Why?

[qwlauren35]

I ask out of complete ignorance, and maybe someone can explain.

Someone in another post said that the US has had a policy for over 70 years to support Israel because it is of national interest. However, Saudi Arabia is also an ally, so it would not be true that Israel is our only ally in the Middle East. It may be because Israel is a democracy, but we have supported dictators in the past.

What am I missing? Because I would love to see this policy change, and I would like to know what stands in the way.

[hlthe2b]

1. US relationship with S. Arabia is officially a "strategic partnership"--not a formal "alliance"

and yes, it has much to do with the fact that Israel has been the sole democracy in the region, however "flawed" (and officially it IS considered to be a "flawed" democracy... per the The Economist Group's Democracy Index 2023 study. So, too is the US considered so--incidentally).

[elleng]

2. Sadly, maybe, I haven't closely followed the relationship,

but sure as heck we should have atoned for forcing The Exodus to turn around; and Jewish refugees from Europe etc wanted and needed a democracy to which to flee.

'The Exodus 1947 was a worn-out US-owned coastal freight passenger ship launched in 1928. Originally called the SS President Warfield, it sailed the Chesapeake Bay between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia, for over a decade. Transferred to the British under the Lend-Lease agreement as part of a group of shallow-draft ships, the President Warfield was later deployed in the Normandy invasion (June 1944). After World War II it returned to US waters.'>

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/exodus-1947

[Coventina]

3. Are you seriously saying that Israel and Saudi Arabia are in any way comparable?

Guess which country was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks?

You get two guesses and the first one doesn't count.

[cachukis]

4. Aramco. Started in 1933. Standard Oil and the Saudis.

That's the link and it goes through Houston. The Bushes and Bin Ladens. James Baker.
Very interesting and worthwhile study.