Image by Curioso Photography.
Israel is a colonial-settler project. Like the Americas—especially the east coast of the United States which was originally settled by various religious and cultural outcasts—Israel was established as a homeland for the Jews, probably the most outcast of any outcasts in the western world. While it took a war led by wealthy colonists against the throne to establish the American colonies as the United States, Israel was granted independence once it was legally established. It had to fight wars with its neighbors who not only resented its creation for cultural reasons, but because they correctly understood it to be a continuation of western colonialism.
The people who lived on the lands that the global north granted to Jewish refugees led by Zionist fighters and zealots were the Palestinians. They were chased from their lands, often at the point of a gun and sometimes after Zionist massacres of those who did not want to leave. There was resistance to what is called the Nakba and the aftermath; an aftermath that saw Palestinians relegated to refugee camps while Jewish refugees were given Palestinian homes and fields. Some of the Arab governments fought wars against Israel, but were not successful in part because of the support the Israelis received from governments across the seas.
The violence that is the essence of the Israeli state has been exposed. The question is, how many Israelis will see it for what it is? Indeed, how many of Tel Aviv’s supporters will see it? How many of either will recognize their complicity in that violence? Will they continue pretending that Israel is a democratic state? Hell, will they continue telling themselves that it is a rational state?
For the past few years up until October 2023, most of the world found itself able to ignore the violence of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The daily beatings, harassment, petty bureaucratic controls, arrests and torture, even the occasional days and weeks of bombardments–they could be ignored because they didn’t seem extraordinary in the context of the occupation. Those instances killed a few hundred here and there, destroyed a few houses every month, locked up a few thousand Palestinians; they whittled away at the idea that Israel was stealing Palestinian land and destroying its communities. Israelis and most of the world’s residents seemed to accept this slow motion destruction, this slow motion genocide. But no longer. The attack by Hamas on October 7th manifested Tel Aviv’s intentions to destroy all resistance to its colonial settler project. The resistance would be hunted down and the sea the resistance swam in—the two million Palestinians living in Gaza—would not be spared. The land we call Gaza would be wiped clean of its buildings: homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and places of worship would all be subject to the wrath of the colonizers’ military. That military already had the finest weapons and would receive as many as it wanted from those who sponsor its presence, its occupation, its bloodshed. On cue, Washington quickly opened its arsenal and quickly moved deadly ships and airplanes into the area, making clear how important it is to defeat the resistance of the Palestinians.
The speed with which the bombardment of Gaza began seems to indicate that Israel had the plans for its unfolding slaughter in Gaza on the books for awhile. Although it may never be proven, it is reasonably safe to assume that these plans existed in some form since before the reign of Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing regime; even the more liberal governments in Tel Aviv must have felt there was a need for such a backup plan while they pursued different versions of coexistence with the people whose lands they stole. However, unlike Netanyahu and the current ruling coalition, some of those liberal governments shied away from the type of onslaught currently going on in Gaza.
Since I am writing this as a resident of the United States, it is important to address Washington’s role in the current war on the Palestinians. Specifically, it is necessary to address the Biden administration’s bellicosity and lack of concern for the repercussions its support for the ongoing mass murder in Gaza will certainly provoke on the world stage. The fact of secret arms shipments to Israel, a request for $14.3 billion emergency aid to Israel on top of the $3.8 billion already sent this year, and the menace of US battle groups off of Gaza’s shore make it quite clear that Washington supports Tel Aviv’s actions. Instead of using its power to demand a ceasefire and work towards some kind of honest resolution to the conflict over land in Israel/Palestine, Washington is using the situation to inflame existing disputes and animosities almost as if it doesn’t care if the result is a wider war.
However, upon further reflection, the role of Washington is actually one which reflects its decades-long decline on the world stage. Like post-World War Two Britain, the United States has been losing political and economic influence since the 1970s and the final years of its imperial adventure in Vietnam. That decline intensified exponentially since the US war on Iraq dissolved into a stalemate earlier this century between Iraqi politicians close to Iran and those on Washington’s payroll. The only arena where Washington remains superior is in the projection of military force. Besides the fact that it hasn’t actually won a war since 1945, the dependence of the US economy on the war industry has meant that the United States usually chooses armed conflict over compromise in disputes it involves itself in. This is true in conflicts it actively participates in (Yugoslavia 1999, Iraq 1991 and 2003, Afghanistan 2001, the so-called Global War on Terror) and those it merely funds and helps instigate (Israel-Palestine, Ukraine-Russia). In addition, the involvement of the US military in Washington’s economic rivalry with China has become more obvious in recent years.
