Why do we care so much about Israel?

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

We care way too much about the Middle East in general.

The oil supply doesn't matter like it did in the '70s - there are ample resources in other countries (including our own) and growing alternatives to petroleum.

There is no rival superpower jockeying for influence there like the Soviet Union. Russia wants to muck around in Syria? So what? Russia has been mucking around in the Levant/Black Sea/Caucasus for centuries. Meanwhile China is quietly buying up Africa.

It's not a very populous region compared to Africa, India, China or Southeast Asia. And it's even smaller when you consider that the Gulf States are basically rotten boroughs that are 10% natives and 90% expat migrant workers.

The idea that the Israel-Palestine conflict was a root cause of post-Cold War Islamist terrorism was always a big lie.

Israel's insistence that it is surrounded by enemies turned out to be a lie. It has peace treaties or tacit nonaggression pacts with literally every country in the area other than Iran. The Arab countries' insistence that the Palestinian issue was ever some major sticking point for them was a lie, based on how quickly they grew tired of it when they decided they wanted Israel's help dealing with Iran.