US defense official--We are reaching a 'tipping point' on weapons shipments to Israel & Ukraine
US defense official--We are reaching a 'tipping point' on weapons shipments to Israel & Ukraine
US threatens Israel with arms cut off (sorta).
We are fighting human animals. Gaza won't return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything. — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
Biden’s decision to deploy the THAAD advanced missile defense system to Israel, along with roughly 100 US service members, reinforces an undeniable reality: Israel is the country most likely to drag the US into another unnecessary war in the Middle East – and Biden is the president most likely to oblige Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war wishes. — Trita Parsi, Executive VP of the Quincy Institute.
The Latest, 375 days into the war on Gaza
Israel is reportedly facing a "serious" shortage of interceptor missiles…Hezbollah's deputy chief said the organization asked for a cease-fire with Israel and agreed to retreat 10 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border, but demanded a truce in Gaza, adding that "it is not possible to separate Lebanon from Palestine…" The U.S. issued an unusual warning to Israel that failure to dramatically address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza within 30 days would have "implications. (Haaretz)
In an Oct. 13 letter to senior Israeli officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanded urgent steps to ensure that noncombatants have access to food and other necessities, blaming lawlessness and actions by the Israeli government for permitting a deterioration of conditions in Gaza, according to two officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss correspondence that had not been made public. (Washington Post)
The press still calls it a “humanitarian crisis” rather than a planned and efficiently executed genocide.
Former senior U.S. defense official Dana Stroul told the Financial Times that "if Iran responds to an Israel attack [with a massive air strike campaign], and Hezbollah joins in too, Israel air defenses will be stretched…the U.S. can't continue supplying Ukraine and Israel at the same pace. We are reaching a tipping point."
Biden puts his foot down (sorta).
Harri/Walz are hoping against hope that a last-minute hat-tip to the hundreds of thousands of uncommitted Arab and youth voters in key battleground states like Michigan will get them over the hump in November. So Blinken is forced to make frowny-face toward Israel.
Paraphrasing Biden to Netanyahu: You have 30 more days (Election Day is only 3 weeks away) to keep slaughtering children, gang-raping prisoners, using food and water as weapons, bombing hospitals, schools, and refugee camps in Gaza and Lebanon. Then, if you don’t slow it down a bit, and allow our humanitarian aid to go through, we may begin discussing withholding some weapons shipments. Is that clear? (Washington Post)