If one wants to try and understand the military’s hold on the US economy, they need just look at the numbers. In FY 2023, the Department of Defense spent $1.8 trillion. Of that amount $374.09 billion was for the manufacture and replenishment of weapons and rhe ammunition those weapons use. Even more telling is that contracts involved with armaments production are in every single state in the country. For example, a quick look at the numbers of Defense Department (DoD) contracts in Vermont (a state with fewer than a million residents) shows there are 853 companies with DoD contracts in the state. The total value of DoD contracts from 2000 to 2020 is 11,017,214,918 dollars (more recent data was not available from my source. The economy of more populous states is even more beholden to the war industry. For example, California has 32,597 companies doing business with the Pentagon; the total value of the contracts from 2000 to 2020 is 708,583,731,995 dollars. When it comes to the money transferred from our pockets to the war industry there is no such thing as small change. Of course, not all of the monies are for weapons and munitions. Some are for building rentals and maintenance. Other funds are for incidental expenses. However, most of the money goes to the production of machines designed expressly for the purpose of killing human beings.
What does this have to do with the war on Gaza? Simply put, Israel is one of the biggest customers of the US war industry. Even a cursory glance at the news of the conflict will tell you that US-made F-15s, F-16s and F-35s are firing “precision” missiles and bombs at targets across Gaza, including hospitals, schools, ambulances and people fleeing from the bombing (see APPENDIX). The various parts of these planes are made in states across the nation. The operational intimacy between the US and Israeli militaries is an established one. In fact, it’s almost as if Israel is part of the United States. The nature of this relationship becomes more intimate and more criminal with each Palestinian killed by a US weapon dispatched by Israeli forces.
When it comes to Israel and Palestine, it is becoming quite clear that the government in Washington cares as little for the plight of the Palestinians as the government in Tel Aviv. The decades of Tel Aviv’s and Washington’s involvement and support (active and tacit), false promises, ignored peace agreements, expanding occupation and settlements and the tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths, arrests and home destructions proves that neither honestly respects the Palestinians’ legally and morally justified claim for sovereignty. Like a pair of serial murderers, they are on a killing spree.
This is why, now more than ever, all arms shipments to Israel must be halted.
APPENDIX:
The slaughter in Gaza by Israeli forces continues mostly unabated. The weaponry employed by those forces is made in different parts of the world. The bulk of it is made in the United States and Israel. There’s a reason for this. Israel is Washington’s military outpost in that part of the world. Established as a colonial settler state in 1947, its role has been to keep the indigenous people of Palestine insecure and the Arab and Iranian governments either docile or uncertain. Washington has provided more arms to Israel than any other military in the world since 1948. In fact, the $312.5 billion dollars (when adjusted for inflation 2023) given to Israel dwarves even the one-time nation of South Vietnam ($184.5 billion), Egypt ($183.7 billion), Afghanistan ($158.9 billion), and South Korea ($120.7 billion). Much, if not most of this military aid is in the form of weapons—aircraft, missiles, bombs, etc. These materials are manufactured around the United States, from Vermont to California, from Virginia to Texas. While some are arguably defensive in nature, others are clearly used solely for offensive reasons, most often against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. In the current situation, the US weaponry we read about the most are the US fighter planes F-15, F-16, and the F-35. Many of the ammunition these planes are “delivering” are JDAM bombs that are regular explosive bombs modified so they can be called precision bombs.
The information that follows was taken from the website http://governmentcontractswon.com
The data is current to the end of 2020.
F-15
GENERAL DYNAMICS-OTS, INC.
