• acargitz@lemmy.caOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    31
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    2 days ago

    No, it’s cultural affinity (polite way of saying racism) and economic interests (polite way of saying colonialism).

    Same reason why the entire western world was fully supportive of South Africa during Apartheid

    • Zorque@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 days ago

      It’s also propaganda, AIPAC has been pushing the idea of Israel devotion for decades in the US. I’d imagine there’s similar lobbying groups (in less obvious forms) in other countries as well.

      • acargitz@lemmy.caOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        2 days ago

        Falls under cultural affinity.

        It also takes other forms, that are not always very explicitly racist. In Greece for example, a country with a traditionally anti-imperialist people (Papandreou and Arafat were really besties), Israel has become a strategic ally to contain against Turkish aggression. Even Tsipras was cordial with Bibi. Take away Erdogan’s sabre rattling and Greece would probably revert back to sanity.

        • Zorque@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 days ago

          I would say influencing others has less to do with racism and more to do with power mongering. People with power influencing others to get the outcome they want. Plenty of Democratic representatives who aren’t otherwise racist are impacted by them.

    • Siegfried@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      2 days ago

      Where i live (argentina), Israel’s agenda is pushed in almost every news outlet, especially from the right. Some journalists even wear Israeli pins and have Israeli flags on their desks. And, for real, we couldn’t care less about the near east (dont get me wrong, but i think you will agree that we have our own set of domestic problems). For what I see and what I hear that happens in other parts of the west, I feel that “cultural affinity” isn’t the only card on their hand.

    • wheezy@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 day ago

      Well said. I probably would have taken 5 paragraphs to explain it so well. Imperialist interest align.

    • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 days ago

      So, when you say racism, do you mean because of their religions, Palestinians being mostly Muslim and Israel being Jewish? Don’t they look the same?

      • Zorque@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        2 days ago

        Talk to the Irish and Polish about 19th century racism.

        Limiting racism to skin color is a more modern interpretation.

      • acargitz@lemmy.caOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 days ago

        I would say two types of racism

        1. Orientalism. Not necessarily Islamophobia because it’s the same kind of racism against Arab Christians. It’s the same brand of racism as the one treating the Balkans as barbaric. It’s cultural racism, rather than skin-tone based.
        2. Antisemitism. Implicitly, if all the Jews go “over there” they aren’t “here”. Even the Nazis originally planned to deport the Jews and only got to slaughtering when deportation was no longer practical. Nowadays the biggest antisemites are usually pro-israel, from Breivik to CUFI.
        • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 days ago

          That area is so confusing to me. I learned about it in ancient times in college, but the cultural things like this are so wild. I wasn’t exposed to anything about it besides ancient history. Thanks for explaining a lot of. It seems that oil+racism=so many hate crimes