I think the hostility encountered by the US in the Middle East is entirely a function of protecting her own interests in a complicated and contested region. Maybe necessary, definitely inevitable.
The human suffering on all sides is a cost of doing business. This is deemed acceptable by the US govt and not contested by the hosting countries for various bad reasons. It is nothing more special than that. There is no grand righteous moral justification, but that is a useful fiction.
I apologize if this offends you, and I don't share it to be disrespectful -- just to explain my perspective.
I mean, sure. The moral question is important! But I was starting from a thread of people who didn't understand the real-life character of the Israeli-American relationship.
If you're trying to describe the actual actions of the parties involved, morality is not a useful analytical or predictive tool; that comes into play when you yourself try to act.
I think the hostility encountered by the US in the Middle East is entirely a function of protecting her own interests in a complicated and contested region. Maybe necessary, definitely inevitable.
The human suffering on all sides is a cost of doing business. This is deemed acceptable by the US govt and not contested by the hosting countries for various bad reasons. It is nothing more special than that. There is no grand righteous moral justification, but that is a useful fiction.
I apologize if this offends you, and I don't share it to be disrespectful -- just to explain my perspective.