When trying to explain the us/israel relationship I always get hung up on this part, which is the most immediate experience people in western countries have with the conflict. Were people getting fired for voicing mild criticism of apartheid south africa at work?
The domestic recession isn’t bad for the capital class, in fact they are doing great- we just had One of the greatest wealth transfers to the rich ever.. Also South Africa (region and country) is/was not an integral part of American foreign policy, hence why Zimbabwe and Angola were allowed to fall to communist revolution. Israel though was for the longest time America’s only (useful) ally in the region- Egypt, Iraq, Lybia, and Syria were all Baathist and more or less anti west, Turkey only cared about defending against Soviet invasion, Iran was being Iran, and the house of Saud were/are subjects to the Wahhabi movement.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, necessarily, but I think you misread “repression” as “recession”.
You’re right, totally did