"Incomprehensible": U.S. Approves $20 Billion in New Arms for Israel as Gaza Death Toll Tops 40,000

[Uncle Joe]

Health officials in Gaza said Thursday that the official death toll from Israel's 10-month war has topped 40,000, though that is believed to be a vast undercount of the true figure. The grim milestone was reached just days after the Biden administration greenlit $20 billion in additional weapons sales to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter jets, tank ammunition, mortar rounds, tactical vehicles and advanced air-to-air missiles. The U.S. approved the sales despite growing calls for an arms embargo on Israel. "This is just a continuation of a policy that has been going on now for 10 months of the U.S. providing to Israel all the arms that it requests," says Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official who worked on arms deals and resigned in protest over Gaza policy in October. "It is a dark day for American foreign policy." We also speak with Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who says it's "incomprehensible" that the U.S. keeps supplying Israel with weapons. "There should be no more arms going into that place before there is a ceasefire."

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.

[brewens]

1. If you ask me, the educated world need to get in knock heads together mode over people fighting over their

superstitions.

Disarm both sides and rearm them with iron age weapons. Then let their "leaders" lead them into battle like their kings did.

[ancianita]

9. The educated already know that when one people see their believer war as eternal, that's not going to happen.

Back around 700 AD, while Judaism was centered in Jerusalem, and Christianity had spread to Greece, Italy and the rest of Europe and England, Muhammad founded Islam as the newest and final prophet from Allah.
Islam's problem of "succession" created the Shia sect which today is only 15% of all of Islam; yet the "Sword of Islam" mode of forced conversion in the 11th Cent. across the ME, AF and Spain still has its legacy of jihad through of the Shia nations' eternal goal of the total annihilation of Israel.

Since Israel has been surrounded by a religion that has not peacefully 'live-and-let-live' coexisted with others whenever it outnumbers other peoples, this is a tall order. As it stands today, Shia in particular see us in the West as the Great Satan, atheists and all. Hezbollah has a well funded outpost in Paraguay in South America. Sunni, 85% of Islam, are doing next to nothing to stop who most nations have designated terrorist organizations.

Ask any Christian what the complete destruction of Israel would mean to any sect of the Christian world. Ask our Christian president what that would mean.

[brewens]

10. Cute. There was no Judaism anywhere near that early. Archeologists have proven that. Jewish occupation is

about the easiest thing you could ask an archeologist to confirm, and they were not there. They say they follow the laws of the Torah. Fine. They did. Just not for another 400 years or so after you claim.

&t=253s

[thucythucy]

11. Do you really mean to say there was no Judaism at 700 AD.

That is, seven hundred years after the supposed birth of Jesus Christ who, if memory serves, was Jewish?

You're saying the Torah wasn't a thing until 1100 AD? After the fall of the western Roman Empire? After the Norman invasion of England?

I think you may have misread the post to which you are responding.

[brewens]

12. Oops. I read that as BC and so many claim that. Sorry. n/t

[ancianita]

17. Cute back. Glad you see the error. Common sense world history has well documented the Jews'

1st Temple period and the 2nd Temple period which includes Israel today. I stand by what I posted.

[Autumn]

2. JFC. What a waste of money and decency.

Sickening.

[Butterflylady]

3. I'm with Bernie on this deal.

[bagimin]

4. How many innocents have to die

before we say enough?

[ancianita]

18. It's not up to us. "Enough" is up to the self proclaimed enemies & terrorists who surround Israel

continually attack it. All the U.S. can be is a good ally to Israel.

President Biden knows Israel's history. Joe is pro-Israel. He's the one we should trust, imo, to make the best decisions -- from sending the 6th Fleet as a warning to the terrorist state of Iran to sending weapons -- when he can't literally defend and beat back terrorists FOR Israel.

If Israel and Ukraine fall, the rest of the West will be next.

[malthaussen]

5. I do not think that word means what they think it means. n/t

[Oopsie Daisy]

6. Because Hamas is the ONLY threat to Israel, eh? None other exists, right? (Please.)

This "Democracy Now!" channel is the most anti-Democratic party org that I've ever seen (worse than TYT, Justice Democrats, Jill Stein, and Our Revolution). They aren't even TRYING to disguise their anti-Israel/antisemitic and pro Hamas leanings.

Considering how much they trash the Democratic party (and Democratic party leadership) it really doesn't appear to be a good fit for this website. Their agenda seems to fly in the face of and is in direct conflict with the stated goals of DU. Weird, huh?

[Richard D]

8. Thank you for saying that.

I hope we don't see it . . . but if Iran attacks Israel, will DN cheer for Iran?

[Hieronymus Phact]

14. Already seen it over the last missile attack

it was only a little damage, and only a little girl was killed, no big deal at all.

[Hieronymus Phact]

13. This is a result of successful propaganda

The switch from decades of calling the war the "Arab-Israeli Conflict"
to the Israel-Palestinian war or 'IP' for short, has removed all the other bad actors from the conversation. Iran, Syria, Lebanon and all the rest have been let off the hook. Even though they use the Palestinians as proxies, and wage the same war as always. Really all these calls to disarm the Israelis ignore the broader reality and that's the point, to weaken their footing.

[TiberiusB]

15. Really, who said we should "disarm Israelis"

"All these calls" suggest it must be quite a number of people. I seem to have missed all those posts. I have seen many that don't think we should be continuing to send more arms to Israel that just get used to level more of Gaza, but I guess that's just concern over the deaths of a few thousand little girls and boys. No big deal.

[Hieronymus Phact]

16. Yeah nobody's ever said that, Great way to ignore the point of my post, change the subject,

And drag The Children in for a some moral preening. Good job.

[TiberiusB]

20. Oh, I nailed your post.

But that's fine, people can believe whatever they want. Many here have no issue with validating slaughter by Israel, but if a single innocent suffers at the hands of a Muslim, even if it's in response to an Israeli attack, the knives come out.

[Magoo48]

7. What a monumental waste of........well, you name it...

[Intractable]

19. Lives