders were all the direct result of Protestants seeking religious freedom from the Catholic Church. I would have sworn that each of those 13 colonies who fought the King of England had their official state religion. Only a few allowed settlers of a different Christian Church. But then, over 40 years ago, we had to stop teaching “religion” in our schools and our historical founding as a religious country was thrown in the garbage with that. The two religions are not the same by a long shot. Perhaps the problem is that Christians in this country ceased to read their Bibles and do not know that Judaism is based on the Talmed, neither of the Biblical testaments.

    To answer your question professor, I think it happened after WWII when there was a mass migration to this country of Jews and Jewish intellectuals who gained significant political power as well as ownership of Hollywood and the media, and positions of significant influence in our educational systems. So Americans know one side of the story and a Hollywood melodrama of the Holocaust and founding of the state of Israel. All the conflicts are simply because Arabs/Muslims are just crazy fanatic lunatics who hate those sweet, loving, innocent, God’s chosen.

    But I think you know better professor.

    I’d be happy to elaborate but what is the point. Criticize Zionism and be banned off the board. That is the way of those who have deemed themselves as God’s chosen, yet you ask why?

      William A. Jacobson in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 3:01 am

      Sorry but there are other places to spread Jewish conspiracy theories and videos. Just not here. And by the way, the main Jewish immigration to the U.S. was decades before the Holocaust.

      LukeHandCool in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 5:33 am

      “… it happened after WWII when there was a mass migration to this country of Jews and Jewish intellectuals who gained significant political power as well as ownership of Hollywood and the media, …”

      Unbeknownst to many, before the late 1940s there were no Jews, none, in Hollywood.

      Dude, it was largely Jews who created Hollywood long before WWII. Often confronted with obstacles to traditional paths of success, many were drawn to the business where innate creativity could take one far.

      And even if what you said were true–that penniless Holocaust survivors arrived and proceeded to take over Hollywood–well, I’d say, more power to them.

      This reminds me of that episode of The Simpsons where Krusty the Clown goes missing. The nightly local TV news does a biographical segment on his life, revealing his real name and other details showing Krusty is a Jew, and Homer Simpson, watching the TV broadcast at home, starts laughing in complete disbelief and asks out loud,

      “A Jew in entertainment!? Hahaha! Can you believe it?”

      “All the conflicts are simply because Arabs/Muslims are just crazy fanatic lunatics who hate those sweet, loving, innocent, God’s chosen.”

      If you believe that Muslims are treated disproportionately as villains in Hollywood … remember that screen adaptations of novels often see the bad guys being changed from Muslim terrorists in the book to Euro-skinhead Neo Nazis, or heartless CEOs and so many other liberal bogeymen when the story hits the screen.

      My Japanese wife was watching some movie while I was reading on the couch one time. The way it started, the obvious villains were some muslim “freedom fighters.” But just 20 minutes or so into it, my wife started to give up on it. When I asked why, she said it was obvious the villain was really going to be the American oil company in the movie. She found it just too predictable: “Muslims misunderstood, American companies and institutions bad.”

      She took a break and came back to finish the movie … and she ended up being right. Her English isn’t all that great, but the formulaic liberal Hollywood plot these days … treating Muslims with kid gloves … is readily obvious even to her.

      So, I don’t buy your belief that Muslims are portrayed as “crazy, fanatical lunatics” as you claim.

      They are given a gratuitous benefit of the doubt in their average portrayal in Hollywood projects.

      Uncle Samuel in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 5:45 am

      Another factor in the mix of things in the Middle East is the USSR and Communism-first cultural Jews who joined the KGB to fan and maximize Jew-hatred in Islamic countries (it was already there in the Koran) and Communism in the Western world.

      http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/07/friday-afternoon-roundup-i-am-not.html (scroll down to A BRIEF NOTE).

      QUOTE:

      “I just got done writing a review of General Ion Mihai Pacepa’s latest book which describes how the USSR spread copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion around the Muslim world.

      Here’s an excerpt from one of his articles…

      As KGB chairman Yury Andropov told me, a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions. We needed to instill a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world, and to turn this weapon of the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath against Israel and its main supporter, the United States.

