Though we probably can bank on that once we cobble back up a plausibly working Congress, quite a few people are going to rise to move that extra money be thrown Israel’s way whether the Israelis ask for it or not or even if they say “no, honest, we don’t need or want it”. (But is that something for this thread or the general discussion one?)
Total US aid as a percentage of each country’s GDP:
Syria 7.3%
Jordan 5.7%
Lebanon 3.5%
Yemen 2.3%
Israel 0.7%
Egypt 0.4%
Source United States foreign aid - Wikipedia + arithmetic
Of course, Israel depends to a significant extent on U.S. willingness to sell Israel weapons that the U.S. would not sell to others. But in $ terms, US aid to Israel is insignificant.
Hamas is an organization which derives its power from carrying out the conflict with Israel. A lot of low level Hamas soldiers might be killed but the leaders of Hamas will just replace them with new recruits.
Add to that the fact that a Hamas’ leadership largely isn’t located in the Gaza Strip, so aren’t in the same kind of danger that the foot soldiers are, they only have to worry about being assassinated by Mossad, which is a threat they already live with.
Then maybe we need to withhold aid until Netanyahu decides he really is a US ally and helps Ukraine instead of Russia. Why is he aiding Russi by not helping Ukraine?
Aside from Tamir interceptors, is there anything Israel is really likely to run low or out of? They seem to be a very well-stocked military and anything they could have a shortage of is something Hamas would have even more of a shortage of - terrorists aren’t known for great logistics and supply chains.
Every indication, AIUI, is that we’re headed for a major ground invasion of the entire Gaza Strip where Israel will proceed to weed out anything Hamas, door to door if need be.
For the same reason France didn’t help us fight Japan.
No, there is nothing that Israel is going to run short of or out of. US support is purely symbolic to drive home the fact that the US is standing with Israel. “The West is endangering itself by depleting its stockpiles” is bullshit when it comes to Ukraine and is an even bigger pile of horseshit when it comes to Israel, which both doesn’t need and hasn’t asked for the US and/or the West to open up its stockpiles to provide mountains of munitions. The 'West is running out of critical defense supplies" early on in the Ukraine War was based on hysteria about a couple of systems like Stinger MANPADS and Javelin ATGMs, both of which the US could have supplied its entire inventory of to Ukraine without actually endangering its anti-air or anti-tank capabilities, as those are very, very, very far from being the only systems in the US and NATO arsenal for dealing with aircraft and tanks. It just made sensational headlines for those not wanting to aid Ukraine. The whole issue of shells has been done to death and back over in the ‘In The Defense of Russia’ thread in the Pit where the idea that the West is going to run out of artillery shells or run dangerously low on them has been debunked to death several times over. The idea that Israel is going to face a shell crisis fighting Hamas is ludicrous on its face.
Israel has been down this road before many times in the past. It’s going to be a full-blown invasion of the Gaza Strip and Israeli military control over it on a scale not seen since they left in 2005, not some small incursion, but again that’s nothing new for Israel. As you said, Hamas is a terrorist organization, not a conventional military hundreds of thousands strong with the largest stockpile of conventional arms left over (though not always in the best condition) from the Cold War USSR. The reason the War in Ukraine is consuming artillery shells by the millions is that it is the largest conventional conflict the world has seen since WWII, with both sides possessing huge artillery parks as well as tank parks from the start of the war. Hamas has no conventional artillery pieces, and at best one Merkava tank they captured from Israel, if it is still running and hasn’t already been destroyed.
Netanyahu isn’t aiding Russia. Israel just isn’t supplying Ukraine with arms, it’s not their fight and they don’t see the point in needlessly antagonizing Russia. South Korea isn’t supplying Ukraine either, again that doesn’t mean they are aiding Russia.
The reason Netanyahu gave for not being willing to supply Iron Dome to Ukraine was the fear that captured systems could fall into the hands of Iran, be reverse engineered and used in the future against Israel. Part of that is Netanyahu being Netanyahu, but part of that is the same reason the US after dragging its feet on the issue of supplying aircraft to Ukraine finally agreed to supply F-16s, not F-35s or F-22s.
Not true. The guidance systems are very modern. Witness the Iranian attack on US forces in retaliation for the US missile assassination of the Republican Guard commander, in retaliation for … for… .
Back to the discussion.
Because there are Russian soldiers,Russian missiles,and Russian jet planes stationed on Israel’s northern border with Syria.Israeli jets fly right over the Russisn bases in Syria when attacking terrorist targets.
Russia turns off its radar screens for a few minutes, so it can claim not to have seen the Israeli jets.
Israe obviously does not want to provoke Putin ,(which could lead to a shooting war.)
So Israel has limited its aid to Ukraine.
(Note: temporarily. Russia has withdrawn its forces from Syria, because they are needed in Ukraine. But this is only temporary)
Reality is massive Palestinian deaths will drive up their recruitment influence and power. It sets them up to take over from Fatah as Abbas, 87 now?, fades off the stage.
Let’s be very clear. There is a huge, HUGE, moral and ethical difference between Hamas targeting people just trying to live lives, and parading dead naked bodies defiled on pick up trucks, and Israel killing many innocents just wanting to live their lives, as an unavoidable consequence of targeting Hamas.
But not to those who die and to their loved ones.
Is there any possibility that Israeli forces will be able to go house to house, building to building, basement to basement and remove every last gun, bullet and rocket from Gaza? Go through it so thoroughly that every last hidey hole and cache is found and destroyed?
2.2 Million residents. what do you think?
I think it would be a better plan than a complete blockade of food and medicine until they all perish.
But not possible. Pretty much all possibilities suck horribly except the one that won’t happen. The residents of Gaza throw off Hamas and negotiate directly with Israel.
Doubtful. And even if they somehow managed to remove every weapon from Gaza, new ones would be smuggled in to replace them.
Why would the residents of Gaza throw off Hamas? They offer a steady paycheck, all the more critical the shittier Gaza gets.
You think the people of Gaza are not able to make the causal connection between Hamas committing atrocities and their lives getting much shittier?
Yes. I feel that Israel is willing to accept a negotiated peace settlement where there is both an Israeli state and a Palestinian state co-existing. I question whether there is a similar willingness on the Palestinian side. Some Palestinians might be willing to accept the existence of Israel but most Palestinian leaders seem to be committed to the idea of eliminating Israel and restoring Palestinian control over all of the region. Israel is obviously never going to agree to that goal so it would have to be imposed by force. And I don’t feel the Palestinians will ever have enough strength to force this.
TLDR version: I feel that a permanent peace needs the Palestinians to change and accept the idea that they will never regain full control of the region.
I’m sure they can. But Hamas can spin it. They will say the real problem is the continued existence of Israel occupying “their” land. The war can’t end until they get that land back. So while the Palestinian deaths and destruction of Palestinian property is regrettable, they are a necessary sacrifice to fighting the war.