Wait, Why Is Israel Allowed to Have Nukes?
23 comments
·June 22, 2025mullingitover
I'd actually feel safer if Iran just got it over with and developed/tested their own nuclear weapons. Then SA would get theirs, along with Egypt and Turkey, and all this low-grade (and brutal, primarily to civilians) nonstop warfare in the middle east would come grinding to a halt as everyone is forced to treat their neighbors with respect.
stogot
That’s a strange take. Pakistan and India are both nukes and continue to have border wars. Israel has nukes and has had a perpetual war. The UK and Egypt had conflict when UK has had nukes. China had battles with Vietnam, Laos, and the Soviet Union. It’s amazing the restraint these nations have shown. Adding more nations to the pot adds more risk, especially when in the hands of unstable, immature, and emotionally irrational leaders. Russia and NK are threatening nuclear attacks annually. Let’s pray it never comes to that
31337Logic
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gmuslera
The elephants in the room are always hard to spot.
cultofmetatron
AIPAC
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andrewinardeer
Why is North Korea?
bell-cot
Answered in the first 5 words of the subtitle:
> According to our elected leaders, we should be very scared of the possibility that Iran could get a nuclear bomb. But Israel already has them, and ...
For the past 80 years, it's been all-but-guaranteed that you won't win an American election if you seem insufficiently pro-Israel.
Yes, there are plenty of objective arguments for America's foreign policy being far less pro-Israel than it has been for 8+ decades. US Sec. of State (and former US Army General) George Marshall made those arguments to US President Harry Truman back in 1948 - and was overruled. Truman had staked out a pro-Israel position before his previous election (which he had won), then won another election 6 months after overruling Marshall.
- If your real priority is sounding sophisticated, you can make fancy arguments about America being far too pro-Israel.
- If your real priority is understanding why America is so pro-Israel, then you need to shut up with the fancy arguments, and analyze the American electorate's strong preference for that.
- And if your real priority is winning American elections, then you need to present as "obviously" pro-Israel. And ignore the idiots making fancy arguments.
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whacko_quacko
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jordanb
If you read the article you find out that it's against American law to provide weapons if Israel evaded treaties to get nukes. So America is knowingly breaking its own law every time it sends more bombs to Isreal.
whacko_quacko
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fzeroracer
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mystraline
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anigbrowl
Way too many Americans are Biblical literalists and think there's some kind of cosmic destiny that requires the US to defend Israel.
cbfrench
They’re dispensationalists, though. Actual biblical literalists would probably have a hard time reconciling St. Paul with this idea that the modern nation-state of Israel has anything at all to do with the Israel of either the Old or New Testaments.
kcplate
That might be and while the government certainly takes advantage of that sentiment to preserve its Israel policies, but the real reason the US government supports israel has more to do with the general region being oil rich and having a reliable and strong nuclear secular ally in the region.
happytoexplain
> I do know my dad said we should nuke and glass the whole middle east, them included. It'd be the only way the middle east would stop fighting. (He was deployed there, desert storm)
> Edit: and -1's poured in less than 1 minute.
Re: downvotes, these lines imply immaturity. You should either be explicit about your degree of agreement with your father, or remove the anecdote entirely. And complaining about downvotes is always pointlessly distracting.
Hikikomori
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ranger_danger
Because they are allies... at least, that's probably their justification.
Qem
Iran was also an ally... until 1979. Saddam was another ally... until 1990, et cetera.
ranger_danger
Not saying you're wrong, but were the reasons for those alliances failing, because of nukes?
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20250621153024/https://www.curre...
Related: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_affair