Israel’s complete dependence on U.S. support means the Biden administration has all the leverage it needs to force an end to Israel’s aggressions at any time.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on June 10. (State Department, Chuck Kennedy)
By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com.au
Listen to Tim Foley reading this article.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been launching a forceful attack on Benjamin Netanyahu in both U.S. and Israeli media for sabotaging peace in Gaza and pushing Israel to the brink with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
During this he inadvertently made an interesting acknowledgement that flies in the face of the Biden administration’s feigned powerlessness to rein in Israel’s assault on Palestinians.
“I accuse the prime minister of Israel of a deliberate attempt to destroy the political-security-military alliance between Israel and the United States,” Olmert writes in an op-ed for Haaretz titled “I Accuse Netanyahu of Betrayal.”
“For many years, Israel’s political stability in the international arena rested on the absolute support of the United States,” writes Olmert, adding, “The entire Israel Air Force relies completely on American aircraft: fighter planes, transport planes, refueler planes and helicopters. All of Israel’s air power is based on the American commitment to defend Israel. We have no other reliable source for essential supplies of equipment, munitions and advanced weapons that Israel cannot manufacture on its own.”
Netanyahu’s controversial planned address to the US Congress, the mood in Israeli politics, the danger of war with Hezbollah, and the future of Israeli leadership: my conversation with former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, from today’s GPS pic.twitter.com/347ML4392t
— Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) June 30, 2024
Olmert’s comments echo those made in November of last year by retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brick, who said of the Israeli assault on Gaza,
“All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability. … Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”
Contrast these frank admissions by longtime Israeli government insiders with the way the Biden administration has been pretending since the early days of this onslaught that there is nothing it can do to force Israel to be less monstrous and murderous in Gaza, constantly posturing as a passive witness to genocidal atrocity after genocidal atrocity while the Western press churn out nonstop anonymously-sourced articles about how secretly upset the president is with the Netanyahu regime.
It’s just a simple fact that Israel’s complete dependence on U.S. support means the Biden administration has all the leverage it needs to force an end to Israel’s aggressions at any time, but instead you’ll get White House officials like John Kirby, national security communications adviser, spouting nonsense about how Israel is a completely independent nation to whom the U.S. is incapable of dictating any terms whatsoever.
Kirby at a press briefing in October 2023. (White House, Oliver Contreras)
When asked by the press back in February if the U.S. was doing anything to deter Israel from its planned assault on Rafah, for example, Kirby replied as follows:
“[Israel] is a sovereign nation. They plan their military operations, and they conduct their military operations, and they make the choices. It’s not like we give them a homework assignment, and they have to then turn in their plan to us for grading. We have said that from our perspective, as a friend of Israel and as a supporter of their efforts to defend themselves, we would expect that any plan for going into Rafah would properly account for the now more than a million civilians that are seeking refuge down there.”
Israel has since launched a brutal assault on Rafah which features regular massacres of civilians, with the Israeli military forces now reportedly working toward the complete capture of the entire city. This despite the White House previously having said that a “major ground operation” in Rafah would be a “red line” for this administration.
The U.S. is just as responsible for what’s happening in Gaza as Israel itself, and will be responsible for everything that happens in Lebanon as well. They could end this at any time, and they choose to keep it going instead. As Noam Chomsky once said during the Second Intifada, “They’re not Israeli helicopters, they’re U.S. helicopters with Israeli pilots.”
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This article is from CaitlinJohnstone.com.au and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
We all know why the U.S. will not change course nor grow a miraculous conscience. This administration is a total travesty. We’ve been invaded from within. No other U.S. President has ever allowed Israel this much rope. Personally, I hope they hang themselves with it.
“This generosity would be understandable if Israel were a vital strategic asset for the United States—that is, if Israel’s existence and continued growth made the United States substantially safer. It would also be easy to explain if there were a compelling moral rationale for maintaining such high levels of material aid and diplomatic backing. But this is not the case.”
-John J. Mearsheimer and Stephan M. Walt
The Israel Lobby p.48
“The real reason why American politicians are so deferential is the political power of the Israel Lobby.”
-Ibid p.5
I had been limping along on the assumption that Israel was a geostrategic necessity. We need access to the Persian Gulf oil true. But supporting Israel no matter what is hurting us in that regard. Everybody in the region, and everybody in the world is upset at us for supporting Israel no matter what. Quit doing it. Get rid of the Israel Lobby. Get rid of money in politics, by hook or by neoliberal crook.
I was really upset when I found out the oil embargo was cause by Nixon and Kissinger giving Israel $2.2 Billion during the October 1973 war. It triggered the oil embargo, and made everyone’s old man come home in a really bad mood after having to wait in line so he could get to work the next day.
“Israel’s complete dependence on U.S. support means the Biden administration has all the leverage it needs to force an end to Israel’s aggressions at any time.”
This is sort of true, to a certain extent. What it doesn’t account for is the overwhelming power of the Zionist power configuration (ZPC) in Washington and throughout much of the United States.
The massive influence the ZPC wields over a lot of our socio-economic-politico reality is slowly gaining traction with the normies in Peoria.
I’ve essentially known for the past 20 years or so that an impending backlash is looming.
One hopes that this burgeoning social awareness among the masses moves in a healthy constructive way and doesn’t get bogged down amid dreadful violence and hatred.
It is evident, as Caitlin points out, that Israel is not a fully sovereign country given its absolute dependence on US supplies in the pursuit of its military objectives. Many counter, though, that the US cannot be considered ‘sovereign’ on issues related to Israel because of the immense influence of the pro-Israeli lobby upon the governing class in the US. An article on this tricky matter might be in order.
I am constantly confused by very competent and knowledgable analysts who simultaneously say that the US calls the shots in Tel Aviv and that Israel calls the shots in Washington. For example, Jeffrey Sachs (who, like Caitlin Johnstone, is one of my heroes) sometimes articulates this self-contradiction.
Yes, thank you Caitlyn. U.S. could make a phone call and stop this. So why…….??????? Is it blackmail, threats, greed, pure evil? All of those things? I don’t know. But it is surely messed up. What can be done? Besides shining the light of truth and continuing to do so and apply pressure either with confronting face to face our politicians, and/or persisting to communicate in whatever way possible.
I tried the Tim Foley reading, which is good. But be warned, a bunch of lies and propagsnda immediately follows it on GooTube by the silver tongued devil planners.
Alexander Haig put it this way in 1981, when he was Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan: “Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.”
Some people have contested that idea, but Olmert’s statements confirm that Haig was speaking honestly. Just substitute at the end, “Imperial interests” for “national security”.