12mo ago

The Biden administration once again bypasses Congress on an emergency weapons sale to Israel

www.pbs.org The Biden administration once again bypasses Congress on an emergency weapons sale to Israel

Such determinations are rare, but not unprecedented, when administrations see an urgent need for weapons to be delivered without waiting for lawmakers' approval.

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.

politics @lemmy.world

The Biden administration once again bypasses Congress on an emergency weapons sale to Israel

www.pbs.org /newshour/politics/the-biden-administration-once-again-bypasses-congress-on-an-emergency-weapons-sale-to-israel

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141 comments

So why tf can’t we do this for Ukraine?
- Israeli genocide campaign
  So hot right now
- Because Joey is a Zionist.
- My guess would be that there are many decades of existing treaties and legislation that allows the executive to do this for Israel. Ukraine's troubles are just under 2 years old
  
  The war in Ukraine started in 2014.
- Does the Ukraine have oil?
  
  Yes
- ? We did like 25 times over the last five years.
  
  For someone who characterizes others as “casual observer of politics”, you sure don’t seem to be aware of, nor understand, current events.
- Because Republicans are stonewalling aid for Ukraine right now. At the same time, they fast-tracked an aid package to Israel. Know where their priorities lie.
- Israel is officially a US Ally, Ukraine is not.
  
  Bullshit semantics.
  
  This is of course the actual and true answer.
  
  Lol.
  Genocide Joe could easily do it he just doesn't want to

Bro, it's like they wanna lose so badly next year election. Listen to the people voting for you, for fuck sake.
- Listen to the people voting for you, for fuck sake.
  Are you new here, or did you miss when the Democratic party shut down Bernie Sanders twice in a row because he was gaining momentum and they were like "fuck, we can't have a person who actually cares as President, we might not have as much money!!!"
  Because this is par for the course.
  
  Not the best comparative argument, since the voting public was quite clear in that regard and the conspiracies claimed were debunked pretty easily.
  I, for example, was someone who voted against him because of his long-standing anti-science stances and his promotion of pseudoscience (such as him personally using his Senate position to host an "alternative medicine" conference).
- I've decided I'm just not voting next election. I'm sick of all the drama and lies, The US is fucked anyway, might as well not leave it on life support. Between constant wars, inability to handle the most basic of citizens needs and each party being a pissing contest I just decided there's no point in doing so. Not like either candidate follows their user bases values anyway and it's super unlikely anyone else will win. I'll change my mind when I see evidence that says otherwise. I've given it 8 years and seen no real big change.
  
  I don't blame you. It's exhausting to see American leadership spending the minimal amount of political capital to please the ruling class while working class Americans suffer and we see our tax dollars funding wars and genocide abroad. I've decided to vote for Claudia and Karina on the PSL ticket. It will be the first time ever voting for PSL but I am so done supporting conservative Democrats offering last minute concessions after flopping through the entirety of their term.
  https://votesocialist2024.com/our-program
  
  Idiotic take.
  
  Yeah, let the greater evil win earlier, what a plan. JFC
- Honestly, I’m sure the right wing loves this. They love a good war, and Trump won’t give that to them.
  On the flip side, watch Trump convince them all to denounce war. That would be hilarious.
- LMFAO. Vote for Trump. That'll surely help the Arabs....who he fucking banned from America on his first day in office last time. Super big brain move by the pro pally crowd if they pull that one off.
- I'm already not voting for Joey.
  Never voting for the lesser evil again.
  The entire world can burn in hell, for all I care. It's what we deserve for constantly pussy-ing out.
  
  So instead of just not voting and pussy-ing out encourage yourself and others to do more than just abstain. Voting is only one basic step for a society, we need to take real actions to make the change we want. Part of pussy-ing out is the idea that voting is all we can do, and now that voting seems useless we are just boned. There have always been people on the ground agitating for the real progress.
- Lots of us believe in Israel's right to defend itself. You're on Lemmy, so it can seem that this isn't a divided or divisive issue, but I assure you it is--especially among people who know their history. Another reason the bulk of the 18-24 group is making up a lot of the Hamas sympathizers.
  Not looking to debate it eith you, but I PROMISE, if you get out of the Lemmy bubble you'll find it's not a cut and dry situation like you framed it.
  
  Israel's right to defend itself
  This is one of the dumbest dogwhistles in existence. Everyone knows that's not the actual point of contention.
  
  Setting aside your defense of genocide, it's a divided issue, but support for Palestine is higher among democrats, and especially young democrats. Biden is actively losing young voters moment by moment, and that will lose him the election if he doesn't fix it.
  
  You're absolutely right that outside of "the lemmy bubble" you may find a shitload of unintelligent dumbasses. People incapable of critical thinking or the ability to form a thought of their own.
  
  A lot of us believe in Palestinian's right to defend themselves as well. I work in a city, among many people that have no idea what Lemmy even is, there is a Palestinian flag on my work's building and we feel grief at the atrocities committed by Israel. You're right it isn't cut and dry, but the support for Israel is at the lowest I have ever seen in my life.
  
  Soooo fucking naive.
  