      And another…

      The Nation‘s antisemitic hysteria reminds me of the new antisemitic madness that exploded in Moscow in 1998, soon after one of my former colleagues in the KGB community, General Yevgeny Primakov, became Russia’s prime minister. Russian television showed General Albert Makashov, a member of the Duma, screaming: “I will round up all the Yids [pejorative for Jews] and send them to the next world.” Makashov alleged that the Jews were ruining the motherland, and he called for the “extermination of all Jews in Russia.”

      On November 4, 1998, the Duma endorsed Makashov by voting (121 to 107) to defeat a parliamentary motion censuring his hate-filled statement. At the November 7, 1998, demonstration marking the 81st anniversary of the October Revolution, crowds of former KGB officers showed their support for the general, chanting “hands off Makashov!” and waving signs with anti-Semitic slogans.
      Yes, there were plenty of Communists with a Jewish background. Like the Communists with a Russian background or a Ukrainian background or a Georgian background, they were Communists first and everything else last.”

      FINAL MONEY QUOTE:

      “Yes, there were plenty of Communists with a Jewish background. Like the Communists with a Russian background or a Ukrainian background or a Georgian background, they were Communists first and everything else last.

      Like all Jews aligned with the left, they became part of an anti-Semitic movement because they loathed the idea of all national and religious identities… including their own.

      What kind of Jew would join a movement that envisions a world in which, as countless leftist leaders from H.G. Wells to Lenin envisioned, there would be no Jews?

      The same kind as the Englishman, Frenchman and German who join movements committed to transnationalism.”

        BannedbytheGuardian in reply to Uncle Samuel. | July 25, 2013 at 9:06 am

        I think the many Jewish on The First Soviet must have given it some thought . They came to their conclusions .i don’t see what is gained by just discarding them or lumping them with the dreaded Englishmen.

        It is not a non factor that there are 1 millions. Russian / USSR in Israel today. I know families whose Polish/ Russian ancestors who listed to buy parcels of land in Israel n the 1890s in London & recently got their deposit back.

        In the history of Jewish & Israel you cannot discount Russia. I

      OmegaPaladin in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 11:05 am

      First of all, your mask is slipping. You talk of criticizing Zionism, but all of your complaints are directed against… Jews in the US. Also, Jewish conspiracy theories are self-defeating. If Jews can just take over an industry, then how/why could people stop them? You end up with benign antisemitic Zionism – “I support Israel so that the Jewish conspiracy will help me out” Don’t laugh – Imperial Japan thought about giving the Jews Manchuria in order to curry favor with them, and a few of the prominent sponsors of the Balfour Declaration had similar motives. Crazy conspiracy theories can lead to surprising results.

      jayjerome66 in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 12:00 pm

      Take it from an Agnostic-skeptic, Youre partially right, partially wrong. The BIG wrong is all three religions in the Judeo-Christain-Islamic triad are based on an Invisible Entity who doesn’t exist. Garbage in (tho I don’t mean it to sound so disparaging) as the data programmers say, equals messed up ideas of the world and how it works – out.

      All three religions are irrational, and history is laden with the irrational results. In present times, of course, Islam is the most viciously and murderously irrational (the newest of the three, it would tend naturally to be the most distorted).

    I think of all the suggestions so far, yours is the probably the closest to what I reckon is the real answer.

We have so much in common with Israel. Many of her citizens were Americans. It is the only real republic in the Middle East. Its non-Jewish citizens are treated fairly. We share cultural and religious roots.

As far as I know I am of Italian descent but I have been tempted to get one of those DNA tests that tell me my ancestral roots. If I discovered any Jewish ancestors in my line I would be proud.

At the risk of Godwin’s, I think it has a lot to do with the Nazi tyranny in Germany. We were fighting the Nazis, the Nazis brutalized the Jews. The Jews wanted to leave Europe where they had been treated so badly, and moved to their homeland… where there were still Nazis. When conflict came, you were either with the victims of Nazi Germany or you were with the Allies of Nazi Germany.

Simple… but not too strong. Defining your friends by their common enemy is a reflex, but we do love a winner, and much more so when that winner is beating a group that isn’t playing fair.

The Six Day War is History to us now, but it was only 20 years past WWII, and right in the middle of our Vietnam debacle. We needed a win, and the good guys won.

