For the second time this month the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel as Israel continues to prosecute its war against Hamas in Gaza under increasing international criticism.

  • Silverseren@kbin.socialOP
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    70
    ·
    11 months ago

    I feel like I once again have to ask why? Why does Israel need these weapons so badly that you have to bypass even Congressional approval? Republicans wouldn’t exactly oppose such an approval, they haven’t shown any lack of support for supporting Israel, just Ukraine. And Israel certainly doesn’t need the weapons for defense, as claimed by the State Department in the article.

    Israel is very handedly and with minimal resistance killing thousands of Palestinians. They don’t really need any additional arsenals.

    Unless this is in preparation for Netanyahu’s claimed invasion of Lebanon and beyond? Is Biden openly supporting the expansion of the conflict?

    • Human@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      35
      ·
      11 months ago

      I think there are two main reasons

      One, support for Israel is a huge part of wasp-end-of-the-world-prophecy and has been a life-time project for many boomers that are now very elderly. They will go all in on this last push before they die

      Two, Israel is an American military base located in the middle of three continents. Congress will print infinite money to maintain it and Israel knows it

      The whole thing is fucked

      • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        11 months ago

        Two, Israel is an American military base located in the middle of three continents.

        Is it actually though? It seems like all our invasions in that region have been supported by bases in allied Arab countries. I can’t remember a time when the Israeli military or Israeli territory has been used for an American military effort. I’m really at a loss for what they actually provide to the United States.

        • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          11 months ago

          Israel routinely attacks US enemies like Syria and Iran, a thing that the US could not do. Israel is the attack dog of the United States.

        • Human@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          11 months ago

          Israel and the US have a long history fighting “communism”. If America ever goes to war with Russia, Israel will almost definitely remain an ally and allow the US to conduct military action from inside their territory. The same goes for America vs China. Other allies in the region are less likely to. Especially if its US vs China.

          Personally I think its dumb, but its going to take a long time to shake almost a century of red-scare propaganda. The west still views Russia (and China) as the Soviets - godless commie atheists. ie Israel is ostensibly on the side of capitalism and the christian god. Russia and China are not.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            11 months ago

            There are plenty of countries far more useful. Such as Turkey, who for all of Erdogan’s posturing, hate Russia with a burning passion

            • Human@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              11 months ago

              You’re not wrong. Turkey would support the US vs Russia. idk about US vs China though. Still, I’d say its a “dont put all your eggs in one basket” mentality from the defense dept. Then again, Im just some dumb guy on the internet so take it with a grain of salt lol

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                11 months ago

                We have multiple other countries in the region that would support us against either as well though. Keeping a bunch of war criminals around “just in case” only makes us guilty too in the eyes of the rest of the world.

      • Mario_Dies.wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        11 months ago

        This right here. Also, many people don’t even consider the end times, but still want us to support Israel simply because we’ve been heavily propagandized in their favor. It wasn’t until adulthood that I learned how atrocious the state of Israel is.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      34
      ·
      11 months ago

      I feel like I once again have to ask why?

      Biden has spent literal decades telling Israel he’ll support them no matter what and he’ll never stop supporting them.

      It’s right up there with “nothing will fundementally change” on the short list of campaign promises he’s never broken

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      Republicans wouldn’t exactly oppose such an approval

      But they did oppose it.

      Republicans oppose Israel military aid unless Democrats support new anti-immigration laws. For now it’s an impasse, so Israel isn’t getting military aid. Thus Biden has to sell Israel military equipment instead of donating it.

      And it’s a relatively small spend, about $100 million. That’s roughly one day’s worth of funding for the IDF (the Israeli military budget is $24 billion a year). The US says Israelis are mostly buying spare parts.

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    58
    ·
    11 months ago

    Ukraine needs immediate aide. This focus on sending aide to Israel is frankly infuriating. Ukraine is fighting for its existence. Israel is committing genocide (not the Jewish people, but the Israeli government under the leadership of Netanyahu). Can we please at least see the difference in terms of where resources should be allocated? This should not be political, but practical.

    • Syringe@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      You’re really not getting it, are you? With the assault in Ukraine, the US MIL got the opportunity to clear out some old stock and potentially divert world war 3 into a stalemate. It was great for a bit. The gaza conflict gives the US a greater opportunity to really play to its strengths and pursue a thread of great historic national interest… Bombing brown people.

      There’s potentially oil there that needs freedom, and nobody exports more freedom for oil than the US

      /S …I think? I’m having a bit of an Idiocracy moment right now.

      • xerazal@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        11 months ago

        You’re not wrong. There’s nothing more American than killing brown people. Nothing. Just ask the Native Americans.

        • Syringe@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          11 months ago

          … And Tulsa, OK, Iraq, Afghanistan, standing Rock SD, Vietnam, Korea… Palestine…

          It kind of just goes on, doesn’t it?

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      This focus on sending aide to Israel is frankly infuriating.

      It’s important to distinguish aid from sale.

      Biden didn’t approve aid to Israel, he only allowed them to purchase weapons with cash.

      If Ukraine showed up tomorrow with a billion dollar check, they too could buy whatever they wanted immediately.

