I find it a little ironic that in your conclusion, you condemn those that criticize Israel while '[sidestepping] the complexities of the conflict'. Yet, you have done the very same thing in painting other countries in an unflattering light.
For example, your explanation of Cuba's current economic state is reductionist to the point of absurdity, and it's intellectually dishonest to explain it simply with: "the clock broke somewhere in 1959"
Do you know WHY Cuba's economy is frozen in the 1960's, and WHY they haven't updated their cars? WHY they can import or export very little besides cigars?
It might have something to do with the fact that Cuba has been under one of the most aggressively-enforced and longest-running blockades and embargoes the US has ever wielded towards another nation - even longer-running and more strict than those leveled at Israel and Russia.
The fact that Cuba has survived such a relentless economic siege by the world's most powerful country is actually a testament to its self-sufficiency, resourcefulness, and stability. Rather than mocking how they haven't been allowed to import new vehicles since the 1960's perhaps one could allow themselves some actual awe at the ingenuity and resourcefulness that has gone into keeping such old vehicles running for so long out of necessity.
Despite the fact that without the embargo, the US would undoubtedly be Cuba's largest trade partner, Cuba can't even export those cigars to the US, and Americans are still legally forbidden to travel or visit Cuba (except under very limited circumstances that require an exemption being issued by the US government for non-trade or non-tourism reasons.)
Perhaps Cuba sides with the Palestinian cause because - like Gaza - Cuba has survived decades of forced isolation, with its borders and trade being completely controlled by a much more powerful hostile neighbor.
The REALLY interesting thing in all this, is just how much better Cuba has actually done economically in the face of overwhelming odds compared to its peer-nation equivalents in the region despite the blockade/embargo, such as Haiti - who has constantly been under the thumb of US meddling and exploitation.
Cuba is one of the few countries that successfully threw off the yoke of US enslavement and the US will never let it forget that and has punished it mercilessly for being an example of this. Despite this, Cuba has still managed to provide essential services to its citizens with outcomes that exceed that of the US.
For example, healthcare. Cuban citizens have far better access to healthcare and have better outcomes for what it costs them compared to the US, where our healthcare system is the butt of all jokes in the developed world as far as the price we pay for mediocre to dismal outcomes - if you can even afford it in the first place.
Cuba's infant mortality rate is about half that of the US, and it boasts a higher literacy rate as well.
So actually, instead of ridiculing Cuba, perhaps it deserves some admiration for being the 'little island that could' that has withstood tremendous odds standing in the face of US imperialism right in its own backyard.
I'm not shocked that Gaza and Cuba share a mutual bond in that regard.
As a thought exercise, I wonder how Israel (and many of the other examples you cite of various paramilitary groups being eliminated with US backing) would fare 1) without US support and 2) in the face of decades-long active hostility from a major superpower instead of military assistance.
I think Cuba might actually have Israel beat in terms of economic self-sufficiency. Israel relies on imports and exports for its survival as well as backing and handouts from the US, a luxury that Cuba is not afforded, but has managed to survive regardless.
And although Cuba's government might not be the paragon of democratic values, its people are very proud of their revolution, and are united in the much-deserved contempt for the US.
A while back, the US media was trying to 'spin' protests in Cuba as anti-government and obscured the banners' slogans. In versions of the photos that were not intended for the US population (and not blurred), the banners were actually IN DEFENSE of the government and the revolution protesting US imperialism. No wonder the US media blurred them out!
Sure, Cuba might not be a bastion of perfect democracy. Neither is the US for that matter - a mostly corrupt empire in decline at this point. But, at least it's not a 'hell-hole' where the government and national identity is formed on the basis of some arbitrary religious identity that inevitably alienates those not of that faith and denigrates them to 2nd class citizens.
