Biden administration set to greenlight $18 billion sale of F-15 fighter jets to Israel

The Biden administration is close to approving the sale of as many as 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The transaction, which would amount to the largest US foreign military sale to Israel since the country went to war with Hamas on October 7, comes as the administration is also expected to notify Congress soon of a large new sale of precision-guided munitions kits to Israel, the people said.

The new sales of some of the US’ most sophisticated weaponry underscore the extent to which the US continues to support Israel militarily, even as Biden administration officials criticize Israel’s operations in Gaza, which have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians since October, according to the Gaza ministry of health.

hark,
@hark@lemmy.world avatar

Oh hey, it’s that guy who was frustrated with bibi and who felt the plight of the Palestinian people supposedly. I wonder if he felt sad while greenlighting this.

Skkorm,

So Americans of Lemmy: how’s it feel knowing you’re committing genocide literally right now

waz,

I’d move to another country, but I’m pretty sure nobody would take me.

nondescripthandle,

The wierdest part is all the other Americans telling me I have to go out and vote for genocide because the other guy might be able to genocide too. Its like my countrymen have one shared braincell and they borrowed it from CNN.

SkyezOpen,

The other guy will dismantle democracy while doing a genocide. So yeah, short of overthrowing the government, voting for a genocidal fossil is the best we got.

nondescripthandle,

Im not interested in what genocide supporters are going to vote for thanks for the input though.

fuckingkangaroos,

Enjoy living in your fantasy world while the rest of us deal with reality.

nondescripthandle,

If dealing with reality means supporting genocide, I’ll stay in the fantasy. Enjoy being a genicide apologist.

SkyezOpen,

And you’re going to bravely not vote and let fascism grow in America, you fascist supporter. Wow look I can do it too.

nondescripthandle, (edited )

Who said I wasn’t voting? In fact I recall explicitly saying somewhere in this comment chain how I was voting.

SkyezOpen,

I assume what you said means you’re voting third party, and that’s materially indistinct from not voting.

nondescripthandle,

Considering there’s more than one race on a ballot and ballot initiative, only an idiot would think that’s the same as not voting.

njm1314,

What do you mean might? Do you have any doubt? Does the fact him saying that he will and wants to do it faster not mean anything to you? I’m okay with you being angry at the general shittiness of the situation, but why lie about Trump’s support of Israel’s genocide? I don’t understand why you’re not honest about that. The Republican politicians are literally saying they want to Nuke Gaza, and you’re sitting here saying you don’t know if it’s the same or worse?

nondescripthandle,

The question isn’t Trumps stance the question is will the Democrats have enough votes to throw a wrench in it. Same way it worked with immigration. There been little changes in border policy, agencies, and agents between presidencies yet the Democrats fought hard against Trumps policy, then stopped fighting when Biden was in charge. Seems to me democrats are unwilling to fight their own party on issues they would gladly fight the other party for. No one questions what Trump wants. We question his ability to do it. Like the border wall he couldn’t build much of. Last I checked Bidens built more length of border wall than Trump has. The presidency isn’t a dictatorship. And Bidens already used EOs to arm Israel so at worst he could do the same as Biden if someone actually stood up to him.

njm1314,

Well that’s just the worst logic I’ve ever heard in my life. You care so much about stopping the genocide in Palestine that you prefer a person who wants to kill more Palestinians on the off chance the Democrats can stop him after he’s elected. That’s just bonkers.

nondescripthandle,

Your logic is to not try and stop a genocide at all. My logic is to vote against all genociders, it’s not like im voting for Trump, I don’t prefer him at all. Im voting down ballot for every candidtae that stands against the genocide. You’re voting for guy thats funding it. One of us is trying to stop it and the other is justifying voting for funding it. That necessarily makes you a genocide apologist.

NoIWontPickAName,

At least one way we have a chance at stopping it.

But go ahead and tell us one more time about how Next Time you will work with us and this time we just need to work with you this one more time.

Heard that before.

I have an idea, how about you guys work with us this time around?

OpenPassageways,

might be able to genocide too will genocide even harder and louder

Fixed that for you. Vote for who you want, but don’t pretend that there’s any question about Trump’s stance on the issue. He’s publicly called for the final solution to be applied to Palestinians, and people in his party are telling their supporters that they think Gaza should be nuked like Nagasaki.

If Trump narrowly wins the election and the Palestinians suffer even more, wouldn’t you feel the slightest bit guilty for staying home?

nondescripthandle,

The question isn’t Trumps stance the question is will the Democrats have enough votes to throw a wrench in it. Same way it worked with immigration. There been little changes in border policy, agencies, and agents between presidencies yet the Democrats fought hard against Trumps policy, then stopped fighting when Biden was in charge. Seems to me democrats are unwilling to fight their own party on issues they would gladly fight the other party for. No one questions what Trump wants. We question his ability to do it. Like the border wall he couldn’t build much of. Last I checked Bidens built more length of border wall than Trump has.

