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Comment by nivertech | Hacker News Reader

I wish there were country flags next to HN handles.

Why are so many people all over the world interested in the politics of our "microstate"?

It's a rhetorical question. I know why ... ;(

Hi, replying from the US. Israel is obviously at least tied with KSA for our top relationship in the middle east, and both of those relationships are deeply (like, DEEPLY) important to our politics. Not to mention that you're one of only 9 nuclear armed states in the entire world! Plus Bibi was PM for 15 years, including the last 12, and you've had 4 elections in the past 2 years trying to sort out if he's staying in office or not, ending up with a coalition of parties that ostensibly hate each other but are laser focused on removing him- the whole thing is certainly newsworthy!

Could you say why you think that is instead of clouding what you’re trying to say in a rhetorical question?

To me, Israel is significantly more than a microstate. Liechtenstein with its 38,000 people or Monaco with 39,000 are dots on the map. Israel has over 9 million inhabitants — I think classifying it as a “microstate” is a misnomer.

Israel is also a pretty powerful player and holds a lot of influence over US and world politics in a way that no “microstate” can.

Why are people so interested in US politics? Because the decisions of the US matter deeply to global geopolitics. Same goes for Israel, I think.

> It's a rhetorical question. I know why ... ;(

Why?

I'm not the OP, but he is correct even if he expressed himself poorly. Israel has since its inception had every transgression, every poor decision, and every flaw magnified in international press far more than any nation, even before accounting for Israel's small landmass and population.

Every country has issues, but none have them paraded about as blatantly as Israel does. When was the last time a country of less than 100,000 km^2, or less than 100M population, had a change of head of state as front-page news on HN? Why is this such an important event that every international news organization has it on the front page, when changes to other non-G8 nations' heads of state are not?

Every country in Europe aside from Russia has a population smaller than 100 million. Israel is larger than Austria by population.

Also, Israel is an ethnostate (of sorts) which has perennially been in some kind of armed conflict since its inception.

If Austria had wars and territorial disputes with all its neighbors, and received tens of billions of dollars from the US in military aid, and was nuclear-capable, and had a Prime Minister who wielded strong influence over US politics through an organization like the “American Austrian Public Affairs Committee”, we’d probably hear a lot more about it.

I kinda doubt it honestly. I'm not even positive a regime change in China / Russia would have made it to #1 on HN and they both have much more influence on the U.S (and the world's future) than Israel. And even if China's leader being replaced would have made it to #1, the fact we are actually making this comparison (that Israel is as important globally as China) is surreal to me.

One must be delusional to think the international press is giving Netanyahu’s departure more or equal attention than would be given to regime change in Russia or China.

Alright, then. Who is the premier of China? When was he inaugurated? Or who leads the ruling party of China? When was he inaugurated?

HN employs numerous calming techniques.

Not obviously noting political and nationalistic allegiances or identity fits into that pratice.

I’m also from this “micro state” and I find your alluding to racism to be disgusting. But am used to this tactic to brute force your rightwing arguments, so no surprise here

I’m mostly interested because Israel is funded by tax dollars I pay, and heavily supported by racist religious people who believe we must support Israel because “they are Gods chosen people”. We don’t share such view for any other country on Earth, and the topic of Israel has been essentially censured in the US. Even now, criticizing Israel is quickly equated with anti Semitism. You can burn flags, insult Presidents, insult any country or statesman on Earth, and it’s all within some acceptable boundary, but the minute you even dare question Israel, the discussion comes to an end.

American politicians will drag their heels at times to address issues impacting Americans, but criticizing Israel shows them immediately speak up.

I think that’s dangerous, and we have to overturn that. And the idea of any particular race being “Gods chosen people” is unacceptably racist. An Israeli person is no better than a person of any other nationality. They are not above criticism. And if your religion says it is, we need to work to completely remove any influence your religion has on our government. Racism is racism, period.

Israel's conflict with the Palestinians and the other countries in the Middle East could well lead to a nuclear war, or at least destabilize the Middle East, which is a critical source of oil for the rest of the world.

If Israel was in Antarctica or on the Moon, a lot fewer people would care.

Well, there is the fact that Israel is in the middle of a series of conflicts that has so far lasted a couple of millennia, the consequences of which spread quite further than Israel itself, so it's in the interest of quite a few people to see a bit less fuel poured on that specific fire?

Several occidental countries have a (relatively) long love/hate relationship with Israel on top of that.

Also the fact that (some) Israeli politicians are not above a bit of interference with other countries either.

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