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It's a bit creepy how Israel gets about as much attention as a country like China or Russia in social media / news. Does this deserve a mention? Probably does.
by joelbluminator 5y ago
It's a bit creepy how Israel gets about as much attention as a country like China or Russia in social media / news. Does this deserve a mention? Probably does. As the main headline in CNN / BBC / Nytimes ? I'm not so sure, how is Israel so important?
- D13Fd 5y agoIt gets views, which is what the media wants. Your question is basically “why do so many people care about this enough to view articles about it?”
- ev1 5y agoThey are one of the world tech powers, regardless of whether you like to think of it or not. There is power concentrated there, and intellectual property. It's similar to how Vatican City will get posted even if there is almost no population.
- joelbluminator 5y agoMost certainly not, Israel has a very nice software industry but it isnt critical. If it stopped tomorrow nothing major will happen. If Taiwan stopped tomorrow the global chip supply collapses.
- davidf18 5y agoComputer chip design in major in Israel. Intel has 2 design centers there. Apple has a design center there. Broadcom, Qualcomm and many others. It is not only software....
- baybal2 5y agoIsrael is a very weird microstate There is always a lot of outrage about it in the media. Very scandalous Some kind of mess happening there 24*7. Medias like such "scandal porn" Netanyahu was basically a political Kardashian, Trump Donald before it was cool
- salicideblock 5y agoWell, it's hard to compare. Those two countries don't give much opportunity to discuss transfers of political power. Israel, on the other hand, has been giving bit of a politics show for the past what, a year or more?
- joelbluminator 5y agoThats my point, who cares? Why is it so important for you to know about 4 elections in 2 years? Obviously people care but who decided this country is on par with China in the amount of attention it gets?
- mcintyre1994 5y agoI think it's basically geopolitics - they're the only democratic country in the Middle East. (According to the Economist's Democracy Index 2020: https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2020/ https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2020/)
- Udik 5y ago> they're the only democratic country in the Middle East Yes. All citizens can vote. All those who can't vote are not citizens- which doesn't prevent the Israeli government from actually governing them. Since the division is along ethnic lines, this is usually called apartheid.
- baybal2 5y agoIsrael supports the dreaded regimes of Saudi Arabia, and Egypt It also reality really doesn't mind Iran messing up their northern neighbours, unlike what the public sentiment says Hezbollah, and Baathists were like a present from heavens for them
- TheGuyWhoCodes 5y agoWhat a load of bull. Israel supports who is aligned with their regional objectives. Like when they supported Iran before the takeover. You work with what you got, there isn't big love between Israel and Egypt or Saudi Arabia and why single Israel? Everyone in the world has relationships with these 2 countries. It's true that a strong Lebanon or Syria aren't in the best Interest of Israel military wise but at least there was someone in charge to keep the "peace" now it's chaos with Iranian backed groups working close to the border to destabilize it and Hezbollah has thousands of rockets pointing at Israel that's not in the best interest of Israel
- baybal2 5y agoMy words are words are not a load of bull, but a blistering truth. > Hezbollah has thousands of rockets pointing at Israel And? Not much has changed from that fact, but Hezbollah has almost removed Lebanon from the map — that what matters.
- nexuist 5y ago> how is Israel so important? They are one of the few world powers with nuclear capabilities, although they are not officially recognized as such. However from my understanding basically everyone on the world stage knows it is true.
- joelbluminator 5y agoIndia has nuclear capabilities and also a population thats 120 times bigger than Israel...read much about India lately?
- ev1 5y agoYes. Almost daily. There practically isn't a single day where India isn't in the news, especially wrt Modi and COVID.
- CameronNemo 5y agoNot to mention, if Modi struggled to gain a coalition for a year, got caught up in corruption scandals, and was in active conflict with Pakistan, the news would be covering India even more.
- joelbluminator 5y agoI'd be surprised if the average American or European knows who Modi is. Netanyahu though? 50% chance they will at least recognize his face in a picture.
- Arubis 5y agoWell, in fairness, there isn’t often interesting _democracy-related_ news about China or Russia. If there were, it would be significantly more remarkable than this story.
- fighterpilot 5y agoThe word "deserve" has no place in this analysis. If Israel stories get more clicks, then they will be on the front page. That's it.
- holoduke 5y agoBecause Israel is one of the most powerful nations in the world. Maybe not so much the country itself, but its people are everwhere. They are our alies
- inglor_cz 5y agoAre American Jews still politically aligned with Israel? A honest question out of ignorance. I know that American Jewish community tends to vote Democrat and that Democrats have a young cohort of politicians that is very vocally pro-Palestinian. So I would expect some drift. But I am not sure how to even measure it, or if someone tried to.
- joelbluminator 5y agoBoth the people and the country are not so powerful, that sounds borderline anti semitic though I dont think you have bad intentions. But it shows me my original question is spot on.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- CameronNemo 5y ago1. Netanyahu has been embroiled in accusations of corruption. 2. Recent active conflict between Israel and Palestine. 3. Netanyahu has been in power for a long time. He has struggled, and now failed, to secure a coalition for something like a year. 4. Israel likely has nuclear weapons or can quickly create nuclear weapons. If India's PM was ousted under similar circumstances, I would not be surprised to see similar news coverage.
- aranchelk 5y agoShould either of your example countries (China or Russia) have a change in leadership, that would be a massive story in the US media. The media regularly inflates the importance of some issues while failing to adequately cover others. Can you better articulate why you find this to be creepy?
