The reasoning behind the government's decision is irrelevant here. Google is a company headquartered in the US. Going against the official policy of the US government is a more politicalized move than going with the status quo.
Side note, you should be careful using Israeli and Jewish as interchangeable terms. There is no such thing as an "Israeli diaspora".
Jews and Israeli are distinct. Maybe diaspora is incorrect word, but those who call Israel their home country and reside in the US are of the diaspora of Israel.
Google has headquarters in many countries including Israel. They use various Sources to create maps. And some happen to show Palestine as a separate country. Using one source over another is not a politicized move. But since the recognition of Palestine is recent, ignoring a UN resolution is politicized, more than following an archaic policy of a home country.
>Jews and Israeli are distinct. Maybe diaspora is incorrect word, but those who call Israel their home country and reside in the US are of the diaspora of Israel.
There are something like 100k Israelis is the US. They have virtually no political power. If you want to say "Jewish Diaspora" say "Jewish Diaspora". It really seems like you are using "Israeli Diaspora" in order to avoid accusations of anti-Semitism. My comment was simply pointing out that using Israeli and Jewish interchangeably is probably a more worrying indicator than just saying "Jews have influence in US politics" which is at least true at some level. Although nowadays Evangelicals play a bigger role in determining the US's political stance on Israel than Jews as evidenced by Jewish people being overwhelming Democrats while the Republicans are viewed as the pro-Israel party.
This actually leads me to wonder why US Evangelicals are so utterly pro-Israel. Christians have a long history of discriminating against Jews, but surely this modern development is not about over-compensating for that...? Is it just a "the enemy of my (Arab) enemy, is my friend"...?
I don't find particularly puzzling that the US, as a whole, might have pro-Israel policies for historic and strategic reasons; however, the intensity of sentiment, particularly on the Christian right, still baffles me.
The numbers I have seen is that somewhere between a third to half of Evangelicals support Israel specifically because Jews controlling The Holy Land is seen as a prerequisite to the End Times, the Second Coming of Jesus, and all the stuff from the Book of Revelation.
I don't understand what you are getting at. If the US recognized Palestine that would also be a policy "determined by politics in its original, non-metaphorical form". There is no apolitical answer to the question of whether to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.
It seems like you agree with me but are framing your comments as if you disagree. In my first comment I said:
>There is no potential choice here that isn't going to be viewed politically.
Maybe the two negatives in that sentence are throwing people off, but I can rephrase it to say "There is no apolitical choice here."
However any choice that goes against the status quo is going to be perceived as more political than a choice that accepts the status quo. That is just a general statement and isn't specific to the debate about recognition of Palestine.
The US was motivated not to recognize it because of the Israeli diaspora in America.
There isn't much of an "Israeli diaspora" to speak of the the U.S. At most it makes up 2-3 percent of the Jewish descendant (or identified) population.
"Pro-Israel sentiment in Congress; more specifically, a sentiment favoring the current political status quo in Israel in regard to this particular issue" would be a better description of the proximate cause behind the current US policy, here.
The United States worked with Israel for years, and has continued to some degree even now, to establish a legitimate and functional Palestinian state. The reason the US does not recognize Palestine is that right now there is not a fully formed Palestinian government. The PA never fully exerted its influence or enforced its own laws in the West Bank and has completely lost control of Gaza to a terrorist organization.
I know it does not neatly fit your narrative about a Jewish conspiracy in America ("Israeli diaspora?" really?), but US support is one of the reasons there is any Palestinian self-governance at all, limited as it may be.
Conspiracy? None whatsoever. Support for Israel is public and apparent even from politicians and lobbyists. This has guided US votes and vetoes in the UN. This is not a “narrative” nor a hidden story.
As far as PA exerting control, Israel has actively worked to keep the PA weak and frowned to recognize any sovereignty, even to this day keeping occupation forces inside and protecting illegal settlements.
> The reason the US does not recognize Palestine is that right now there is not a fully formed Palestinian government.
This is a funny narrative. Afghanistan does not not have a full government but that does not mean they are not recognized.
