Despite the U.S. and Israeli governments’ growing rift over the Gaza war, the Biden administration continues to authorize major weapons transfers.

The Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite Washington’s concerns about an anticipated military offensive in southern Gaza that could threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. The 2,000 pound bombs have been linked to previous mass-casualty events throughout Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. These officials, like some others, spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because recent authorizations have not been disclosed publicly.

The 2,000 pound bombs, capable of leveling city blocks and leaving craters in the earth 40 feet across and larger, are almost never used anymore by Western militaries in densely populated locations due to the risk of civilian casualties.

archive link

  • @bartolomeo@suppo.fiEnglish
    18•3 months ago

    Bombs I understand. You need bombs to kill people and Israel has killed tens of thousands so they probably need more bombs to kill tens of thousands more (and of course why would they produce them themselves, or even buy them?). But planes? Did they lose some planes killing all those civilians? Or did a Hamas paraglider take out a couple fighter jets with his scimitar?

    And to all the Americans that think they are the constituency of the U.S. government: fuck you.

    Biden’s decision to continue the flow of weapons to Israel has been strongly supported by powerful pro-Israel interest groups in Washington, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is spending tens of millions of dollars this election cycle to unseat Democrats it views as insufficiently pro-Israel.

    • @bartolomeo@suppo.fiEnglish
      7•3 months ago

      There’s another kind of interesting point in this article and in Israel’s history in general. It seems like every Israeli accusation is a confession- from mass sexual abuse to needing to defend themselves from invaders to

      Israeli officials deny that their military campaign has been indiscriminate and say civilian casualties are the fault of Hamas for embedding its fighters among the population in Gaza.

      When the Zionists started taking over Palestine in the early 1900s, they needed the cover and political legitimacy of regular people to disguise and obscure their terrorism, so the mass immigration of Jews to Palestine was a way for Zionists to embed their fighters among the Jewish population in Palestine. Then they could hide behind the shield of anti-semitism while they pursue their goal of expansion and ethnic cleansing.

      Zionist leaders, in particular David Ben-Gurion, viewed the acceptance of the plan as a tactical step and a stepping stone to future territorial expansion over all of Palestine.

      I really haven’t found any accusation that Israel has made against Hamas that they are not themselves guilty of, but I would be happy to learn of some.

      Edit: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-01-30-2024-b1ba33c7c0c5c62f85932a20c2a0bc92

    • @PoliticalAgitator@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6•3 months ago

      They don’t need any of it. Israel could kill every single person in Gaza with the weapons it already has on hand.

      But arms deals are extremely profitable and neoliberals just can’t say no to profits, even when it involves murdering and starving children. So if the genocide needs to continue for the profits to continue, they’re 100% on board for the genocide.

      They’ll just stand behind a podium and look sad about it occasionally, because that’s the job of the center-left neoliberals.