• sub_ubi@lemmy.mlOP
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    29 days ago

    man you’re obstinant. Israel selling weapons tech doesn’t mean they can produce the physical bombs, missiles, tanks they need to continue the war let alone defend from a coordinated counterattack.

    Benjamin Miller says it best,

    "Israel cannot work alone. It needs financial aid as well as backing in the international arena from some major power. China and Russia are certainly not partners and Europe is very critical of Israel these days, and sensitive in the humanitarian field. Australia and Canada are also not a real option, because their tendency towards us is similar to that of Europe.

    What does the US provide Israel in terms of foreign aid as well as in the diplomatic arena, which we would have a very difficult time doing without? Firstly, there is the defense aid, which in normal times amounts to $3.8 billion annually, about NIS 14 billion (Israel’s defense budget, without US aid, is NIS 65 billion annually in normal times.) Also on the agenda today is aid totaling $14 billion to support the war, which has not yet been approved by Congress.

    Apart from the two aircraft carriers that the US sent here at the start of the war, to deter Iran and Hezbollah, it has also been frequently supplying Israel with artillery and tank shells and as well as bombs for aircraft. “If the US stops aid in the field of armaments,” says Miller, “That’s a huge problem for Israel, because it also needs to stockpile weapons in preparation for a possible war against Hezbollah. In such a case, we will need a huge amount of weapons.”

    No less important than the aid that the US gives to Israel, Miller stresses, is in the use it makes for our benefit of the veto it has in the UN Security Council. Thanks to the US, several resolutions regarding a ceasefire in Gaza were thwarted in the last few months alone. “Since October 7, the US has used the veto three times in our favor,” says Miller.

    Prior to October 7, it looked like Israel has additional partners in the international arena in China and Russia. Only last June Netanyahu was proud about being invited to visit China by President Xi Jinping.

    "That was also another conception that Netanyahu had before October 7 that has been shattered. The conception was that Israel could maneuver between the three great powers - the US, China and Russia - and supposedly benefit from all worlds.

    https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-could-israel-manage-without-us-support-1001473884

    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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      29 days ago

      All they need to do that is money, and they have the money.

      So, to re-iterate:

      Netanyahu isn’t interested in what we have to say, and isn’t threatened by our cutting off support.

      There are two ways the genocide ends:

      1. They kill every last Palestinian, devastate Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and, crap, throw in the Golan Heights too. Why not?

      2. Someone steps in, forcibly separates Israel from the Palestinians, and MAKES them stop.

      Nobody has the political willpower for #2.

      • sub_ubi@lemmy.mlOP
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        29 days ago

        What are you talking about? You can’t turn money into tanks, someone with vast natural resources and industry has to sell them to you and that requires a relationship. The main purchaser of Israeli’s tech is the US, which is done to help prop up our colony’s eocnomy.

        Please cite an academic or foreign policy expert that says israel survives alone.

        • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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          29 days ago

          Would you accept Netanyahu?

          https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/netanyahu-says-israel-will-stand-alone-if-it-has-to-after-u-s-threatens-halt-in-weapons-delivery

          No? How about “Jerome M. Segal, retired as a senior research scholar at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy; he is president of the Jewish Peace Lobby.”

          https://archive.ph/AbSMT

          "Israel’s per capita gross domestic product is over $40,000 — similar to that of France and Great Britain. We have defense commitments to them, but we don’t give them any military aid. To Israel, we provide around $1,700 a year for every Israeli family.

          Israel has a vibrant economy that typically grows at over 3% a year. It’s GDP is over $400 billion, with U.S. aid only 1% of its economy. If we gave no assistance at all, just the amount of the annual expansion of its economy would cover the lost aid several times over. This aid program fails the needs test."

              • sub_ubi@lemmy.mlOP
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                29 days ago

                I don’t know what to say. I’m giving you academic consensus from within Israel, and you respond with Netanyahu

                  • sub_ubi@lemmy.mlOP
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                    29 days ago

                    The econ professor is suggesting cutting off aid to encourage settlers to back off, and giving the money to Palestinian refugees. It’s a bit tongue in cheek.

                    You’re not going to find a serious person who thinks Israel can survive without a world power behind it.