On Tuesday, the State Department approved a series of potential weapons sales to Israel worth over $20 billion that includes F-15 fighter jets and tank munitions. The approval comes as Israeli airstrikes continue to slaughter civilians in Gaza, including newborn twins who were killed hours before the State Department announced the new support for Israel.
In total, the US announced five new arms deals for Israel. The biggest is for 50 F-15 fighter jets and related equipment, worth $18.8 billion. Israel will also receive $102.5 million in advanced air-to-air missiles, about 33,000 120mm tank cartridges worth $774 million, 50,000 high-explosive 120mm mortar rounds worth $61.1 million, and $583.1 million worth of medium tactical vehicles.
It’s unclear how much of the massive weapons sale will be funded by US military aid. The announcement came a few days after the State Department said it was releasing $3.5 billion in military assistance for Israel in the form of Foreign Military Financing, a program that gives foreign governments money to buy US weapons.
It will take years before the F-15s and other weapons will be delivered to Israel, although, according to Reuters, the tank rounds would be almost immediately available for delivery. The notification begins a period where Congress could potentially block the sales, but it’s expected to breeze through since only a few dozen progressive Democrats are opposed to arming Israel.
The approval of the deals shows strong support from the Biden administration for Israel’s genocidal war, which according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, or about 2% of Gaza’s entire population. The Health Ministry’s numbers are believed to be a low estimate since it doesn’t account for thousands of people who are missing and presumed dead under the rubble or others who have died due to indirect causes.
This is bloody unbelievable!!! More money thrown at the same problem? A problem seemingly without much of a solution?…..?…..?
Peace does not cost much of anything but rather it actually gives back to everyone!
This is welfare for the military-industrial complex. The F-15's will have to be built and Israel will be long gone before they are ever delivered – unless the US intends to transfer existing F-15's to Israel and then replace them later, which is possible.
In any event, the F-15s are undoubtedly being sent for the purpose of war with Iran. The problem with that notion is that most will be destroyed on the ground as the airfields are destroyed by Hezbollah and Iran during the conflict.
So we have to conclude that it's mostly welfare for the MIC.
The rest of the package is just window-dressing. The numbers for the weapons sent are minuscule for what is needed in any full-blown conflict. This is much like the "millions" of rounds of combat rifle ammo sent to Ukraine. As Brian Berletic has pointed out repeatedly in his videos, "millions" is not a lot when it takes maybe 250,000 rounds in a conflict to achieve one killed or wounded enemy. Soldiers waste a LOT of ammo.
Which is not to say that 33,000 tanks rounds and 50,000 mortar rounds won't kill a lot of Palestinian – or Lebanese – civilians.
And this same federal government will then tell us they don't have money for roads, schools, the US border, the power grid, social security, etc!
The US has no intention of letting Israel get destroyed.
The Neocon/lib elites want to protect Israel
The reasonable and rational people in the US don't care and would rather spend their tax money on something that would actually be benificial.
If we cut nearly all government spending, except for border security and some regulations, the US could fund UBI.
Free money for every citizen! That’s America First.
So, for every bomb dropped on a Palestinian child, as much as that might be, you’re taking potential hard cash from US citizens. UBI for everyone!
"If we cut nearly all government spending" No social security? No FAA? No environmental protection? No road building? No new airports? No lock and dams that prevent floods? No more national weather predictions. No FEMA? No FBI finger print database? No federal cancer research? No VA hospitals? No more NASA? No more GPS systems? Sure let's cut nearly all government spending.
UBI! Freeee stuff. Cut the rest B)
I wonder if you’ll be as big a fan of serfdom in actuality as you are in theory.
I figure it would cost less than the current tax burden.
Europeans seem to want a 35 or 30 hr workweek. I’d be fine with 60hrs. Just boost with UBI.
Regardless, Japan is taking in migrants to fund its social security variant. So, social security clearly has an unintended consequence.
"I figure it would cost less than the current tax burden."
It's not about the financial cost.
It's about the instant enslavement of the entire population to a "universal" program that will never be "universal."
I have trouble understanding how UBI is a greater threat than what we have. I want UBI to eat the rest of the government. No further deficit spending.
I understand your concerns about UBI and how it could become a control factor. On the other hand, something is going to have to be done because more and more jobs are becoming obsolete due to automation, robotics, and AI. Soon, we will be a nation of have and have nots, if we are not there already.
