Did the United States have any notable enemies, in the Middle East, before it recognized Israel?

by TheLoneAcolyte
rileydelete

Well, "enemies" seems hard to quantify, but as a general rule of thumb the United States, despite caring about the Middle East, wasn't firmly committed to having a presence there until after World War I, especially after oil was discovered in large quantities. That discovery drew international attention, but the U.S. remained interested mainly from an economic standpoint.

Before that, the U.S. had been interested in trading with the Middle East, for obvious reasons, with president Jackson creating ties to the Oman sultanate, but again, the focus was less about "securing democracy" and more about securing mutually beneficial partnerships.

The World War II Era, however, was huge for both the U.S. and the middle east. To quote Noam Chompsky the United States began to see the Middle East as "the most strategically important area of the world." Oil was a huge factor in this interest, but in and of itself, interest in oil didn't really lead to enemies.

Now, you asked about enemies. There really was nothing like the radical Islam we see today. As nations, however, there really were no clear cut countries dead-set against halting the United States. Israel made a lot of Arab nations very angry for various reasons and soured a lot of goodwill.

To sum up your answer, it's really hard to give you a definitive answer. Countries all over the world have been annoyed by U.S. foreign intervention, but I can't say if that type of behavior made "enemies."

Anyway, that's my knowledge on the matter. Hope it helped!