By 'we all know why' I'm inferring the fact that politicians are bought and sold by backers far more than people like to think.....far more in the US but they are also heavily influenced here....for example, the conservatives voting to build a Holocaust museum right outside Parliament is a pretty clear cut example.....I mean, what the hell has the Holocaust got to do with Britain?....I suspect the 'friends of Israel' lobby and other like minded bodies had a lot to do with it. That isn't done without direct lobbying over years.
You question my own question on what on earth does someone like Britain get out of supporting Israel over say France.....To be honest I think you know the answers and partially answered it yourself.
Why we support them is multifactored....of course you get the emotional pleas in the mainstream because they prefer to ignore or hide the real practical reason.....it's because the US are essentially joined at the hip with Israel (bought and sold) and the US essentially gives us security along with trade guarantees that mean that our defence budget can be less than 3 percent. In Russia and Ukraine right now it's a total war economy with Russia at 40 percent and Ukraine...well I dread to think.
Go against the US as their client state and they will work against your economy just as they did against our empire when we had one.....if you read biographies of Powell he himself made this very clear, even though the media never covered it.
To add to it and relate it more to the French example, there is a limit to how much pro French sentiment or backing there is in Britain anyway. Also the history of French-British relations is extremely long and interconnected and thirdly they aren't party European (which is only partial in Israel anyway) they are fully European and don't have dual or even anti loyalties over that fact (the French people that is, rather than most of the ruling elites).
You say Israel want to be western.....I'm far more cynical about some of the motivations on that but I do recognise that many Jews are to varying degrees European and I accept them as such. However, my issue is far more with the behaviour of the Israeli security state rather than Jews in the west themselves (though again, only 30 percent of them are like you or me and vote right).
Ask yourself, if the roles were reversed would we be getting this support? Who stands up for us? Not many people know but Israel sold weapons and jets to the Argentinians during the Falklands conflict and we all know about the French supplying them as well.
Newly declassified files from the National Archives in Kew reveal that Israel supplied significant weaponry including strike aircraft to the
www.fiassociation.com
My stance here will classically get called anti semitic.....somewhat amusingly as I remember accusing a Polish Hol poster of that on here years ago. However I refute that as it's not about someone being Jewish but purely a question of allegiance. My exact position is no different to that of a minority of prominent Jews themselves....Dave Smith for example being a well known Jew in the DR who doesn't connect being Jewish with a slavish defence of Israel.
I don't even have a problem with the obvious preference for Israel over their Islamic enemies. I do however suggest that what is going on within that whole region is the ignoring and defence of barbarism and genocide by a political class hopelessly cuckolded by money and in many cases threats of deselection. Why should I cheer on that state of affairs? A situation of 'support Israel or else'? How is that independence?
Israel aren't forcing out an invader here, these are people who have always lived on that land and indeed the vast majority of Israelis there migrated from various parts of the west after the Balfour declaration in the early 20s.....only between 1 and 3 percent were present there in 1882.
So I just say, this is a war of questionable morality that we are involved in as backers and only causes us trouble. Indeed, I think we should spend more time protecting Jews here in Britain from the growing threats of Islamic immigration. (which some of them like our Cornwell Jewish friend encourage).
When it comes to actions of foreign states we really have to ask ourselves, 'what is this to do with us'? and 'is this something we would do'? So I apply that moral question to the middle east. Israel are busy attacking other states and along with the US threatening Iran. We are talking about a situation with the potential for world war.
As with Ukraine, this has nothing to do with me or the country at large and I can only see negative outcomes.....I bulk at the emotional arguments presented in the media rather than the hard truths of financial and client state reasons behind it.....something that embarrasses me knowing the history of this once great country.
At least no one has explained to me what exactly we get out of any of this other than another 'bending over' loyalty display to the US.