That makes it very easy to support Israel… and on balance, we have been shown over an over again that we made the right choice.

    btdt100 in reply to MrMichael. | July 25, 2013 at 1:48 am

    “The Six Day War is History to us now, but it was only 20 years past WWII, and right in the middle of our Vietnam debacle. We needed a win, and the good guys won. ”

    How do you know the “good guys” won?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ZfnpN4Dfc

      Uncle Samuel in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 5:53 am

      Islam is a blasphemous bastardization of both Judaism and Christianity and produces male domination, lust, lies, aggression, conquest, deception, misogyny, rape, pedophilia, genocide, cruelty, bestiality, misery, suffering.

      In every way, Islam contradicts the G-D they claim to serve.

      The Fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness,

        Uncle Samuel in reply to Uncle Samuel. | July 25, 2013 at 5:56 am

        cont’d: …meekness, self-control. G-D bestows righteousness, peace and joy, freedom, forgiveness, redemption, new life, new conscience, new priorities and values – new hope.

        There is no forgiveness, no redemption, no hope in Islam, except for killing innocents in order to receive 72 virgins in paradise.

        Fffft. Islam blasphemes itself.

          Juba Doobai! in reply to Uncle Samuel. | July 25, 2013 at 8:50 am

          Don’t forget the boys with skin like pearls. The Islamic paradise is GLAAD’s and NAMBLA’s idea of a good time.

        William A. Jacobson in reply to Uncle Samuel. | July 25, 2013 at 9:56 am

        My response to that is the same as to the person with the Jewish conspiracies.

DINORightMarie | July 25, 2013 at 12:52 am

I can only speak for me and the other Christians I know, but the reason we love and support Israel is because God LOVES Israel, as the apple of His eye. Yes, we are told to love Israel; not only is Israel God’s Holy Land for His chosen people, but Scriptures tell us that those who love Israel (and her people) are blessed by God and are in His favor, and those who don’t love Israel (and her people) will not have God’s blessing and are cursed.

Here are a few Bible references to back me up: Genesis 12:3 – (about Abraham, the father of Isaac, the father of Jacob, who is Israel); Numbers 24:9 (about Israel and the Jewish nation); Romans 15:27 (about Gentiles and Israel), among some others.

Jesus Christ (who I claim as my Savior) Himself was Jewish, raised in a humble Jewish home with devout Jewish parents (Joseph and Mary). And yes, we do worship the same God, and hold the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings (as our Bible’s Old Testament) as God’s holy, infallible word – which cannot be complete unless it includes the Jewish Scriptures, or our Old Testament.

Israel is the only nation in history – save ours, arguably – that God Himself created; He GAVE the nation, the land – the Promised Land – to His chosen people Israel, and allowed that ancient nation to be re-born in the 20th century, as the Israel we know today.

We love Israel because Israel is a part of us, sacred.

    btdt100 in reply to DINORightMarie. | July 25, 2013 at 1:27 am

    Interesting Dino, if only true. So tell me, where in scriptures did Christ ever say the Jews were God’s chosen? I would have sworn he said that we were all his children, and that all who accepted him as God’s son and savior would be accepted into God’s kingdom. Where did you get the idea that the Jews go by the old Testament? They do not. They go by the Talmud which was written about 500 AD based on the teachings of the Pharisees. Remember those guys that Christ renounced and antagonized such that they had him crucified on the cross? Yes we do worship the same God but he is the same God that Muslims worship. They in fact, do study the first testament and do consider it part of their religious scriptures.

    Now I am not advocating anti-semitism, rather I am rennouncing it. If you are going to claim identification with Christ, then follow his teachings.

      Uncle Samuel in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 6:38 am

      Uh, she just told you.

      The Jews (and Christians) are a people who were chosen by G-D to follow G-D’s Covenant Law (Deuteronomy 14, Psalm 105:6) and receive His Blessings, who in turn choose (between blessing and cursing Deuteronomy 30, Joshua 24:15) to do so.

      There is more…much more.

      In the New Testament: Ephesians 1:4, I Peter 2:4,9 and more.

      Where did you get the idea that the Jews go by the old Testament? They do not. They go by the Talmud which was written about 500 AD based on the teachings of the Pharisees.

      Utter nonsense. You are displaying your profound ignorance of Judaism. The Talmud expands on the Torah.

