Trump to lift pause on 2,000-pound bomb supply to Israel, Walla News reports
Trump to lift pause on 2,000-pound bomb supply to Israel, Walla News reports
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to lift the Biden administration's freeze on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel in his first days in office, Walla
Summary
Trump plans to lift the Biden administration’s freeze on supplying 2,000-pound bombs to Israel and reverse sanctions against Israeli settlers.
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I can't find the will to make a leopards/faces joke about this. This is exactly what we told people who wouldn't vote for Harris because of "gEnOcIdE jOe" bullshit.
Biden made real efforts to prevent the Israeli government from committing genocide. They failed, but they tried. Now we've got an absolute monster in charge who is going to outright empower the genocide.
If you voted for Trump, voted for a third party, or refused to vote... FUCK YOU. You own this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Israel_in_the_Israel–Hamas_war
The previous government allowed this genocide to happen, the current government is making plans to keep it going. Perhaps you will now understand what people have in mind when they say that both parties are the same and to look for alternatives.
Genocide Joe
Biden made real efforts to prevent the Israeli government from committing genocide.
Okay I don't have the energy to refute to this stuff anymore, so lemme just ask: Do you seriously believe the president of the united states, the single largest benefactor of Israeli regional hegemony, doesn't have the ability to enforce its own laws and prevent violations of international law by its protectorate?
It's a much, much more complicated situation than you're presenting. Biden was trying to thread the needle between "deny Israel weaponry" (end result: Opportunistic invasion by Israel's neighbors) and "give Netanyahu all the weapons he wants" (end result: what we're about to see with these gigantic, city-block-destroying bombs).
How would you do it?
Biden was trying not to die in office, he was clearly incapable of tying his shoe laces, let alone stop any conflict.
You do not live in democracy, go cry about how trump ruined your life while oligarchs are controlling your whole state.
How can you be so blind?
what we're about to see with these gigantic, city-block-destroying bombs
About to see?
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-has-sent-israel-thousands-2000-pound-bombs-since-oct-7-2024-06-28/
You can tell these people aren't paying ANY attention. Still talking about "Trump is going to destroy Gaza". Gaza is fucking destroyed. It's a pile of smoldering concrete and asbestos rubble with the bones of women and children in splinters beneath it.
Its not complicated at all when multiple international human rights organizations credibly found Isreal was committing war crimes and the US already has a law preventing the sale of arms to nation's credibly accused of war crimes. Biden was the cheif executive all he had to do was execute a law that was already on the books. Neither the SC nor Congress would have had any say.
Stop carrying water for genocide financiers who had every opportunity to do something different.
That's not an answer, and I'm not "carrying water for genocide financiers." I never once excused or denied Israel's behavior. Netanyahu responded to a horrendous terrorist attack by turning the dials on "horrendous" and "terror" up to 11. He's a monster and a war criminal and should spend the rest of his life in prison.
Now then, how would you do it? Put yourself in the president's shoes. You need to come up with a solution that allows Israel to continue to exist and not be destroyed by, say, Iran... AND allows the Palestinians to survive. Cut off all weapons, goodbye Israel. Give Israel a blank check, goodbye Palestine. What do you try to do?
I gave you the solution, it is an answer. Follow the law as written, Israel is not above the law. You keep jumping through hoops to say we can't follow the law and then claim you don't carry water for them? Fuck all the way out of here with that cognitive dissonance, you're practically hasbara.
Oh, it's the "but what about the Jews" argument. You do realize Israel's whole problem with its neighbors is their treatment of Palestinians, right? If Israel can't stop its apartheid and make real.peace with their neighbors then they deserve to get invaded. Their apartheid state isn't worth more than the at least 200 thousand Palestinians who died in Israel's genocide. I'll also point out that Israel has the most advanced military in the region, so the idea that Israel can't resist an invasion is wrong.
Do you think Israel should be destroyed?
Edit: Interesting. No one is willing to say "no."