  Let these people think this is public opinion. Let them vote for Trump. They hate dissenting opinions, they're about to find out what that looks like when you support Hamas because the GOP is looking at them like they wrote the playbook. This is a clear case of the Left having the leopards circling and looking for some faces. They're starting on university campus and will keep eating lol.
  These people are just so gullible.

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?
- This is my question as well. Is Israel running out of weapons? Maybe they could stop blowing the fuck out of hospitals and shit.
  I've been awfully understanding of the complexities of geopolitics for Biden. Publicly supporting an ally isn't a deal-breaker for me, but to do an end run around Congress to give more weapons and money to one of the best armed countries in the middle east so that they can commit more atrocities is a really bad look.
  Still voting for him because fuck Trump and fuck fascism, but this is really hurting my opinion of him.
  
  I think they are systematically mass tank shelling houses in Northern and now Middle Gaza.
  They are using an insane amount of ammo because their goal is complete destruction of all infrastructure so the Palestinians have nowhere to return to.
  
  I'm really hoping someone runs against him in the primary. I would say anyone, but then I remember anti-vaxxer extraordinaire RFK Jr is planning on running and also orb lady is still out there. So maybe not anyone, but there's plenty of actually good candidates that could run against Biden.
  
  Better the devil you know. Unfortunately, I know both devils intimately well.
- Israel has more influence over the US than American citizens.

The absolute refusal to look at the mountain of video evidence of genocide is appalling.
- They do see it. They know. They're enacting this genocide because they want to. The US government is and always has been genocidal.
  
  People saying how can the US support genocide, the question is how can we stop them from supporting a genocide?

Why is this called a weapons sale?
- Because it is a sale that was planned before the Gaza slaughter. Congress does not approve sales. Congress could pass a resolution to block the sale but they don't approve them.

So why can't Biden sign an executive order to cancel student debt?
- Zionism is more important

Regarding the "it's not aid, it's a sale" point that some have brought up, we give israel billions of dollars every single year and biden has pledged 100+ billion more since the ramping up of the genocide. Whether they're paying for it now or not, they're doing it with our money.

Question, if I vote for Biden and he wins and keeps supporting genocide, does that make me partly responsible for these kids dying? Don't love the prospect of having dead inocent children's blood on my hands.
- Your choice is is kill a little or kill a lot. Trump has promised to deport all Muslims and in response to Palestine deaths, said he wants to see how it plays out.
  
  just to be clear is Biden the kill a little option or the kill a lot one?
- A little bit, like saying German citizens were responsible for the holocaust for not standing up against the Nazis. They should have but when faced with violent repression you don't necessarily blame them for not doing more. There is widespread knowledge of the military-industrial complex and the global stream of death for profit, but how many people are blocking ports to stop weapons shipments? We can vote for whoever but there is so much more that needs to be done.
  
  Which is kind of true right? I mean aren't German citizens a bit to blame for the holocaust? And in my hypothetical case we'd be even worse since we'd be actively voting to keep the holocaust alive not just being passive observers.
- I guess as guilty as not voting for Biden and arms sales continuing regardless of who is in power. Your tax money still foots the bill and the cheque is in your collective names.
  
  No wait if whatever I do child murders stay the same then it's not my fault, I'm only responsible for stuff that I have control over, by definition. I'm worried about how much influence I personally have over how many innocent Palestinian kids are murdered.
- US elections are very much a “best worst choice” as the candidate is chosen by the party machine, and selected to best meet the party’s need and win by at least 1 vote.
- If you voted for Obama, your responsible for the drone bombing deaths of children.
  If you voted for Bush, you're responsible for the children who died in Iraq.
  If you voted for Trump, you're an idiot but I digress. If you are an American who votes, you've elected people who authorize military action that leads to civilian death.

vote Biden to make things better he is not Trump
- man....that really is the situation Im in, huh. Fkn surreal

Yeah that's all accurate. Also under increasing pressure from Biden. Not sure how anyone serious can blame Biden for Israel's response, though. They have a national mandate similar to the US after 9/11. You think the president of France or something could have called off George W. from Iraq?
No. At any rate, even if the current right wing leadership on Israel literally genocides every Palestinians, the US is not going to let Israel deplete its readiness for war with Iran . If anything, America will likely use this opportunity to increase Israel's defense preparedness, just as we have been doing with Kiev and Taiwan. After all, right now, doing so is a proportionate response, from Iran's vantage, to Iran's sponsoring of Hamas.
I agree Israel's ongoing prosecution, to such extent, is out of proportion. Unfortunately, Hamas has apparently erected tunnel warfare capabilities that were beyond what US and Israeli intelligence knew of, according to NYT reporting, and also, and this is the big one, America doesn't control Israel's national defenses.
The middleeast is undeniably the single most important region of the world as far as global security and Israel is undeniably the only (flawed) democracy in the region.
I don't know what card sheep in this thread think Biden has to play with Israel, here. There is literally no appetite in Washington from anyone to abandon Israel as it will 100% lead to an Iran-Israel war that might kill a hundred million people. Like let's get real about the stakes here. There aren't, 5,000,000 people in all of Palestine. That's half of Iran's capital city, which Israel will turn into a parking lot before it surrenders to the "supreme leader" of the backwards ass shithole of conservative nationalism that is Iran.

141 comments