      Now I am not advocating anti-semitism,

      Sure. And some of your best friends are Jews I’ll bet.

    btdt100 in reply to DINORightMarie. | July 25, 2013 at 1:30 am

    Please tell me. Do you really believe that after crucifying Christ on the cross, that God still sees the Jews as his chosen most favorite? Seriously?

      BannedbytheGuardian in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 3:09 am

      Crucifiction was used across the region including 800 Pharissees
      at Jerusalem in 60bc , 6000 insurgent gladiators in Rome & Carthage & even Alexander the Great.

      In jesus’s case it was a Roman governor who had the final say.

      God did not seem to mind all the others hanging up there. If he was indeed his son & sent to earth then ok – he should suffer the same fate.

      If someone wants to believe they are God’s chosen people then it might annoy some but really it makes for a great story & lots of stuff to see.

        Uncle Samuel in reply to BannedbytheGuardian. | July 25, 2013 at 6:08 am

        According to the New Testament and Christian theology, Jesus was ‘second Adam’, the final Priest after the order of Melchizadek, the ‘lamb without spot or blemish’ the permanent propitiation for sin, the final blood sacrifice that began in Genesis when G-D, The First Priest, sacrificed animals to provide coverings for Adam and Eve. When Jesus died, the veil in the Temple split from top to bottom.

        The Jewish Civil and Moral Law influenced the Church and Western Society, but most of the Dietary laws (again, see Acts 15) and the Ceremonial Law ended as the Church began to spread to the Gentile world.

        As Scripture (Isaiah 2:3) says: “the Law proceeds from Zion.” G-D’s true moral law makes society work best and produces godliness, stability and prosperity.

      Uncle Samuel in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 6:48 am

      Chosen sometimes means suffering for G-d, persecution for righteousness’ sake. We are seeing a LOT of this at the hands of Islamo-fascist/Marxists in the Middle East and Africa.

      Of course, the rabid hatred of Jews and Israel, of the US and of Christians has been fueled and fanned for decades by the capital of Marxism, the USSR.

      The KGB was behind the spread copies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion around the Muslim world.

      http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/07/friday-afternoon-roundup-i-am-not.html (scroll down to A BRIEF NOTE).

      Quote:
      “As KGB chairman Yury Andropov told me, a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions. We needed to instill a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world, and to turn this weapon of the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath against Israel and its main supporter, the United States.”

      CV60 in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 7:27 am

      Yes. The Jews are still God’s chosen people. According to Genesis 17:7-8 (NASB) 7 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

      God made a promise. Unlike men, He doesn’t break His promises. Consider: The Jewish people have lost their homeland twice, most recently 1900 years ago. Yet they returned and are a nation today. No other nation in history has managed such a feat. None. If that isn’t a sign of God’s favor, I don’t know what is.

        CV60 in reply to CV60. | July 25, 2013 at 9:35 am

        I see that someone gave my comment a thumbs down. As an open request to that person (or any others who agree with him): On what factual basis do you disagree with my statement? I cited the Bible (Genesis 17:7-8), and made a verifiable, historically accurate statement (that the Jews have been removed twice from the land, yet have returned, something that no other nation in history has accomplished). On what factual basis do you disagree with my conclusions?

      Juba Doobai! in reply to btdt100. | July 25, 2013 at 8:59 am

      You demonstrate your ignorance. Sadly. What part of “gave His only begotten Son” don’t you get? Jesus was born for ONE reason: to die so that we may be reconciled to our Father, God. He was. Jew. Did you want the cardinals and the pope in the Vatican to complain about Him? Did you expect the British army to shoot him? The Sanhedrin regarded Him as a threat, wanted him dead to preserve the nation and their power. Only the Romans had the legal power to kill Him.

      Only He had the power to walk away from the Sanhedrin and the Romans. He did not do that. Jesus let Himself be crucified. He didn’t have to. He did. He laid down His life, and then He picked it up again, for you and for me. For all of us. He died for our sins. We all killed Jesus.

      Now, stop with your nastiness.

    Uncle Samuel in reply to DINORightMarie. | July 25, 2013 at 6:42 am

    Marie’s answer most agrees with my own reasons for loving Israel. For me, it’s more spiritual, than political.

Hi Professor. That looks like Machane Yehuda (the shuk that specializes in fresh produce) and not Ben Yehuda Street (which is wider and slopes downhill).