Oh, I expect there WILL be a UBI scheme in the future, for precisely the reasons you bring up.
Production is getting more automated, scarcity is become less of a factor. At some point, it’s reasonable to project the possibility of “fully automated luxury communism,” where machines see to nearly all our physical needs and there are few if any traditional “jobs” to be done … and therefore, few such “jobs” to be had.
In theory, that could lead to a society where we all get to lead the lives we’d like, whether it’s spending all day playing video games, or finally writing that novel, or touring the country or the world. Who wouldn’t like that idea? UBI would basically be a rationing mechanism against the remaining scarcities. It wouldn’t be enough for someone to buy, and crash, two Ferraris every week just because they felt like it. It would presumably be enough to cover food, housing, medical care, and some nice “extras” to make life enjoyable. That’s the utopian side, except that it’s not unrealistic.
The problem is that as soon as everyone is totally dependent on political class whims for their basic necessities, the political class will be empowered to do whatever it wants. Government policy is unpopular? “Well, see, if we don’t do X, the UBI checks are going to have to be reduced or eliminated.” Dissident? “Sorry, no UBI for you. Hope your friends will let you sleep on their couches and raid their refrigerators, otherwise you’re screwed.” That’s the dystopian side, which isn’t unrealistic either.
I’m a realist. I see it coming, I see its up sides, I see its down sides.
I guess you could fund Fauci’s research in torturing dogs.
I heard be outsourced that to dodgey facilities in the DPRC after the Obama Administration banned the practise here.
You’re naming two different kinds of things there — things that shouldn’t be done at all, and things that should be done in the private sector.
"people in the US don't care" One to bet on that?
Hi Tim:
No one wants anyone to be destroyed, at all, as that would not be Father or Son’s intention. This is everyone trying to secure a true and lasting Peace, in the region, which will then spread through the world. It’s a long term strategy and that was really part of Christ and God’s intention and it is never too late…
I would also like to remind everyone how wonderful Iran is doing!
Very proud of Iran!
"Very proud of Iran!" Wow, a country that hangs people for political protests! And than there is the
Hijab laws for woman to follow. And if one is caught with 4 and half pounds of heroin, they get the death penalty. And you are proud of that country?
Heroin is bad stuff.
Regardless. No one should get the death penalty for possessing heroin.
🙂
There is good in everyone. My husband is Jewish and I am Christian and we have been together for many years. I still have hope for everyone!
You put the "she" in "yeshiva". Just like Yentl.
The US has more people in cages than any country on the planet. The US has killed over 20 million people since WW2. The US is supplying Israel with weapons to conduct a genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective punishment in Gaza. I could go on. And on. And on. Iran is a shithole but we're the king of shitholes.
Your complaints seem like projection. The USA does milder versions of all that, and Trump II + Project 2025 will make it literally equivalent.
Oh, hey, does the US government pay for citizens' gender-reassignment surgery; or reserve seats in Congress for Jewish and/or female representatives ? Because the Islamic Republic of Iran does.
… or Ukraine?
Remind Israel the American National Bird is a helicopter dusting off the Embassy roof.
;-}
"The billionaires who own DC have no intention of stopping the mass murder committed their middle East colony/pet project."
fixed it for ya
Why not let the ASI be destroyed ? That's a central tenet of the End Times and Armageddon and the Return of the Mack ( doo doo doo doot).
Heaven for all True Believers; fallout-induced thyroid cancers for everyone.
Is there a gage of some sort that measures Israel's brutality? And when their behavior reaches a certain level of depravity, does the state department automatically increase their weapons shipments? It would seem that way.
Some democratically elected American politicians think it is a very good investment. Baram Obaka (or maybe his name is Abram Babaka; just forgot) explained already that there are exceptional nations and not exceptional, dispensable nations.
It seems the more brutal, the better.
Brutality? Don't you know that the Israeli army is the most moral army the world has ever known?/s
This is a crime, complicity in genocide.
The US must be punished. That would require a Uniting for Peace resolution, which the Chinese and the Russians would be more than willing to push.
It is a crime in your fantasy world, but in real life it is not. And China and Russia have their own problems to deal with, they are not going to waste their time on some unenforceable "Uniting for Peace" resolution.
