Wow. You're so smart that I can't believe you actually wrote the following: "Functionally Israel is nothing more than the Middle Eastern military branch of the empire." Do you really not recognize the aspirations of the Zionists as something separate---and indeed a reaction against--empire? The goals of empire and the goals of the Zionists may overlap at the moment, just as the interests of the Saudis and Israelis may overlap temporarily, but they are not the same thing.