Are you sure?

I’m married to a Jew. My child is part Jew. It’s easy for me.

I love the photos from Israel. More please.

And yeah, I bet I did know that Jackson Browne co-wrote that song.

I think a lot of it has to do with high-IQ Ashkenazi Jews rising to positions of prominence in important cultural institutions and bureaucracies, and advancing Israeli interests.

I don’t see that as a conspiracy: I see it as logical that the highest-intelligence group on the planet would tend to rise, within a given society, to such positions.

    That makes no sense and is in fact counter-intuitive. A large majority of those high-IQ Ashkenazi Jews are extremely left-leaning, if not outright anti-Israel.

    There are also very many powerful people of other religions, not to mention the extremely powerful and ultra-rich oil lobby.

    Furthermore, the fact that a high-intelligence (debatable point) group has risen to the heights of society (again debatable) is more likely to arouse fear and suspicion than admiration, especially if a foreign country is involved. In fact how many times have Jews been accused of having dual loyalty by interested parties?

    So the reason for the widespread admiration of Israel is more likely to be despite the success of Jewish American, rather than because of it.

      Uncle Samuel in reply to anneinpt. | July 25, 2013 at 6:55 am

      The love of Israel is more prevalent among Torah-following Jews and Bible-following Evangelicals.

      Hence, organizations like CUFI where Ted Cruz and Glenn Beck recently spoke (for videos, go to therightscoop.com) and those like Joel Rosenberg’s Joshua Fund http://www.joelrosenberg.com/conferences/ that support Israel and populate trips to Israel. Michele Bachmann is an evangelical who did a year of service at a Kibbutz.

      Christoph in reply to anneinpt. | July 25, 2013 at 7:11 am

      A lot of Jews in Israel are left-leaning too. They still tend to support Israel’s right to exist.

        The difference there is that those Jews actually live in Israel and therefore have a self-interest in its preservation.

        In any case, I’m not accusing leftist Jews of wanting to see Israel destroyed. G-d forbid. I do see leftists as not supporting Israel because it doesn’t fulfill their fantasy of what Israel should look like. For them, if Israel can’t be a socialist paradise then it doesn’t deserve their support.

        That is how I see it from across 2 oceans in Israel at any rate.

Only America and Israel are both free and proud of it.

I love Israel because it is a place of Jesus Christ. And I love Jesus

BannedbytheGuardian | July 25, 2013 at 7:11 am

I have read up on the train. 🙂

Juba Doobai! | July 25, 2013 at 8:24 am

Wm, for these reasons: history, common faith foundation, admiration for the underdog’s powerful ability to survive.

1. As a young teen of 13, I read the history of the Third Reich and the rise of Hitler. I studied the pictures of the animals, Reinhardt Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Georg Goebbels, and the monster Adolf Hitler himself. The only thing that ever impacted me me the way reading that history did is my Christian faith. I wasn’t and am not a Jew, but way back then, I resolved NEVER AGAIN. As an adult, I read of the Arabs’ intention to partake actively in the Holocaust and felt “scorn, contempt, slight regard, and anything that does not diminish [me do I] prize them at”. As a Christian, some Jews might not love me, but they don’t want to kill me.

2. Anybody who has been a Christian from baptism as a baby has grown up reading the Bible. Israel is as familiar to us as our faces in the mirror. Its history, the stories of its great and ancient heroes are as known to us as the stories of our families. If there is no TNK, there is no foundation for our Christian faith.

3. There is no other people on earth who have been so hounded, slaughtered, disdained, and yet, against all odds, have borne down and created for themselves all that they needed to build and sustain their lives in th midst of hostile territory. Who else has made the desert bloom? More than that, there is such mercy and compassion in Israel that its people constantly extend healing hands to mend the suffering of their killers. God is with such a people.

So, the reasons are complex and maybe the questioner will accept the answers.

    DINORightMarie in reply to Juba Doobai!. | July 25, 2013 at 9:06 am

    Anybody who has been a Christian from baptism as a baby has grown up reading the Bible.

    I wish that were true. It may have been in the past, but isn’t today.

    If it were, then I don’t think our nation would be in such deep moral decay.

    Otherwise, I agree with you 100%!

We support Israel because that is the holy land . The south is very protective of our friends in Israel because of the bible.