Hi Tim:
It makes us ALL very happy to have you here, continuing to learn about truth, fairness and social justice because that is what peace is and my goodness! We continue to learn from you by leaps and bounds! I have learned that my patience has increased significantly! Every time I think I might lose my temper, I just pray to Christ and I find my patience increasing and that is damn near miracle territory!
While I admire your ability to find inner peace using prayer to the extent I can as an avowed and I am afraid incorrigible universal atheist, I do also value the humanity and the righteousness in getting angry at injustices as great as genocide. Would Jesus be angry?
Doesn't matter if "Jesus" would be angry or not. According to the stories and mythos, he should have effing THANOS level powers.
"Aaaand {snap} now nobody has weapons any more. {snap} Aaand it's impossible to kill children. BOY that took literally no effort for a god like me."
I envision your prayer thusly: "Sweet living Christ, stay my hand upon this cinder-block, and let me not smasheth my iPhone nor my keyboard; for thine blessed contrarian imp, Timothy "Major" Burns, yet again vexes me with his inability to see beyond his myopathy. Blessed are thee, Lard (sic), for thou hast NOT permitted thine favorite clown, jake be his name, to bring lower-case, poorly punctuated assertions upon my screen, whereupon I might cry out 'What in the actual s**t is WRONG with this cat ?'
"Also please dual down the humidity today, it's a bit much. Thy will be done and all that; yours, Donna V. Volatile, Member Since 1978."
Seems like It's you living in a fantasy world where GENOCIDE IS A-OK…
They are working on it. It's called BRICS, based on the radical concept of trading valuable goods for other valuable goods instead of pieces of paper featuring 18th century Americans.
I'm with you on this!!!
The guy in charge is in more need of an enema than any white person in history.
LOL……….!!!
No amount of arms would kill all the Palestinians in Gaza or get rid of Hezbollah in Lebanon…! But the consequences for Israel and US would be colossal…!
How did we get here? I have no idea what the US policy on Israel is these days. First US is antiwar, and then it is pro war.
First US is antiwar
What??? When?
35 trillion dollar deficit that is now just an afterthought. Let the rampant spending splurge continue !! “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die”.
State Department??,,Congress has no say,,LOL!! USA Taxpayer are ignorant, Imbecile, CHUMPS. 🙁
Why do they keep calling them "sales" ?
Tax reasons, I'm sure.
Or to completely lampshade the Broken Windows Fallacy.
"The broken window fallacy is a parable that is sometimes used to illustrate the problem with the notion that going to war is good for a nation's economy
The deeper point is that an event that seems to be beneficial for those immediately involved can have negative economic consequences for many others."
Boring. Lethally, criminally boring. As usual, there will be blood. Inevitably, there will be karma. Good and hard. Just don't leave this movie early. Not that anyone can.
Nice conceit, nicely written, Markus; but, as far as eye can see fore & aft in this life it's just the strong eat the weak, the same old story. Feels rather like Vladimir & Estragon, this waiting for Iran.
”Arms” are meant for hugging….
Forgive my simplicity.
I have had it with these perpetual wars from these genocide complicit, 6% approval, Congress Critters, shilling for their next AIPAC check.
Not much room for argument BY…
It’s long overdue the government exercises the $450 million buy out provision in the Federal Reserve and tell Rothschild, Rockefeller, and the foreign banker cabal to go pound sand.
The list is long but distinguished!
…And disgusting!…
I am also curious as to your handle or moniker?…
I, um, suspect the username is "Urban Dictionary" code for self-pleasurement during or just after consuming takeout General Tso's Chicken.
So that the "most moral army in the world" can do more of this: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/newborn-twins-killed-in-israeli-strike-in-gaza-as-father-collects-their-birth-certificates/3302896
Former President Trump comments on his Truth Social Platform on the unfolding War in the Middle East:
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Here we go! The stupid people are at it again!!
Real America’s Voice
@realamericasvoice
Defense secretary orders guided missile submarine to Middle East
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, revealed that Austin assured Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that the U.S. would “take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of U.S. military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions.”
http://americasvoice.news/justthenews
An open spigot .
$20 billion more from what seems to be a bottomless pit, taking more resources from American taxpayers and increasing the unpayable national debt.