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Comment by mentalgear | Hacker News Reader

This is really sickening - if North Korea or any other less connected country did this, you would quickly see their national (tech) companies being sanctioned by the west. I never understood how a country like Israel, given the history of its own tribe, can themselves become so gruesome and have a hugely state-supported private spy-tech sector that supports the worst autocrates in the world as long as the money flows to them.

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Hopefully Israel will have lost American support in a generation or so, who cares what happens to them after that.

Well, you should still care. They have nukes and have promised to use them were Tel Aviv to fall.

I suspect that without American support, they would have to do quite a bit to change their behavior. They probably can't afford the current level of conflict on their own. It would force them to negotiate with their neighbors.

Or double down with India or China. (Or a right-wing Europe.)

Iran[1] may also have all the pieces for nukes by then[2], hence Bibi's fraught gamble with the decapitation strikes, and present desperation to continue - even escalate - hostilities.

1. Or the UAE, which has shown interest in nuclear tech, perhaps for strictly peaceful purposes

2. I.e. attain nuclear latency, and finally make real what Netanyahu has been warning the world for decades: that Iran is "weeks away from a nuclear bomb"

First thing coming into mind is the number of companies and individuals blocking Russians in the beginning of the war before any sanctions out of virtue signalling.

I felt that quite badly at the start of that war, multiple accounts closed, including my brokerage account, bank account rejected, and a flood of emails asking me to divulge loads of documentation to get them to consider giving them back to me!

I don't actually live in Russia, if I did, it would be even worse.

Virtue signaling that consist of blocking Russia is double virtue. You do the good thing and you motivate others to do the good thing too.

We need more of that.

Yep, Xero published a blog post outlining their stance on Russia and outlining their sanctions (it was literally less than a handful of accounts for them):

https://blog.xero.com/news-events/our-position-on-ukraine-an...

But they didn't do anything for Israel. Actually, at the height of the genocide, they decided to invest in an Israeli company.

slow claps

> As of 2024, 38 states have passed bills and executive orders designed to discourage boycotts of Israel

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-BDS_laws#Anti-BDS_laws_in_th...

Israel has had a hand up each US politician’s ass since the 1980s. Israel owns all of them.

Careful: AIPAC may call you antisemitic for commenting on their effective lobbying

Edit: I wonder if the (predictable) downvoters are following the news https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/22/politics/mamdani-aipac-new-yo...

Wait. The Jews really DOES run everything?

They said Israel, not Jews. Don't be antisemitic.

All Jews are dual citizens of Israel. Whether or not they've invoked the right to return, access is made available to them by default.

That is absolutely false. Israel offering citizenship *does not* mean diaspora Jews are their citizens.

This regurgitates two lies:

1. The old antisemitic trope that Jews have dual loyalties, and are therefore, untrustworthy and not full citizens of whatever country they reside in.

2. The Israeli state's claim that it represents, and speaks for, all Jews, when it doesn't.

Many many countries got sanctioned into oblivion or color-revolutionized into US-loyalty for far far less (often just for not being aligned with the US).

It is even more sickening and outrageous if you view it through that lens.

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