You hear about the crying drones thing? That was the reality breaker for me. I don't believe in any kind of elemental evil, but I do now see that sufficient depravity can reach more or less the same depths.

Not just those, though. The west took a huge L in the Suez crisis, but Israel is a way to still have some control over Egypt (which is more or less a puppet state atm). Israel also sits at an important position for projecting power to Afghanistan (lol) and, to a lesser extent, East Asia. South Korea and Japan are much more relevant for East Asia, but Israel still functions as a hub connecting the east and west.

This is the eventual goal of the Zionists, Eretz Yisrael, from the Nile to the Euphrates (and beyond). You can start to see why their location is very strategic, even moreso than Turkey which is often described as in a very good geopolitical strategic location.

Liberal Zionists will call this "anti-semitic conspiracy theories" but it's not, hardline zionists are quite open with their intentions and openly broadcast them. They plan to dominate the arabs, push north until they eventually connect up with Kurds and Turks. They plan to cross the river Jordan. They plan to re-take Suez Canal.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41144505

Here's a Russian-Zionist hardliner crank's blog where they just give the whole speal right out in the open in 2003, peep how active the comments were this isn't just some tiny fringe.

Reaching these limits is a prescriptive commandment of the Torah. According to the list of Ramban, this is: “The fourth commandment. We are commanded to possess the land that G‑d gave to our forefathers - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and not to leave it in the hands of foreigners, or completely uninhabited. As it is said: “And take possession of the land and settle in her, for I have given this land to you, to take possession of it.”

https://avrom.livejournal.com/116574.html

And it's not just cranks who are like this, this is the mainstream position of Likud and Ben-Givr and the Israeli right.

I dug more into this blog, and it's the rabbi Avraham Shmulevich who lives in Hebron, Israel (a settlement) and has a youtube channel in Russian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syl-Ouyy7gw

Yes there were many reasons that the Middle East was chosen as the primary outpost for the current imperial system and the "first strike" by the US in the 21st century. The same article by Amin states that:

The project of the United States, supported to varying degrees by their subaltern allies in Europe and Japan, is to establish military control over the entire planet. With this prospect in mind, the Middle East was chosen as the “first strike” region for four reasons:

• (1) it holds the most abundant petroleum resources in the world and its direct control by the armed forces of the United States would give Washington a privileged position, placing its allies—Europe and Japan—and possible rivals (China) in an uncomfortable position of dependence for their energy supplies;
• (2) it is located at the crossroads of the Old World and makes it easier to put in place a permanent military threat against China, India, and Russia;
• (3) the region is experiencing a moment of weakness and confusion that allows the aggressor to be assured of an easy victory, at least for the moment; and
• (4) Israel’s presence in the region, Washington’s unconditional ally

https://monthlyreview.org/2007/12/01/political-islam-in-the-service-of-imperialism/

The article is from 2007, so a lot has changed since then. But it is still relevant.