MyNamesNotRobert, (edited )

Do you want the government to commit genocide or do you want to government to commit genocide but also to some of the American people? Shit sucks either way but I can’t vote for someone who might send members of my family to camps.

NoIWontPickAName,

And your fear of maybe is why things will never change.

Fuck it, at this point we deserve another trump presidency.

SwingingTheLamp,

Bad. It feels bad.

Semi_Hemi_Demigod,
@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world avatar

Same as it ever was.

Anybody who knows American history knows this is par for the course.

FordBeeblebrox,

Terrible. If it were up to this one, those Eagles would be landing in Kyiv instead but we are at the mercy of some evil shitheels and voting doesn’t do much.

ZK686,

So, should we NOT support Israel?

LotrOrc,

No, we shouldn’t support any genocidal state

NoIWontPickAName,

Sure, with iron dome missiles only

Garbanzo,

Nah, thoughts and prayers should be plenty. Maybe they wouldn’t need an iron dome if they weren’t constantly being insufferable belligerents.

NoIWontPickAName,

Yeah I’m still gonna have to go with supplying defensive weapons.

If nothing else there are children there.

Garbanzo,

They should have considered the children before they went all in on bombing and starving other people’s kids

NoIWontPickAName,

So you are ok with children dying as long as they are the “right” children?

I’m going to have to ask you to really think about that view.

Garbanzo,

If I make horrible decisions my kid will suffer the consequences. That’s why I don’t go around doing horrific crimes.

NoIWontPickAName,

That’s not what I asked.

Garbanzo,

I’m OK with children dying as long as they aren’t my children. Is that what you want to hear? Israel doesn’t get to murder thousands of children and then hide behind their own. Fuck off.

NoIWontPickAName,

No you can freely fuck yourself though.

Kids are kids, they are subjected to adults whims.

You are a bad person if you are ok with the killing of any children.

Congratulations you’ve become what you seek to destroy.

You should take a long look at yourself.

Have the day you deserve

Garbanzo,

There’s a reason war crimes are a thing. Most of humanity is on board with not targeting civilians, especially children; along with fair treatment of prisoners and not using indiscriminate weapons, because they hope their enemies will afford them the same mercy. When you violate those rules you place your entire country in grave danger. Israel knows this, but they act with impunity thinking they’re untouchable. If it turns out that they can’t defend themselves then it’s their mistake and the results are natural and expected. It’s tragic, but it’s not unjustified.

Also, you don’t get to win an argument on the internet by dismissing the person you’re arguing with. Good afternoon.

NoIWontPickAName,

I’m not dismissing you, I just don’t see how two completely viewpoints can be combined.

You are under the impression that because Israel is killing children we should allow the same.

We should not.

It’s no different than Israel saying that they can kill Palestinian children and it is ok.

I reject all viewpoints that think it is ok to kill children.

Especially the viewpoint that we should lower ourselves to terroristic standards.

Isn’t that the exact reason we are against Israel right now?

Why is it ok just because the targets are different.

Our principles are the things we do even when no one is looking.

My principle is that it is NEVER ok to kill children.

What is yours?

Garbanzo,

My position is that I’m under no obligation to supply weapons to genocidal regimes, including defensive weapons, no matter how many of their children might suffer as a result. If we withdraw all aid then maybe they’d be forced to repurpose their offensive weapons to avoid the inevitable shit storm they’ve brought upon themselves. If you’re so concerned about the children there are solutions that don’t involve perpetuating the ability of the state to commit mass murder.

NoIWontPickAName,

I’m pretty sure they can’t just repurpose, random offensive missiles, integrate with that kind of defensive system, the same way, they can’t repurpose iron dome missiles to be integrated with their offensive systems

Maybe I am wrong.

Garbanzo,

Missiles may not be fungible, but cash is. Supplying defensive weapons frees up budget for offensive weapons. No support for a genocidal regime is ethical.

NoIWontPickAName,

We don’t give them to them for free, I mean we do because we give them 3 billion or $13 billion a year and they had to spend most of it buying American weapons and only a little bit buying Israeli weapons, selling them iron dome missiles isn’t freeing up any money in their budget

Garbanzo,

I hope you can think about what you just said and realize how ridiculous you sound right now

NoIWontPickAName,

I’m all for stopping the money that goes to them.

assassin_aragorn,

Not great.

Garbanzo,

Pretty whatever. Excuse me as I continue to doom scroll on my slave labor produced phone.

n3m37h,

Since its gonna happen regardless, make Boeing build em.

