The United States is expected to lift its hold on the shipment of ammunition and weapons designated for the IDF, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office said on Tuesday, just one day after the Israeli leader accused the Biden administration of preventing the delivery of those arms.
“US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew told Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday that the ammunition and weapons that the PM referred to are in the process of being delivered to Israel,” the PMO wrote in an English language post on X.
Biden has been a Zionist advocate for 40+ years. He probably believes that supporting Israel gives the US a stronghold in the middle east, and he’s probably right.
Israel is a proxy state for the “war on terror” so that the area’s resources can be extracted by western powers with little organized resistance. It’s textbook imperialism.
Any geopolitical role that Israel fulfills could easily be filled by Turkey. Israel offers very little for the US, at this point it can’t even be said that they’re really an ally democracy (if they ever were). It’s a hyper-militaristic apartheid state.
But that’s kind of my point, Israel is indeed a client of the US and, whatever you think about US hegemony, Israel shouldn’t be calling the shots here in terms of the support we do or don’t give them. It makes Biden look so incredibly weak to tolerate the endless slaps to the face from Netanyahu’s tantrum and for them to dump money into our elections without a single Dem leader calling for a ban on AIPAC money. It makes no sense even from an imperialist perspective or a security perspective or however one wants to frame it, nevermind the clear moral depravity of continuing to send them aid.
Even Ronald Reagan withheld munitions from Israel when they indiscrimately bombed Lebanon and literally described it as a holocaust right to the Prime Minister’s face. It literally took less than a half hour after that call for the Israeli PM to halt the bombing.
I despise Reagan, but if even someone as despicable as him can understand how to wield political power to bring the Israeli far-right to heel, Biden has no excuse. Which is why I think there has to be something else going on here.
That’s a very fair and reasonable analysis. I just think that Biden actually believes in Zionism and fundamentally agrees that Israel should exist and “defend itself” (i.e., commit genocide). He isn’t just playing politics like Reagan. That’s why he does things that don’t seem to make logical sense.
There’s obviously something going on behind the scenes though, I agree. There’s probably a lot of money being paid so politicians on both sides sit on their hands, among other things. Here in Canada, Israel lobbies aggressively, pays for our representatives to take trips there, etc.
But I do think Joe Biden is an earnest Zionist himself.
That’s a real possibility, yeah, there is no doubt that he is a Zionist. And I don’t mean to speak with more certainty than it really warrants, it’s more just difficult to really believe he’s not coming around to the fact that the far-right “forever war” Israeli government is not only bad for the US, but even makes Israelis themselves less safe by perpetuating conflict and stoking the cycle of violence.
He is perhaps a Zionist without the stomach for ethnic cleansing that’s required to fulfill that world view.
This is a common misunderstanding. The U.S. gains absolutely no localized advantages in maintaining a relationship with Israel. We have no unique military positions or irreplacable business relationships with Israel. None. If anything, our support of Israel strains our much more profitable relationships with their muslim neighbors in the region.
The reason we are married to Israel is AIPAC money. AIPAC will shift support from Biden to Trump the very moment Biden stops supporting Israel or its genocide. AIPAC money is diverse and global. They are kingmakers right now. The game Biden is playing is related to AIPAC and their allies.
I’m not suggesting that this is the sole reason, but have you considered the possibility that the US supports Israel in part because it is a white-majority nation of largely European ancestry among Arab states? Especially considering the circumstances that led to its creation. I am more and more convinced lately that this plays a part, though it may be small.
However, what you mention is clearly happening too. It’s likely a variety of factors, but I would agree that money is a big motivator. AIPAC is certainly able to achieve a high level of autonomy, so that would point to it having tacit endorsement/approval from the US political establishment and that’s more than likely from legalized bribes.
Agreed. However, I think being highly motivated by ethnic or religious ideology is a bigger factor on the far-right, whereas money is the primary motivator for the neo-liberal Dems like Biden. There may be a little ideology at play for Biden, but ideology-driven foreign policy seems more likely from a GOP politician. Of course, I think money talks loudest for both camps.
We need a viable progressive party.
It’d be great to have a progressive party but in reality all that would do is ensure republikkklowns getting all the seats. Not a single one of them will vote progressive, all it will do is divide the votes going to the democrats.