Here's the thing: What Joe Biden tried (and yes, failed, because Netanyahu is a corrupt madman) to do was simultaneously support Israel's right to exist and defend itself, and do what he could to minimize damage to Gaza.
Now we have a "president" who will gleefully help Netanyahu destroy Gaza entirely and take over the land. You've gone from someone whose friendship to Palestine was tepid to someone who actively wants it destroyed.
This isn't an upgrade.
Do you think Israel should be destroyed?
You types always phrase it "destroyed". What does that mean? Should the state dissolve? Yes. Should it be bombed with a nuke? No. Should there be equality in the region? Yes. Radical take I know.
Do you understand the difference between an imaginary social structure ending, and millions of people being killed? Like, if a company goes bankrupt and dissolves, does that mean all its employees are killed, in your mind? Or are we just mindlessly going with the racist imperial narrative of "if we don't genocide them they'll genocide us the first chance they get"?
do was simultaneously support Israel’s right to exist and defend itself, and do what he could to minimize damage to Gaza.
Here's the actual thing. This was the PR line ran by the Biden administration as they violated domestic and international law to send billions of dollars in arms to a genocide. There is no legal "right to exist" under international law, for any state. There is a "right to self-defense" but that right doesn't exist in the context of an illegal military occupation (the occupation of Palestine) - the "right" in that scenario is the right of the occupied people to resist. That's not a hypothetical "right", that's an enshrined legal right under international law. The same way that if Canada or Russia or whoever invaded the U.S. and stationed troops for 57 years, we'd have a right to take up arms against them. The equivalent in that situation, for the "right" that you think exists, would be the "right" of the invading Canadians to mass murder American civilians based on the (unsubstantiated) rationale that militants are hiding underneath churches, hospitals, elementary schools, water treatment plants, etc. Also known as "no holds barred genocide".
The Biden administration knows this. Biden knows it, Blinken knows it, Matt Miller knows it, Kamala Harris knows it, Vedant Patel knows it, Linda Thomas Greenfield knows it. This is a case of "they are incentivized to forget it". Also known as "the lowest depths of human evil". The fact that YOU haven't noticed this is the entire problem - you, and the other Democrats, and the Republicans all. To us, you are hardly different - the Republicans just a little more stupid.
What if I told you that all states built on nationalism are illegitimate.
Yeah, why not? Again, apartheid states don't deserve to exist. Also I'll note that this is not the same as "should Israelis be all mercilessly slaughtered", that's a different question with a different answer.
Well, thankfully the alternative is going to stop Israel on it's tracks and... Oh wait a minute...
Biden did not try. Palestinians were doomed either way
This article is literally about one of Biden's efforts to rein in the violence. He did try. Now go ahead and excuse Trump freeing up 2,000-pound bombs for Israel, and how that's better for Palestine than it would be if Harris had won. Good luck.
He did not "try." This is just a weak attempt at whitewashing recent history.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-has-sent-israel-thousands-2000-pound-bombs-since-oct-7-2024-06-28/
He also bypassed congress twice to give billions of aid to Israel. Nobody is excusing trump freeing 2000 pound of bomb to Israel
“We tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” energy. It’s almost if Palestine was doomed either way. Heck of a lot cheaper to not send bombs to Israel
Lying about Biden trying "nothing" doesn't make it OK that you carried water for Trump.
Now that is a lie, anyone who thinks Biden actually tried to stop the genocide is either not paying attention or flat out lying. Not everyone who opposes aiding an active genocide carried water for trump. Believe it or not you can be vocal about being against trump and genocide
This is a very simple trolley problem. Do nothing and the Trump train runs over a lot more people. Vote fore Biden and a lot less folks will day. Arguing for the Trump trolley (which you are doing) is foolish.
If you think that what I said was in support of trump, you are part of the reason trump is in office again. There is no trolley; there be only genocide or we’re sorry still genocide
I don't think you know what an analogy is. Less people would be harmed under Harris or Biden as President. People like you who say they are the same as Trump are part of the problem. You are creating more suffering.
