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It’s very strange to go “why isn’t the left doing anything about this conflict when they cared so much about Palestine?” My government doesn’t fund Iran.
by noah_buddy 8mo ago
It’s very strange to go “why isn’t the left doing anything about this conflict when they cared so much about Palestine?”
My government doesn’t fund Iran.
- flyinglizard 8mo agoYour government doesn’t fund Israel, either.
- direwolf20 8mo agoMost Western governments fund Israel. The US funds it the most.
- flyinglizard 8mo agoWhere’s the data to support your extraordinary claim?
- direwolf20 8mo agoYou could start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_supplying_arms_to_Israel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_supplying_ar...
- flyinglizard 8mo agoYou’ve given a list of countries selling weapons to Israel. If I sell you my car, I am not “funding” you. What an exercise in utter futility.
- direwolf20 8mo agoYou could also read https://www.cfr.org/articles/us-aid-israel-four-charts https://www.cfr.org/articles/us-aid-israel-four-charts These are just Google results.
- FilosofumRex 8mo ago[flagged]
- flyinglizard 8mo agoThe Israeli military and security forces budget is more than $55bn a year, and you are saying the US pays all of it. It’s the first time I’ve ever encountered such an outlandish claim.
- ch4s3 8mo agoThe guy is an antisemite and a loon who’s obsessed with Mossad.
- FilosofumRex 8mo ago> The guy is an antisemite and a loon who’s obsessed with Mossad CIA & Mossad in that order, and of course, MI6 as well, but their budget is small
- ch4s3 8mo agoright, a crazy person
- ch4s3 8mo agoTo anyone downvoting my sibling comment, go look at the post history [1] this guy indulges in loads of crazy conspiracies and ties them all back to Mossad. It’s pretty clear what the underlying motivation is. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=FilosofumRex https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=FilosofumRex
- FilosofumRex 8mo agoUS finances costliest weapons (fighter jets, precision munitions, air and missile defense systems such as Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow, and Iron Beam) which provides the qualitative edge of Israel’s military, while Israel’s own budget covers personnel, operations, and much of the day‑to‑day war cost. Without US tax dollars, Israeli part of military budget would have to shrink by 50 - 60% to pay for R&D, manufacturing, testing, deploying and maintaining of US provided advanced weapon systems.
- hearsathought 8mo agoNot only do we fund israel, our leaders have been wasting trillions fighting wars on behalf of israel. The newest target israel want the US to take out is strangely enough - Iran...
- flyinglizard 8mo agoUS does not fund Israel. US has a strategic interest in Israel, just as much as it has in Germany, South Korea, Japan and many other places which host a huge US military presence. Unlike those outposts, the support to Israel is given in American military equipment.
- joenot443 8mo agoI think when westerners like myself notice the disparity in response amongst western progressives between the Palestinian and Iranian situations, they're talking more from a social lens than the geopolitical one. A lot of my peers have been incredibly active on social media the last couple years supporting Palestinians. They've been mostly completely silent on Iran, the imbalance is notable.
- cdelsolar 8mo agoit's about preaching to the choir. I think it's an atrocity what happened to those Iranian supporters. But what's the point in posting about it? Everyone else thinks it's an atrocity. We have no power to change things in Iran.
- program_whiz 8mo agoSorry I think the GP's point is correct. I feel the same about how we hear very little about modern-day slavery, but lots about much more minor workplace issues in the west. I'm not saying don't discuss modern workplace issues, and don't battle for even better working conditions -- but the silence is deafening. If American children were working 12-16 hour days in sweatshops, it would be nonstop in the news. By not speaking out, it lessens the moral standing of those making a huge ruckus over certain issues, but remaining silent on arguably far more serious ones. The power to cause change in democracy rests mostly in influence over decision makers who hold the power and money. The ability to get the news and media and celebrities talking about an issue is what gives protestors and those shouting on the left power to change things. Ultimately politicians and the elites want to be "in the right" to hold onto their power and money. As an example, suppose 80% of the population was suddenly in an uprising about atrocities in Iran, and the next major election hinged on this subject. If some political party takes the right actions, they win the presidency house and senate. Do you think nothing would happen? Trump has literally said he wants to annex Greenland -- anything is possible if leaders feel they have political mandate. Sitting in comfortable silence or talking about relatively easier issues just allows the more complex issues to go unsolved. Again, nothing against pushing for peace for people in Palestine, but claiming that we should just ignore things in Iran reduces the legitimacy of the cause. The pro-peace activist in WWII, who knew of concentration camps, but never mentioned it, and even told others not to discuss it. They claimed there was no point, nothing could be done. But the legacy wasn't the pro-peace activism, it was denial of the glaring situation they ignored.