326 IBM ROAD BUILDING 862
WILLISTON , VT 05495
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
600 HICKS RD
ROLLING MEADOWS , IL 60008
ROCKWELL COLLINS, INC
400 COLLINS RD NE
CEDAR RAPIDS , IA 52498
GENERAL ATOMICS SYSTEMS INTEGRATION, LLC
1343 FLINT MEADOW DR STE 2
KAYSVILLE , UT 84037
BOEING COMPANY, THE
6200 JS MCDONNELL BLVD
SAINT LOUIS , MO 63134
F-16
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
1 LOCKHEED BLVD
FORT WORTH , TX 76108
LOGISTIC SPECIALTIES, INC.
1530 N LAYTON HILLS PKWY STE 201
LAYTON , UT 84041
PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC ENERGETIC MATERIALS COMPANY (CALIFORNIA) LLC
3601 UNION RD
HOLLISTER , CA 95023
HAMILTON SUNSTRAND AVIATION SERVICES, INC
3601 S FLAMINGO RD
HOLLYWOOD , FL 33027
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
1580A W NURSERY RD
LINTHICUM HEIGHTS , MD 21090
BAE SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS & SERVICES INC.
520 GAITHER ROAD
ROCKVILLE , MD 20850
UNIVERSAL PROPULSION COMPANY, INC.
3530 BRANSCOMBE RD
FAIRFIELD , CA 94533
KOREAN AIR LINES COMPANY LTD_AEROSPACE DIVISION
DEFENSE & AIRCRAFT MOD’ PLANT, KORE 103 DAEJEO-2 DONG, GANGSEO-GU,
BUSAN, KOR –
GENERAL ATOMICS SYSTEMS INTEGRATION, LLC
1343 FLINT MEADOW DR STE 2
KAYSVILLE , UT 84037
L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
1500 NEW HORIZONS BLVD
AMITYVILLE , NY 11701
SHIRAMIZU , PAUL GRAPHIC DESIGN
307 W 200 S STE 4001
SALT LAKE CITY , UT 84101
F-35
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
400 MAIN ST
EAST HARTFORD , CT 06118
GENERAL DYNAMICS-OTS, INC.
326 IBM ROAD BUILDING 862
WILLISTON , VT 05495
BAE SYSTEMS INFORMATION AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS INTEGRATION INC.
65 SPIT BROOK RD
NASHUA , NH 03060
BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON INC.
8283 GREENSBORO DR
MC LEAN , VA 22102
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
1 LOCKHEED BLVD
FORT WORTH , TX 76108
CDW GOVERNMENT LLC
230 N MILWAUKEE AVE
VERNON HILLS , IL 60061
AECHELON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
888 BRANNAN ST STE 210
SAN FRANCISCO , CA 94103
GENTEX CORPORATION
9859 7TH ST
RANCHO CUCAMONGA , CA 91730
DIXEQUIP, INC.
2332 PECAN ORCHARD RD
LEAGUE CITY , TX 77573
SRC, INC.
7502 ROUND POND RD
SYRACUSE , NY 13212
OPEN TEXT INC.
2950 S DELAWARE ST
SAN MATEO , CA 94403
FLATWATER SOLUTIONS COMPANY
1 MISSION DR
WINNEBAGO , NE 68071
COLLINS ELBIT VISION SYSTEMS, LLC
400 COLLINS ROAD NE
CEDAR RAPIDS , IA 52498
NEW WAVE DESIGN AND VERIFICATION, LLC
4950 W 78TH ST
MINNEAPOLIS , MN 55435
GUIDEHOUSE LLP
1800 TYSONS BLVD FL 7
MC LEAN , VA 22102
HPI FEDERAL LLC
1299 PENNSYLVANIA AVE NW STE 475
WASHINGTON , DC 20004
MID ATLANTIC TECHNICAL AND EXECUTIVE CONSULTING, LLC
17104 BARNSTABLE DR
DERWOOD , MD 20855
CHOCTAW DEFENSE MANUFACTURING LLC
3 SKYWAY DR
MCALESTER , OK 74501
KPMG LLP
1676 INTERNATIONAL DR STE 7000
MC LEAN , VA 22102
ASRC FEDERAL PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LLC
7000 MUIRKIRK MEADOWS DR #100
BELTSVILLE , MD 20705
APPLIED VISUAL TECHNOLOGY, INC.
