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The Israeli state is antithetical to the very foundations of ethics and international law, yet it is allowed to exist as an “ally of the west” despite its disregard for the sanctity of human life. It’s clear this partnership has no benefits for us so why?
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Anonymous 1d

It’s used to project western power into the region. Originally this was used by France, who was initially Israel’s closest ally. But after France lost Algeria, its interest in middle eastern affairs decreased. So Israel needed to find a new western backer, and it went to the United States.

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Anonymous 1d

The West set up many such states during decolonization, South Korea, a pacified and neutered Japan, South Vietnam, etc.. in a world where hostile invasion of another country was discouraged after WW2 Israel and Pakistan are the most egregious of them since those involved carving out lines through existing ethnic boundaries and transplanting a foreign population over that later genocided the natives.

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Anonymous replying to -> #1 1d

One could argue that the backlash from the USA supporting Israel is so great that it outweighs any power projection benefits in the region. I would align with this belief. But those in power do not think so.

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 1d

Rare to hear Partition being brought up. Yep, both Palestinian and Punjabi populations were violently displaced following the creation of arbitrary geographical boundaries. Awful all around

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 1d

I think it’s important to note that Zionism existed as a project independent of the interests of the western states. Zionist militias had been actively at war against Britain because they saw it as too pro-Arab and an obstacle to the creation of Israel. Yes the UN partitioned Palestine, but the Zionists were already there, armed, and active.

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Anonymous replying to -> #3 1d

I read some stuff on it and the British partitions of Palestine and colonial India are extremely similar. My old roommate is a Bangladeshi immigrant and he talked about how his parents fled a genocide in 1971 which is probably one of the worse genocides I’ve read about which the US were aware of and allied with that country. The Indian independence leaders were socialists and anticolonialists so it’s no wonder that Britain carved out a proxy to leave the subcontinent destabilized

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Anonymous replying to -> #3 1d

The Punjab partition was really bad too, the population exchange and then the non native Urdu people taking over bc they were favored by the British rlly reminded me of what’s going on in Palestine.

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 1d

It was a truly horrible time. Many Punjabi Sikhs didn’t want to leave their ancestral homes, and many of the Pakistani Muslims occupied the area and killed them. They used to pack trains going down to Indian Punjab full of dead bodies.

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Anonymous replying to -> #3 1d

And this is not me trying to paint a particular religion in a bad light. It’s just that in both Pakistan and India, there are highly homogenous ethnic-religious groups, often geographically divided because the country used to be a collection of kingdoms

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Anonymous replying to -> #3 1d

An Indian federation with republics like the structure of Russia with a democracy would have been the ideal scenario for the region bc it’s so diverse. The partition itself made religious divisions worse and made it a political issue. These divisions set the seeds for the rise of the extreme forms of Islam and Hindu nationalist consolidation that we see in the continent today

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 1d

Yes, the rise of extreme Hindu nationalism specifically as encouraged by the right wing BJP is extremely alarming. Modi is a horrible person who ignored the massacre of Muslims in the state he governed, Gujarat, before he was PM. And religious tensions have long been a source of violent conflict in India, especially during the conversion era of the Mughal Empire

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