      That said, it is treasonous that Republicans blocked aid to Ukraine. Ukrainians are dying protecting America from Russian aggression.

  • Neato@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    49
    ·
    edit-2
    11 months ago

    Wait, you can do that? Why not bypass Congress to sell arms to Ukraine then?

    • lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      11 months ago

      Ans he just can’t understand why his approval ratings are low. I wouldn’t give one solitary fuck if he bypassed Congress to help Ukrainian but get outta here with this Israeli genocide.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    40
    ·
    11 months ago

    Helping Americans:

    I’m just a president, I can’t do anything! Unless something good happens, then it was all me!

    Helping a foreign religious ethnostate to commit a genocide:

    Oh wait, I can just do it…

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      That only works when Congress intentionally leaves a loophole, in this case allowing weapon sales but not donations.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        11 months ago

        So neat watching the mountains of excuses evaporate into nothingness when there’s a genocide to fund.

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          It only seems extraordinary because you just tuned in.

          Presidents have recently used loopholes in the past to ban Muslim immigrants, build a Southern wall, require masks in airports, require hospital employees to get covid vaccines, halt evictions, cancel student debt, and now sell weapons to Israel. All without an act of Congress.

          But not everything has a loophole. There is an equally long list of things that they thought they could do without Congressional approval, but actually couldn’t. For example require other employees to get covid vaccines, stop oil drilling, forgive farm loans, and cancel even more student debt.

          • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            11 months ago

            It only seems extraordinary because you just tuned in.

            No. It seems like the most mundane shit ever, honestly. When centrist Democrats don’t want to raise the minimum wage, they let the parliamentarian get in their way. When centrist Democrats don’t want to codify Roe or pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, they let the filibuster get in their way.

            When centrist Democrats want to fund a genocide, all their mindless devotion to procedure and decorum is nowhere to be found.

            • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              11 months ago

              If it were that simple, then the $14 billion aid bill to Israel would have already passed.

              Instead it’s going nowhere, Israel has to actually pay the US for weapons, and they are getting less than 1% of what everyone expected.

              How do you explain that outcome in your black-and-white worldview?

              • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                11 months ago

                Instead it’s going nowhere, Israel has to actually pay the US for weapons, and they are getting less than 1% of what everyone expected.

                You seem so disappointed.

      • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        What sale? We fund Israel. They do not pay us anything and never will. At least Ukraine is promising repayment for the weapons we supply and are backed by the World Bank. Israel, on the other hand, recieves billions from us annually and will continue to be our welfare recipients long after the Gazan genocide is complete.

        Also, sale or no sale, we are openly participating in genocide now. We should not be supplying jack shit to Israel under any financial circumstances.

        • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          11 months ago

          The OP is about Biden selling weapons to Israel, which they had to pay for.

          Originally they were supposed to receive billions in emergency funding instead. That funding is stalled in Congress, partly due to Israel’s conduct in this war.

          • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            11 months ago

            They are “paying” for these weapons with the billions we give them every year. They can call it a “sale” all they want, but it’s still very obviously a gift.

            • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              11 months ago

              Our annual military aid is in the form of free equipment, not free cash. So if they want more equipment, as in this case, then they have to spend their own money.

              • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                11 months ago

                I disagree. I believe it is given as liquid currency and Israel is free to spend it as it sees fit. While it is intended to aid their military and is usually spent on U.S. arms, purchasing exclusively from the U.S. is not a requirement of the current agreement.

                Here is a BBC article from 2021 that breaks down some of the ways Israel chooses to spend the funds we send them.

                Notable from the article:

                Over the years, US aid has helped Israel develop one of the most advanced militaries in the world, with the funds allowing them to purchase sophisticated military equipment from the US.

                For example, Israel has purchased 50 F-35 combat aircraft, which can be used for missile attacks - 27 of the aircraft have so far been delivered, costing around $100m (£70.4m) each.

                Last year Israel also bought eight KC-46A Boeing ‘Pegasus’ aircrafts for an estimated $2.4bn (£1.7bn).

                • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  11 months ago

                  No, it’s not liquid currency.

                  Military aid to Israel funds two programs. The smaller part buys parts for their Iron Dome system, as sort of an ongoing field test. The larger part goes through the Foreign Military Financing program.

                  You can find the details of the FMF here, but basically Israel orders equipment and the US pays for it (up to a certain dollar limit of course). The equipment must be purchased from US contractors (though some exceptions apply):

                  Section 42 of the AECA requires the U.S. Government to emphasize procurement in the United States when carrying out provisions under the Act. Accordingly, in order for a DCC to be approved for FMF funding, the defense articles purchased must be (i) manufactured and assembled in the United States, or the defense services purchased must be performed by U.S. manufacturers/suppliers and (ii) purchased from U.S. manufacturers/suppliers

                  It’s kind of like health insurance. They don’t send you money, but they pay your bill (or maybe not if it’s out-of-network).

                  The goal is twofold: support US defense contractors and support American allies. And there is a potential ulterior motive: recipient countries are more likely to buy additional equipment from US contractors.

  • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    11 months ago

    Can’t imagine Congress would stop this. Congress overwhelmingly approved aide for Israel just weeks ago. It was more popular to give money to Israel than Ukraine in the GOP.