If Israel had wanted security, they would have accepted the worldwide consensus on the two-state solution 30 years ago, and would have moved on to further diplomatic ties with their closest neighbors.

Instead, Israel wants territory and power, so they build illegal colonies on stolen land, they brutalize Palestine and make a show of brutally repressing them,and they antagonize and threaten their neighbors in defiance of international law. There will be no peace in Israel as long as this doesn't change, but they may well flourish economically from this.

On the other hand, to believe that the US is an unwilling, blackmailed participant in all of this is absurd. The US is not Israel's dim-witted reluctant ally, it is actively spurring on Israel in all of their actions, both in order to extend its influence and defeat its enemies in the area (Iran's independence and rejection of the Cia-installed Shah will not be forgiven or forgotten), and to keep a steady demand for US armaments going in the area.

I fully agree with you until the part about the USA. Yes, it's true that the US aren't a reluctant ally but an enthusiastic one; but this is because the US have been led to believe through relentless lobbying and propaganda that their interests always coincide with those of Israel. Which is of course not true, and cannot be true by definition. But the level of confusion is such that Kushner, who as a government official was given a top secret security clearance (besides being in charge of delivering a "peace plan" between Israel and Palestine) was also on the board of a "charity" collecting money for Israel's army. Let that sink in: someone who was collecting money to fund the army of a foreign country was given an official government role and a top secret security clearance!

Perhaps I misspoke, I didn't mean to imply that the population of the USA has its interests aligned with Israel.

I meant that the US ruling class is very much happy with Israel's actions, because the turmoil in the region often lines their own pockets, and at least attacks a lot of their own enemies.

> and at least attacks a lot of their own enemies.

But how much of the enmity is simply due to the US's support of Israel? Am I the most loyal friend of a bully because his victims are my enemies, or his victims hate me because I am his most loyal friend?

In the case of Iran at least, the enmity began after Iran nationalized some BP oil in the gulf, prompting the UK to ask for CIA help in getting rid of the democratic Iranian government at the time, and reinstating the military dictatorship of the Shah. That plan succeeded for a while, but later backfired with the Iranian Revolution which led to the current Israel-hating, fundamentalist Islamic regime [1].

So in thisccase at least, the US - Iran enmity would still be there even if Israel was completely neutral. Of course, a lot of other sources of enmity have accumulated over the years, but this is most likely the 'original' reason.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...

You're assuming that the enmity caused by an event of almost seventy years ago would still be intact in the absence of other factors. It is possible, but it's a stretch. Justifying the reciprocal hatred with the formulas "they overthrew our democratic president"/ "they kept our people hostages" is convenient, but these are just formulas. A lot of stuff has happened since and there was plenty of time for normalization of relationships. The fate of the nuclear accord is telling: a move towards peace and normalization was sunk by the most unapologetically pro-Israel president in US history.

All intelligence agencies are staffed by the morally bankrupt. To get bin Laden the CIA set back the effort to end polio decades. There are no good people in intelligence, only bad ones working for one country and bad ones working for another.

Sorry if this should have been more obvious, but are you referring to something that I seem to remember hearing about where the groups vaccinating were supposedly taking blood samples from people being vaccinated for DNA analysis, which when the story broke would have tarnished the willingness of patients to get vaccinated?

I do apologize. It has been a long while since I even recalled seeing that in passing, and I never really thought about it at the time; but it has stuck with me as a case illustrating the criticality of trust in medicine.

Then an over the top, punitive reaction from victim nations is appropriate. Enjoy!

Sounds like they just need some Lebensraum.

> to further the security of their people and homeland.

They're not furthering the security of the homeland. They're furthering the homeland, expanding it into territories belonging to people who face a much worse existential threat- Israel itself.