Oh I completely agree that Israel is central to US strategy in the region, and I think this is precisely why it's such a disaster for US. Israel doing an open genocide against the Palestinians is uniting countries in the region against Israel and by extension against US itself. US tried to play a peace broker in the region, and now this position has been completely discredited. The end result of all this could end up being all the Arab countries finally creating a united front and pushing US out with China coming in to replace it.