The nexus of America and Israel for a Christian like me is the historical relationship the Jews have had with the one true God since the beginning of recorded time.

Israel along the way failed in its task of being God’s representatives to the rest of the world. So, God sent a surprise to set things right – His Son, the Messiah – to the people of Israel.

The One True Israelite, Jesus, who did His Father’s will perfectly, lived out the Kingdom life for thirty years. Then Jesus, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 was crucified, buried and then rose again – all of which is historically recorded.

Because of Jesus’ inauguration of the Kingdom of God there was a smashing of racial barriers. There is no longer distinction between a Greek or Jew in God’s eyes. Anyone who does the will of God is part of the Kingdom of God.

Back to Israel and America. Israel is where God’s son came and walked this earth (and on the Sea of Galilee). He will return to Israel and Jerusalem to set all things right. For me world history begins and ends with the Jewish people and Israel.

The One true God loves the Whole world. Israel (Golgotha specifically) is where He showed us that love.

a) pallys(et al) don’t negotiate in good faith
b) Israel outnumbered, still stands
c) the only democracy in the ME
d) Christians in US
e) (corollary to above) G-d’s chosen people

Howard Roark | July 25, 2013 at 10:27 am

It just occurred to me it may be our common love of brisket!!

Before it was barbeque it was kosher!

Mark Twain, writing in the 1870s before the vast Majority of today’s Jewish Americans Emigrated, wrote about American support for Jewish people. Despite the fact that Americas Jewish population was tiny, America strongly supported Jewish people at a time when antisemitism was on the rise in Europe. He estimated that some 60% of American had at least a Jewish great grandparent. So he figured that for Americans to support the Jewish people was for Americans to support their own people.

This way of thinking was true in the north and true even in the antebellum Slave South, where Florida’s senator was Jewsish despite fewer than a hundred Jews living in the state.

It is not coincidental that America opened the floodgates to Jewish Immigrants shortly thereafter. Americans supported Isreal and the reasons for Isreal before this was even a concept.

Ironically, the real threat to this American tolerance comes from elements within the Jewish community who see inter-mairrages (and Christian conversions from some of these inter mairrages) as a threat to community and tradition.

Henry Hawkins | July 25, 2013 at 6:42 pm

Arn Rendheim, Moshe Dayan, and sweet potato kugel.

    BannedbytheGuardian in reply to Henry Hawkins. | July 25, 2013 at 7:28 pm

    Hehe I was wondering if anyone was going to contribute a non religious suggestion.

    Here is mine.

    ” I’ m your Rockefeller – You’re my Cinderella

    Oooooohhhooooohhhhooooo

    I love you ououooo ”

    The gal (edie) went on to have a great career in Europe & especially Germany for 40 years.

    In a difficult time I really think that song opened up a new relationship with the west for Israel.

    But The thread is about America & Israel ‘s special relationship. Sorry but American Christians think they are also Jewish. They want it all.

“Silverman told Bream that while his group wouldn’t oppose the Star of David being on the building if it were accompanied by other religious symbols, the current design did not account for 40 percent of the Nazis’ victims not being Jewish, and noted the targeting of the handicapped, Romani and gay and lesbian communities during the Holocaust.”

It is a legitimate — no, an important — concern.

KeaponLaffin | July 28, 2013 at 10:56 am

I dinna read all the comments but I know the basic answers folks come up with and agree with most of em.
But some arguments don’t sway some people. Similar cultural-religious background? I’m not religious. Only stable democracy in the Middle East? Screw the Middle East, let em all kill each other then nuke the place(My Dad actually said this, and he’s a die hard Reagan Republican).
So lets get down to Realpolitik. How does it benefit America to be allied with Israel? Simple:
We need their weapon technology.
Have you seen the Iron Dome? They’ve been fighting terrorists longer and more effectively than we have. Their screening techniques and technology are a hell of alot better than what the TSA uses.
Pure Objectivism, Utilitarianism, pure Enlightened Self-Interest. It’s easier and cheaper to gain access to Israeli weapons tech by being their ally. It would be alot more expensive to steal it or go to war against them and take it.
And that, my friends, is how I present my views to angry patriotic cynics. Being an ally of Israel improves National Defense on the cheap.
The jerks that surround em hate us anyway.
They don’t have any super cool new weapons either.