Arab-Israeli War of 1973

Originally posted by Ponce de Leon I am in favor of Israel. I think it will outlast more than you think

I agree.

I think there are instances where the US would have stood by if the Soviets used nuclear weapons, a possible Russo-Chinese war for instance.

You're also saying this example is totally improbable and compare it to the examples of soviet use of nuclear weapons against US allies in an attempt to achieve world domination.  This would not have been so, this would have been the desperate use of Israeli nuclear weapons against the Arab nations.  In the actual war, both the USA and the USSR collaborated to stop the conflict, no side had an interest in widening it, and it is very unlikely either side would have unilaterally done so.  The Israelis would also have recent history to indicate to them that the USSR was not that firm in it's support of the Arab states.  They refused to help them in 1956 despite making a lot of noise about it, and also did not punish Israel for routing the Arabs in 1967.  If the Israelis had used nuclear weapons in the first 24 hours of the invasion, I think both the USA and USSR would be equally stunned but.  The Arabs were not to the Soviets what Japan or Korea were to the USA, the USA lost 33,000 men defending South Korea against North Korea, the Soviets never did such a thing for the Arab states.  After political posturing by the superpowers began to take place, then you are right in that Israeli use of nuclear weapons would have elicited a greater Soviet obligation in light of previous support given.

Israel obviously didn't use nuclear weapons, I would think not from a consensus that it would have immediately elicited a Soviet response, but from a general uncertainty over what it would elicit and from whom.

I'm not saying there wouldn't be costs, just that it's possible the Israelis could have considered the costs worth it

Israel can not accept too much cost. They have very limited resource.

I alsobelieve israel will not resist that lands much, west cannot support israel forever.

This analysis shows a fundamental failure to understand Cold War dynamics. So I'll give you an analogy.

You have very bad relations with your neighbour. Both of you have guns and sons who have guns. It is clear that if things go bad, blood will spill. Other neighbours are watching both of you, and tracking your behaviour. You both don't want to lose face, but more importantly, don't want to get killed, which is certain if there is a serious fight. So you try to avoid escalation, where you can.

Now, you have a dog, which keeps chasing your neighbour's dog who teases it. This causes some problems, but not much, as long as the dogs don't kill/maim each other.

But if your dog killed your neighbour's dog, you'd be in deep sh*t. Because your neighbour would in all likelyhood shoot the brains out of your dog. Then you'd have a tough choice, either do nothing and lose face, or escalate the affair, and risk getting shot yourself.

The best solution is to keep your dog leashed. I.e. no nukes.

Look at the situation today, Israel can't even annex West Bank, even without the USSR, because of America threatening to cut aid. It is ridiculous to think that they could have nuked anyone.