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Notes -
That wasn’t the question…
I’d like to hear your reasoning on that. It doesn’t seem to apply to Iran, which manufactured quite the list of complaints about Western culture. Nor is it necessary to explain al-Qaeda and other fundamentalist groups. The “American-Israeli alliance” is a footnote in bin Laden’s motives. But then, I expect the Christians were enough to get us (via the UN) intervening in Lebanon.
Not so. Per your own link:
The other guy who bombed the World Trade Center back in 1993, Ramzi Yousef, was primarily motivated by hatred of Israel and sought to bomb American targets to bring about change. Key Islamist leaders like Sayyid Fadlallah or Sayyid Qutb hated America for its support of Israel.
As for Iran, while the US has non-Israel related incentives to prevent Iran dominating the region, Israel makes things much harder harder. Israel has constantly been pushing for the US to invade Iran, constantly trying to prevent a diplomatic solution. Even in the 1990s, the Israelis lobbied for the US to adopt dual containment of Iraq and Iran, bringing in a large number of troops to contain Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (thus creating another of bin Laden's agreements). AIPAC has undermined US relations with Iran, mobilized to strengthen anti-Iran sanctions. For example, when Iran chose an American oil company, Conoco, to develop the Sirri oil fields as an overture, Clinton killed the deal. Clinton later said that Edgar Bronfman, former head of the World Jewish Congress was one of the deal's most effective opponents. AIPAC was also involved. There are many such examples.
If Israel didn't exist, there would probably have been US-Iranian rapprochement.
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