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This is the other thing: the US backed Israel because Israel was strong; Israel was not strong because the US backed them. At the end of the mandate period, Is

This is the other thing: the US backed Israel because Israel was strong; Israel was not strong because the US backed them. At the end of the mandate period, Israel was the only country in the region with a real military, because the UK had just spent the last decade training and arming that military. At the time, the US was virulently antisemitic (see McCarthy era stuff for examples), as was most of europe.

joelbluminator 5y ago
Any sources for that claim? That's a super complicated issue and saying "because Israel strong!" seems a bit simplistic to me.
- pasabagi 5y ago
  Well, the CIA released a report that said very clearly Israel would win the 6 day war[1] without any real trouble, and this is largely considered the point at which the US started backing Israel seriously. Obviously, it's very complicated, but I think the basic picture of the middle east at the time is a bunch of states that were dysfunctional by design, with borders drawn up by powers like the UK who had the colonial modus operandi of creating states that were fraught with ethnic and sectarian tension, so these states would rely upon them for support. When the mandatory period ended, the Israelis had two massive advantages: they had a classic, european style 'nation', not some post-colonial territory that had literally never worked as a nation ever; and they had an army that had been fighting a civil war against the palestinians for its whole existence, with british support and training. So it's not really surprising they win the first Arab-Israeli war. Then after that, they basically can build on this to secure more support and more weapons, and build stronger military institutions, etc. [1]: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/05/30/the-cias-overlooked-intelligence-victory-in-the-1967-war/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/05/30/the-cias-ov...
  - joelbluminator 5y ago
    I am not saying it had nothing to do with it but there were multiple factors for sure.
myth_drannon 5y ago
In 1948 Britain armed the Arab armies(or just left the equipment). Israel had to procure some crappy weapons undercover all around the world, but even that was not enough. Their airplanes didn't even have enough bombs, dropping bottles(or was it sacks) to scare away 10 countries strong army.

joelbluminator 5y ago

Any sources for that claim? That's a super complicated issue and saying "because Israel strong!" seems a bit simplistic to me.

pasabagi 5y ago
Well, the CIA released a report that said very clearly Israel would win the 6 day war[1] without any real trouble, and this is largely considered the point at which the US started backing Israel seriously. Obviously, it's very complicated, but I think the basic picture of the middle east at the time is a bunch of states that were dysfunctional by design, with borders drawn up by powers like the UK who had the colonial modus operandi of creating states that were fraught with ethnic and sectarian tension, so these states would rely upon them for support. When the mandatory period ended, the Israelis had two massive advantages: they had a classic, european style 'nation', not some post-colonial territory that had literally never worked as a nation ever; and they had an army that had been fighting a civil war against the palestinians for its whole existence, with british support and training. So it's not really surprising they win the first Arab-Israeli war. Then after that, they basically can build on this to secure more support and more weapons, and build stronger military institutions, etc. [1]: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/05/30/the-cias-overlooked-intelligence-victory-in-the-1967-war/ https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/05/30/the-cias-ov...
- joelbluminator 5y ago
  I am not saying it had nothing to do with it but there were multiple factors for sure.

myth_drannon 5y ago

In 1948 Britain armed the Arab armies(or just left the equipment). Israel had to procure some crappy weapons undercover all around the world, but even that was not enough. Their airplanes didn't even have enough bombs, dropping bottles(or was it sacks) to scare away 10 countries strong army.