How many have died in a Gaza in the past year? And what did their deaths have to do with trump? You make it sound like Biden didn’t just give Israel another $8 billion in arms just a week or 2 ago. Apologists, like you make me sick.
The setup is correct, but calling the problem "very simple" just means you don't understand the trolley problem.
Okay, so even if Biden didn't try what good did voting for Trump or not voting at all due for our country and or Israel?
What? Biden didn’t try. You don’t have to vote for trump or not vote at all, to understand that.
This is exactly what we told people who wouldn't vote for Harris because of "gEnOcIdE jOe" bullshit.
What that things would continue on as they have been for well over a year now? Where is the "leopards ate my face" aspect of this?
Biden made real efforts to prevent the Israeli government from committing genocide. They failed, but they tried.
What efforts were those? Strongly worded phone calls and "red lines" that were constantly crossed and redrawn, while simultaneously standing alone in blocking UN and NATO resolutions against Israel?
who is going to outright empower the genocide.
Can you explain how a genocide that we've been actively supporting for the past 15 months is now being "empowered?"
The article is literally stating that Trump is giving the green light to giving Israel more powerful bombs to genocide with, and also to give Israeli West Bank occupiers their access to US financial resources again.
We've already been giving them these bombs.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-has-sent-israel-thousands-2000-pound-bombs-since-oct-7-2024-06-28/
Your link is published in June of 2024 and states:
The Biden administration has paused one shipment of the 2,000-pound bomb, citing concern over the impact it could have in densely populated areas in Gaza, but U.S. officials insist that all other arms deliveries continue as normal. One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
Here's a link from July of 2024
The U.S. in May paused a shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs due to concern over the impact they could have in Gaza
I can't find anything saying we resumed shipment of 2,000 pound bombs in the remainder of 2024. So it seems to be true Trump is now reversing Biden's [since May 2024] policy of withholding these bombs.
It also states that Biden sent over ten thousand 2,000lb bombs before pausing that single shipment. I don't understand why you're trying to split hairs here as if it makes any difference (irrespective of the 500lb bombs continuing to be shipped, the $20 billion shipment of fighter jets, bombs, and missles in August, and the $8 billion weapons shipment he approved two weeks ago).
I don’t understand why you’re trying to split hairs here as if it makes any difference
Because this comment thread is about whether Trump's actions are empowering the Israelis. It's apparent to me that most people are using a different definition of empowering than I am.
- to give official authority or legal power to
- Something that is empowering makes you more confident and makes you feel that you are in control of your life
Even though these actions don't have a large practical impact on their military capability, or financial means, it does send the message that Trump isn't interested in placing even performative restraint on Israel. Thus, he is empowering them to do even more.
Well if we're splitting hairs, how does the ceasefire fall into your definition of empowering the Israelis? That's not something we've seen at any point in the past 15 months of slaughter.
I don't think Trump really deserves credit for it, but Biden surely doesn't. Not only did he allow them to cross red line after red line while supplying them with money and weapons the entire time, but he also blocked numerous UN resolutions on the matter while standing alone with Israel.
There is reporting today that Israel has already violated the ceasefire.
edit: hit submit instead of preview and left out the link.
ps - I don't think Biden handled it well and I agree that Kamala did not campaign well on it. I think the circumstances of the ceasefire are far too reminiscent of the Iran Contra situation with Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. I think Netanyahu supported Trump and purposefully timed it to that end.
The occupiers are the state of Israel. Biden had some very limited sanctions against specific extremists who weren't also Americans, but no one in their right mind thought that was somehow stopping the occupation.
The occupiers are the state of Israel.
Yes, that what I said, though I can see how the ordering of my words could be ambiguous.
Biden had some very limited sanctions
And Trump is removing them. Therefor Trump is, in an objective and literal sense, empowering those people subjected to those sanctions by removing sanctions that Biden had put in place.
Those sanctions didn't actually do anything about the occupation. It'd be like sanctioning some random ultra-Z Russians rather than their leadership or institutions and acting like it's curbing the occupation of Crimea. A few specific Israelis couldn't bank with the United States, but they can just route through American-Israelis in their ranks instead. Them specifically banking wasn't in any way important to the occupation.
