[TEASER] Palestine Ep. 11: Israel and the U.S. Empire w/ Max Ajl

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There's a widespread misconception among a significant number of people—including many on the left—that when it comes to the U.S./Israel relationship, it's Israel that's pulling the strings. It's the belief that Israel is pulling the United States into something that it doesn't want to be involved in, that the Israel lobby has held our policymakers hostage, and that the United States actually really, sincerely cares about the wellbeing of Palestinians, but that the White House, the State Department, and Congress, are all beholden to nefarious Israeli actors. Some even think that blackmail is involved.

There's something compelling to some about this narrative—it allows them to ignore reality, hiding the blood-soaked stains of U.S. empire under the rug. It conveniently dismisses the fact that the United States is literally built on the bones of the murdered, whether ethnically cleansed Indigenous children, enslaved Africans and their ancestors, or the child workers of the 19th century—to name just a few examples. The U.S. has no qualms about dead children, let alone innocent adults.

And when it comes to so-called Israel, the United States' relationship with the zionist entity is a relationship with a client state—a state which ultimately serves the interests of U.S. capital and U.S. imperialism more broadly. Don't be distracted by liberal bloviations and other forms of erroneous analysis—the United States is willfully committed on all levels.

And if you're asking, well, why? Why is the United States so committed to its relationship with Israel? Well, that's exactly what we're going to be discussing with this week's guest. Max Ajl is a Research Fellow at the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies at the University of Tunis, a Fellow at the University of Ghent, and a researcher with the Tunisian Observatory for Food Sovereignty and the Environment. He's also the author of A People's Green New Deal and, most recently, a two-part article titled "Palestine's Great Flood." Max was also featured prominently in our two-part audio documentary The Green Transition.

In this Patreon episode, Max provides us with a Marxist-Leninst analysis of the U.S.'s relationship with Israel, unpacking how Israel has served as a watchdog for the U.S. in East Asia and how Israel has served the U.S. empire in crushing radical left movements globally—particularly, of course, in Palestine. We also discuss the role of the Israel lobby, the mechanics of imperialism and capital accumulation on a global level, and where the sick, twisted, morbid relationship between the United States and Israel might be headed.

Cover illustration: Berwyn Mure

Although the episodes in our series build on each other in certain ways, all of our series are designed so that each episode can be listened to as a standalone.

Further resources:

• Max's ResearchGate page
• Palestine's Great Flood Pt. 1
• Palestine's Great Flood Pt. 2
• A People's Green New Deal

Related episodes:

• Upstream's Ongoing Palestine Series
• [UNLOCKED] How the North Plunders the South w/ Jason Hickel
• Dialectical Materialism w/ Josh Sykes
• Donate to Middle Eastern Children's Alliance (MECA)
• Anera: Provide urgent humanitarian aid to Palestinians
• Gaza Mutual Aid

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