3267 PROGRESS DRIVE
ORLANDO , FL 32826
CARAHSOFT TECHNOLOGY CORP.
11493 SUNSET HILLS RD
RESTON , VA 20190
THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP INC
4800 HAMPDEN LANE STE 500
BETHESDA , MD 20814
GARTNER, INC.
56 TOP GALLANT RD
STAMFORD , CT 06902
CONSTELLATION SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, CORP.
180 ADMIRAL COCHRANE DR SUITE 230
ANNAPOLIS , MD 21401
CGI FEDERAL INC.
12601 FAIR LAKES CIR
FAIRFAX , VA 22033
DELL FEDERAL SYSTEMS L.P.
1 DELL WAY
ROUND ROCK , TX 78682
TRANSOURCE SERVICES CORP.
2405 W UTOPIA RD
PHOENIX , AZ 85027
ALVAREZ LLC
8251 GREENSBORO DR STE 230
MC LEAN , VA 22102
COMPUTER SYSTEMS CENTER INCORPORATED
6225 BRANDON AVE STE 520
SPRINGFIELD , VA 22150
AIRBUS DEFENCE AND SPACE NETHERLANDS B.V.
MENDELWEG 30
LEIDEN, NLD 2333
SYSTEM HIGH CORPORATION
15059 CONFERENCE CENTER DR STE 200
CHANTILLY , VA 20151
ID TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
19980 HIGHLAND VISTA DR STE 175
ASHBURN , VA 20147
JC TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED
575 LIVELY BLVD
ELK GROVE VILLAGE , IL 60007
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYSTEMS CORPORATION
1580B W NURSERY RD MS B585
LINTHICUM HEIGHTS , MD 21090
SADDLE BUTTE SYSTEMS, LLC
218 MAIN ST STE 680
KIRKLAND , WA 98033
ROCKWELL COLLINS OPTRONICS, INC.
400 COLLINS RD
CEDAR RAPIDS , IA 52498
IDSC HOLDINGS LLC
2801 80TH ST
KENOSHA , WI 53143
NOVETTA, INC.
7921 JONES BRANCH DR STE 500
MC LEAN , VA 22102
SIERTEK, LTD
2763 CHATHAM COURT
DAYTON , OH 45431
A.T. KEARNEY PUBLIC SECTOR AND DEFENSE SERVICES, LLC
1300 WILSON BLVD, SUITE 1050
ARLINGTON , VA 22209
THUNDERCAT TECHNOLOGY, LLC
1925 ISAAC NEWTON SQ STE 180
RESTON , VA 20190
ZITEC, INC.
1031 PARTIN DR N
NICEVILLE , FL 32578
WESTWIND COMPUTER PRODUCTS, INC.
5655 JEFFERSON STREET NE SUITE B
ALBUQUERQUE , NM 87109
AUGUST SCHELL ENTERPRISES, INC.
51 MONROE ST STE 1802
ROCKVILLE , MD 20850
DARK WOLF SOLUTIONS, LLC
14221A WILLARD RD STE 200
CHANTILLY , VA 20151
STERLING COMPUTERS CORPORATION
303 CENTENIAL DR
NORTH SIOUX CITY , SD 57049
ALION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
1000 BURR RIDGE PKWY STE 202
WILLOWBROOK , IL 60527
SMARTRONIX, INC.
44150 SMARTRONIX WAY
HOLLYWOOD , MD 20636
WPI SERVICES, LLC
14255 US HWY ONE STE 224
NORTH PALM BEACH , FL 33408
JDAM bombs
BOEING COMPANY, THE
6200 JS MCDONNELL BLVD
SAINT LOUIS , MO 63134
CUMBERLAND GROUP, INC., THE
1814 LOCKBOURNE DR
CINCINNATI , OH 45240
RAYTHEON COMPANY
RAYTHEON COMPANY
1151 E HERMANS RD
TUCSON , AZ 85756
CLARK EQUIPMENT COMPANY
1293 GLENWAY DR
STATESVILLE , NC 28625
SMARTRONIX, INC.
44150 SMARTRONIX WAY
HOLLYWOOD , MD 20636