- mc32 8mo agoThere have been protests in countries that do not “fund” Israel too, so it’s not about funding only. The protests have also been against the Israeli government so you’d anticipate at least protests against the Iranian government if not against one’s own government which they protest because of funding. But we don’t see those protests against the Iranian regime. It reminds me of US protestors protesting the removal of Maduro contrasted with near total approval from expat Venezuelans in various countries. Something doesn’t square.
- the_gastropod 8mo agoMost western countries already don’t do business with Iran. These are extremely different situations. The whataboutism is just bizarre.
- GrowingSideways 8mo ago[dead]
- roysting 8mo ago[dead]
- vasco 8mo agoIn the simplest ways also, to "fix" the situation in Iran, potentially a war has to start. To "fix" the situation in Palestine, a war has to stop. That's inherently very different.
- mrguyorama 8mo agoAnd Donald Trump and republicans in general already want to murderfuck Iran and always have, and don't need or want my support to justify such an act, and already bombed Iran once this admin. I don't support all that 100% but it's not like I have any advice on the matter. I certainly don't have better ideas of where to bomb Iran or how to help a populace 8000 miles away rise against their oppressors.
- mhb 8mo ago[flagged]
- direwolf20 8mo agoAny possible response to this comment would either be full of lies or an extreme violation of site rules. Well done, nice trap.
- mhb 8mo agoThanks for your service.
- misiti3780 8mo agoYes, OUR government does fund Iran. Read about the Iran Nuclear deal under Obama, we gave them billions, more than we have given Israel. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-united-states-iran-and-1-7-billion-sorting-out-the-details/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-united-states-iran-an... https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/03/politics/us-sends-plane-iran-400-million-cash https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/03/politics/us-sends-plane-iran-...
- nkozyra 8mo agoThat's an extraordinarily loose definition of "gave"
- germinalphrase 8mo agoTo add context: the funds were not “given” as one might give humanitarian funding. The funds were Iranian financial assets that were frozen after the Iranian Revolution, accrued interest over the subsequent decades, and were returned as part of a legal settlement. I stake no position on whether this should have happened, just providing more specific color to the situation.
- misiti3780 8mo agothat is true, but it was still a large sum of money given to an authoritarian murderous regime, was it not?
- starik36 8mo agoYou are talking about US. UK doesn't fund Israel, yet they've had most demonstrations there - still do. Clearly it isn't about the violence (whether in Iran or Israel). It's about Israel.
- polytely 8mo agoThe RAF does a lot of flights over Gaza so the UK is actually involved, and the big focus in the UK is on Elbit systems who makes parts for the planes that bomb Gaza. The UK government isn't materially supporting the Iranian regime as far as I can tell
- hearsathought 8mo ago> My government doesn’t fund Iran. And iran doesn't control the US like israel does. And iran doesn't force censorship on americans like israel does. And iran isn't commiting genocide like israel does. When's the last time iran order the US government to attack peaceful college protestors on american college campuses? Israel has. And the US government obeyed.
- YZF 8mo agoMost western a world governments don't fund Israel and yet people there seem to "care" a lot. I don't think your argument holds water. Many western governments trade with Iran and support the oppressive regime there in direct. The US also funds Egypt which is another oppressive regime where there's no human rights. It supports Saudi Arabia that chops up journalists. Your logic doesn't hold because it never held. The reason people "care" about Palestine is that they've been manipulated to care. The logical thing would be for the American population to stand with Israel when it's being attacked. That would be the normal default. Like the rest of the world supported the US when it was attacked on 9/11. What we're seeing is the collapse of logic and truth and the win of propaganda campaigns and lies.
- auronsavant 8mo agoI'm sorry but I just don't believe anyone who says this. Israel has a military expenditure above Turkey's with almost a tenth of the population. They could do everything they did and then some with no Western backing. The number of progressives shutting the fuck up in a scenario where Israel does the same thing they're doing but without Western funding is I imagine approximately 0.
- garbagecoder 8mo agoYour government does fund Sudan and did fund Iran to the tune of billions of dollars in relief under Obama and Biden. Why didn't you care then? You know why. So does everyone that uses this copypasta argument.