Lifting the sanctions by Trump is bad, but more on the symbolism than the impact.
Trump could have said hey this sanction isn't working, we need to strengthen it so that it does. But he instead said get rid of this sanction entirely. I get that you're saying "well it didn't really work and they had access to it anyway." I do. But by your own account they had to go through extra steps to get it and now they don't. That's empowering. Even if just in the psychological sense that they now get to think "hey Trump is doing things to make it easier for me to keep occupying this land." They now know that Trump is aiding them, so that gives them a greater sense of purpose and power to continue. And now they get more of the bigger bombs with which to do it.
This is just such a minimal impact it's hard to get worked up about it. It's wrong and it's bad and it's worse, but we have not lost a force for good in losing Bidenism. Bidenism with respect to Israel was evil. And Trump is eviler, but on this issue, there's really not much worse it can get. On many many other issues Trump is incomparably worse, but no one should pretend Biden was in any way a bulwark against genocide and occupation.
This very story demonstrates it. In a raft of reversing Biden policies, the only things he could do for Israel was unrestricting a single bomb and removing some token sanctions. That's the sum of Biden's efforts to restrain Israel.
It’s wrong and it’s bad and it’s worse
The "it's worse" is all I'm arguing about. Not the degree to which it's worse, just that it is worse at all. And by the definitions of the word empowering, Trump being worse than Biden is empowering the Israelis.
we have not lost a force for good in losing Bidenism. Bidenism with respect to Israel was evil. And Trump is eviler, but on this issue, there’s really not much worse it can get. On many many other issues Trump is incomparably worse, but no one should pretend Biden was in any way a bulwark against genocide and occupation..
I haven't been arguing that Biden has been a force for good in this conflict. Agreement that Trump is worse was my only objective. So 🍻
He's approving one shipment (Israel has been using 2000 pound bombs since October 7th and I haven't heard anything about them stopping after that shipment was paused) and lifting sanctions on the four West Bank settlers Biden had sanctioned. This will only hurt Palestinians about as much as the original moves by Biden had helped them, which is to say: not at all.
From Oct 7 2023 to Jun 28 2024 (the date of the reuters article that is being posted) we had shipped thousands of those bombs. We paused a shipment in May of 2024 (stated in that reuters articale), and here's an article from July of 2024 saying we still had not shipped any of them
And I've found nothing indicating we have sent any more 2k pound bombs since May of 2024. So if we had, please provide a source reporting it.
Perhaps we should try to agree on what empowering means, though:
- Something that is empowering makes you more confident and makes you feel that you are in control of your life
- to give official authority or legal power to
Trump's actions are empowering the genocide because they are clearly supportive of both Israel's bombing and occupation.
And I've found nothing indicating we have sent any more 2k pound bombs since May of 2024. So if we had, please provide a source reporting it.
Apparently there haven't been any shipments since may, so my bad there.
Trump's actions are empowering the genocide because they are clearly supportive of both Israel's bombing and occupation.
I mean the problem is that this doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. You either do things or you don't, things like empowering or slamming or come to Jesus moments are all rhetoric and rhetoric only matters when it starts affecting the real world. We'll have to see if the ceasefire holds; if it does then it makes sense (in US foreign policy terms, I of course hate it) for Trump to continue shipments, if not then we can start talking about leopards eating faces. The settler sanctions had zero effect on the real world, so they don't matter no matter how "empowering" lifting them may be.
Can you explain how a genocide that we've been actively supporting for the past 15 months is now being "empowered?"
It's right there in the headline. We're sending 2,000lb bombs that weren't being sent before.
Well that's what happens when you rely on headlines and literal two sentence long "articles" for information because that's completely false. We've been sending them thousands of these bombs along with the jets to use them for quite some time now.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-has-sent-israel-thousands-2000-pound-bombs-since-oct-7-2024-06-28/