- radycov 5y agoPro Israel lobbies heavily influence American Congress. Israel receives a disproportionately unique generous backing on all fronts by Western governments, therefore they deserve extra scrutiny and should be held to account above rogue foreign regimes.
- joelbluminator 5y ago> Israel receives a disproportionately unique generous backing on all fronts by Western governments, therefore they deserve extra scrutiny and should be held to account above rogue foreign regimes I just don't see how this has anything to do with it. News should be about important and influential events happening in the world (in theory, in practice it's about getting clicks), who cares about "unique generous backing" (which you are definitely exaggerating btw), the media shouldn't really care about that when deciding what is important.
- inglor_cz 5y agoThe Israeli-Palestinian conflict spills over to other parts of the world. Either through their Muslim populations, or through activists who put Israel into the "colonial state" category, and, of course "colonial" is a very negative thing nowadays.
- joelbluminator 5y agoThats maybe part of it but the obsession is with jews not with muslins. We don't read that much about political struggles in Iran (which are happening right now btw). I will be extremely surprised if the next Iranian election will make it to #1 on HN.
- GordonS 5y agoIn general, I wouldn't say Israel gets that much press attention. Honestly, I'd say it doesn't get enough. There has been an uptick in coverage recently, but that's because of the uptick in violence and atrocities - like Israel ordering Palestinians to destroy their own homes (or pay for demolition if they don't), evicting Palestinians, Israelis expanding into Palestnian territory, the Israeli military destroying Palestinian tower blocks (resulting in numerous civilian deaths, including children), etc.* Oh, and it's a nuclear power, and the spirtiual home of Judaism. * I'm just giving reasons for news coverage; I'm not trying to start an ideological flame war here, and I know the Israeli government != Israelis. I also know that there is the odd rocket being fired into Israel from Palestine, so it's not a one-sided thing, but the point is that human rights atrocities being carried out with impunity by a US and UK ally is pretty awful.
- joelbluminator 5y agoThere are actual genocides happening as we speak in countries no one knows or cares about. If your point is that Israel gets attention proportionate to the human suffering taking place that is nonsense.
- GordonS 5y agoMy point wasn't solely about the violence - what makes the atrocities worse (more notable, if you like) is that Western governments don't give half a shit - Israel is a "friend" of the US and UK, with billions in "aid" arms sales flowing into Israel every year.
- joelbluminator 5y agoWell your point has very little to do with what I asked...
- GordonS 5y agoI maybe didn't put it quite right - western governments have much stronger political links with Israel. Hence, I think it makes sense that current events in Israel and Palestine would be reported in western media. As I said initially though, I don't believe Israel gets a disproportionate amount of coverage.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- lostlogin 5y agoPopulations: United Arab Emirates 9,503,738 Honduras 9,450,711 Israel 9,357,509 Belarus 9,349,645 Papua New Guinea 9,122,994 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_depend...
- Emma_Goldman 5y agoIsrael has a unique place in the Anglo-American conscience for several reasons: 1. It was established by Britain out of the Palestinian mandate 2. Judaism is central to the history and thought of Western civilization 3. There is a large Jewish diaspora in the West, especially the United States 4. Israel is the sole Western society in the Middle East 5. Israel was geopolitically important to the US in the Cold War as part of its strategic containment of the USSR, and today in counteracting Iran's regional influence 6. The US has provided more aid to Israel than any other country 7. There is a powerful pro-Israel lobby in the United States 8. Given all these ties, Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza rightly attracts a lot of criticism in the West
- Glavnokoman 5y agoMostly wrong. And most importantly point 1. UK failed to establish the Jewish state and in fact actively sabotaged it.
- yyyk 5y agoA combination of religious sensitivities, active violent geopolitical contest, various political movements all but seeing Israel as a mirror of their own country and supporting/opposing it as a result, unresolved feelings from long Jewish history elsewhere, Israel being open enough to report frequently from, and sufficient weakness of all involved that all sides could potentially see a change in status quo. And all that is a partial list of factors.
- joelbluminator 5y agoThank you this is the best answer yet. > unresolved feelings from long Jewish history elsewhere What would those be exactly? And how does reporting non stop about Israel help - or you saying it's some kind of obsession?
- TheGuyWhoCodes 5y agoIt doesn't. It just sales ads well. 1) Report on a minor issues in Israel 2) Make it "world news" 3) Escalate the tension 4) Rip those clicks. Do you think reporting on some stone throwing or a house eviction should be the top headline in CNN? These don't remotely compare to what's going on in Africa, Yemen or east Ukraine.
- yyyk 5y agoWell, you read quite a few comments of the form 'if they learnt from their own history'. Lets leave aside for a moment debates about Israel. This is a perverse attitude regardless of how innocent/guilty it is. When people have been historically wronged, usually the moral burden is placed upon the perpetrators (and perhaps their descendants) and not the victims' descendants. Some African Americans act very badly (every population has its own criminals), but we don't ask them to 'learn lessons from slavery'. We ask white people inasmuch we ask this. But in this case, it's only Jews that get this reply and somehow almost never the descendants of perpetrators of historical anti-Jewish atrocities. And this reply doesn't help Palestinians at all (I suspect it's strongly counterproductive), so it's not about them either. I suspect the root of this is unresolved guilt, the unspoken argument is "see, you're as bad as we are!". Despite that the worst accusations against Israel don't come close to the scale of several historical atrocities against Jews.