It does seem slightly contrary, but when you consider that the vast majority of Arabs consider the Palestine/Israel conflict to be at the very core of hatred towards the US, then it’s easy to see where this is coming from. According to Qutb, a Egyptian(?) academic who is widely thought of as the precursor to much of the dissent in the Arab world, US recognition of the State of Israel was widely seen as hypocritical and pandering to Jewish voters. Since it was Britain and France that instigated the partition, it’s not clear why they came down so hard on the US, but I suppose the colonial powers that prevailed were pretty much a spent force anyway by then, moreover the driving force behind continued US financial support is widely considered as corrupt and evil. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
