Stop steam choosing Israeli mirror by default

I remember when I first installed Steam after formatting my PC I went to the download settings and chose Germany Frankfurt instead of Israel (Since the download speed is higher of course) but now after reading your post I went to the settings and found out it is back to Israel.
It seems after each update it will reset to the nearest server and you will have to amend this manually.

lol "slow", yeah ok, im sure thats why.

nuclearcat wrote please post your opinion there

No I'll post mine here.

It's just data packets passing through Israeli servers, why would I care? It's probably the nearest server, and it's getting me 1.6MB/s (yeah that's megabytes).

Also steam/valve is are companies that I respect a lot in terms of technological advancement and service providing. Sure their UI in CSGO is stuttery, but look at their GOTV, the events they sponsor, the security measurements they have*, the support department, etc... There is a reason why it's the top platform for gaming.

*I really like their steam guard. Their one-time key that you generate offline is an RFC (a proposed standard), and yet their implementation seems really good, it's been there for a while and I don't see anyone complaining about it.

rolf wrote

vlatkozelka wrote It's just data packets passing through Israeli servers, why would I care? It's probably the nearest server, and it's getting me 1.6MB/s (yeah that's megabytes).

So do think the packets are switched in Cyprus? (Lebanon -> Cyprus -> Israel)? Can you do a traceroute to check maybe?
I thought the packets would go all the way to France and then back to Israel, which would make a European server a faster option.
I don't have Steam, I'm just speculating.
I just traced a couple of random Israeli IPs an the packets go all the way to Europe like I predicted.

By the way, this is related:
https://www.reddit.com/r/lebanon/comments/5ymdnb/israel_steam_servers_block_lebanon/

Thanks for the effort, though it was not my point really. All I'm saying is that I really wouldn't care where my packets pass through, as long as it works. I don't think there's anything in it for Israel, is there?

Well it should work better if your server is in Europe, because Lebanese traffic goes through Europe first.
So the automatic selection of Israel is a technical problem.

rolf wrote So the automatic selection of Israel is a technical problem.

Completely agree. I believe our best pings are to Germany and France (talking from experience when we once rented a csgo server)

I wonder if it's not actually a technical problem, and just steam trolling us (it's a company that deals with gamers so...). Most probably just choosing nearest by distance.

Sorry OP for taking the thread as a political one. Of it's a technical issue you're pointing out then I completely agree.

While I'm not versed with steam or the legalities of the matter (although I'm fully aware of them), if any of the premises, Technical or Legal are true, then having "Israel" as a default being set is obviously not correct. This is not a matter of personal opinion or feelings.

[1] It's either legal for us to download from Israel servers, or it's not.
[2] If it's legal, it's either slow for us to download from Israel servers versus other servers, or it's not.

One precedes the other.

I guess the answer of these questions will let your conscious rest, I don't have the answers but I think this might help to direct the conversation into a clear result/end:
- Are we supporting Israel is any way if Steam default download servers where there?
- If this is illegal in Lebanon, shouldn't the ISPs blocking them already?