Originally Posted by
Skroe
The difference is we let Israel inside the circle of trust far closer than we do Turkey.
Israel and the US jointly develop technology, specifically military technology. Israel goes and sells it to China.
The US spends a decade telling Israel not to build setlements. Says they're illegal. Israel tells us "sure no problem", then goes and does it anyway. And then expects us to take a bullet for them at the UN.
Israel has a lot to offer but they forget, to paraphase Bill Clinton int he 1990s on just the topic, "who the fucking superpower is". This is not a relationship of equals. This is a relationship between patron and subordinate. The US should generally not throw its weight around with its allies like that, but decades of Israel taking our support for granted has, in my opinion, pushed the relationship to a point we need a major re-norming. They need to be reminded that, sure we can deal, but when we tell them to fucking do something, they fucking do it, or risk losing our support. The relationship must be a two way street.
Obama throwing Israel under the buss last fall was deeply cyncial on his part, but was also, for entirely different reasons from why he did it, completely overdue. Israel, of all of our allies, is the one most need in reminding of there is a limit to how far our patience goes. And that list of allies by the way, is very small. It's pretty much Israel, Turkey, the Philippines, the UK on defense issues, Poland on democratic issues, and Pakistan.