TheFriar,

Boeing kept knowledgeable and skilled people around for their weapons. It’s their commercial production that they cut the legs out from under for more profit.

Slaughtering people? We need the best of the best. Keeping people safe? Cut those goddamn costs.

Haagel,

Israel is surrounded by a burgeoning bevy of enemies. The jets are for their defense against Iran and others.

I condemn the Biden administration’s indiscriminate support of Israel.

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Does bombing Iranian consulates constitute as defense?

NoneOfUrBusiness,

Israel is surrounded by a burgeoning bevy of enemies.

Wonder why.

Burn_The_Right,

If recent history is our guide, these jets will be immediately used to murder civilians if they attempt to get food or medicine from aid stations.

Israel is completely invested in genocide at the moment. They don’t need our help to defend from foreign nations. They already have everything they need for that, yet are using it all to commit genocide. Every single thing we send them right now is being used for genocide.

We get absolutely nothing in return for spending billions a year on Israel. Nothing. They use absolutely everything we send them to commit atrocities. Why are we sending them anything at all? We need to get out of this insane, valueless, one-sided relationship.

Haagel,

If by “we” you mean America then I would say that America gets an ally right in the heart of the Arab world, which is frequently opposed to American ideologies. The strategic location is enough to justify the American government’s investment in Israel because it facilitates the US foreign policy, for better or for worse.

I’m not defending their’s or Israel’s actions. I’d just like to remind everyone that the whole region is tense and complex. It has always been. Oversimplification of the issues leads to even more conflict, in my opinion.

Burn_The_Right,

Israel does not offer the U.S. any strategic advantage in the middle east at all. In addition to carriers in the Med at all times, multiple NATO members like Greece and Turkey are right there in the area. We do not need Israel at all. Not even a little.

Haagel,

OK. I apologize for treating this like a multifaceted issue.

SkyezOpen,

What tangible military benefit has the US received from Israel beyond using it as a base in the middle east?

Haagel,

That’s exactly my point. Israel is a US military base, from which it conducts a variety of operations in the region. It is very valuable to US foreign policy.

Unfortunately the Biden administration has accepted that sponsoring genocide is a fair price to pay in exchange for that advantageous position in the middle east.

Maggoty,

No it isn’t. It’s just straight up not a base. Stop spreading this lie.

Haagel,

You seem to know a lot about US military activity. Which branch are you in?

Maggoty,

I was in the Army. But this is public information.

Haagel,

So what do you think is the reason why the US is giving so much advanced weaponry to Israel?

Maggoty,

If it were the GOP I’d say conservative Christians and call it a day. But it’s honestly baffling. It’s like a puzzle with a missing piece. He’s not getting an electoral bump from it (in fact some key states are in danger now). Our other allies are seriously concerned. Our Arab allies who host our bases in that region are pissed. And there’s no actual need for more planes or 2,000lb bombs. About the only things that fill the hole in the puzzle are a personal belief in Zionism; paying the military industrial complex; or he believes war with Iran is happening in the next term. There is no political reason for him to be dying on this hill.

Maggoty,

We don’t even use it as a base. We have something like 18 bases in varying other countries in the Middle East.

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ba8f1a80-45fc-4af6-a038-4e827a4251ba.png

fuckingkangaroos,

I’m right there with you. Is someone disgusted by what Israel is doing, Lemmy is a cesspool of propaganda sometimes.

Haagel,

That’s how extremism spreads…

NoIWontPickAName,

So we pick a new vassal state.

Easy fucking peasy.

dlatch,

Why does Israel need precision-guided munitions? “Lob in the general direction of Gaza” seems to be precise enough for them

cecinestpasunbot,

It’s for all of the journalists, aid workers, and their families.

Maalus,

They probably aren’t getting all of this for Gaza. Bet my right hand it’s for when shit hits the fan (Taiwan, Russia invading further) and the countries around them decide to fuck them up since US would be busy elsewhere.

Deceptichum,
@Deceptichum@sh.itjust.works avatar

It’s okay guys, he’s going to build the wall pier and say Bibi is a meany under his breath in a leaked back room conversation. He literally can’t do anything else, he’s only the president.

Bassman27,

Those Palestinian jet fighters must be giving Isreal a run for its money

BestBouclettes,

Now shipping with automatic children targeting to make it even easier!

IndustryStandard,

Hamas airforce POV

mlg,
@mlg@lemmy.world avatar

As useless as it might be, now I kinda wanna see one of their paraglider soldiers armed with a stinger

Air kill in a paraglider would be insane

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

With Biden giving away 1800 bunker buster bombs they just have them piling up and can’t Genocide quickly enough! Now they can finally chip away at that supply by throwing fifty 2000 pound bombs at the same time!

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • world@lemmy.world
  • fightinggames
  • All magazines
    •