Where did you pick that nonsense up? Annual US aid amounts to around 15% of Israel’s military budget. That’s $3.8b compared to a GDP of $500b. It is a regional power with or without the US. US aid is in exchange for maintaining a major US military base in Israeli territory and access to Israeli intelligence. Israel spends more money on purchasing US weapons than it receives in US aid. US weapons also rely on technology designed and produced in Israel.
This isn’t just about Israel’s military budget. That helps, sure, but it’s pretty crucial that Israel gets shielded from the consequences of its actions by the US constantly. If Israel were to start facing sanctions or have its saber-rattling no longer backed up by the threat of US intervention, be via sanctions or interceding directly, Israel would be a much less imposing power in the region. Military support is not the only measure of US support for Israel.
Why on earth would Russia or China want to watch Israeli power plummet when they could use it to project power into the Middle East and access it’s resources? Why do you think the US is there?
They could literally do the same thing without a) having to provide Israel ongoing material support and diplomatic cover, b) risk getting dragged into conflicts that don’t benefit them by Israel, and c) alienate their existing allies in the region by backing a hostile power.
Israel provided a convenient foothold for the US half a century ago, when the surrounding Arab nations were more hostile to them. The situation has changed remarkably, and Israel is no longer unique in being willing to work with the US. Israel has, in fact, been a liability in making progress with this until relatively recently. But, sure, let’s piss off the rest of the region so we can get Waze and some Israeli clementines out of things, seems like a good trade on the balance of it.
You want to claim I know so little about foreign policy, but you quite conveniently omit the many drawbacks to supporting Israel, as well as any of its weaknesses.
Having lived in both, I rather like being in a dense neighborhood like I am at the moment, but long term, I simply doubt I’ll be able to afford it, which I think may be a pretty significant factor for many people. I already live at the extreme northern edge of my city, but if my rent goes up by more than another few hundred dollars a month, I doubt I could afford to find another place in the city that isn’t in a terrible neighborhood. NIMBYs make sure that the housing crisis keeps going strong, aided by the byzantine process of community board review for any project that doesn’t manage to get killed early on.
Prices are going up in all the similarly dense cities in my region. My options for the future look likely to be sprawl in my home region, with somewhat tolerable conditions despite bad Democratic policies, or sprawl in another state, with worse conditions and worse Republican policies. It’s unlikely I could even afford a place in a nice urban region in red states, as their lower cost of living tends to go hand in hand with substantially lower wages. I looked into it at one point, and while apartments in that city were much nicer for maybe 40% of the cost, I would have had to take about a 50% pay cut, while also needing to buy and maintain multiple motor vehicles, as public transit was essentially nonexistent there.