U.S. and Iran trade strikes for 9th day. Israel has killed at least 1,158 Palestinians in Gaza since the so-called ceasefire deal was signed, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Middle East Eye reports Israeli minister "Smotrich says U.S. fighting Iran is ‘best for us’ and Israel will not join ... Finance minister says the war serves Israeli interests while American troops and households bear its mounting costs." AntiWar.com is reporting “Nearly 100 U.S. Troops Injured This Month”.
I drafted this news release this morning for accuracy.org:
Congress Integrating U.S. and Israeli Militaries
Thomas Massie posted Monday evening: “This week’s RULE will NOT allow a vote on my amendment to strip section 219 from the NDAA. We should not merge our military tech & supply chain with Israel’s. I will vote AGAINST the RULE that allows the NDAA to come to the floor and AGAINST the NDAA.”
The group A New Policy posts Tuesday morning: “BREAKING: This Amendment is a set-up. Hear from Josh Paul why A New Policy OPPOSES Representative Anna Paulina Luna’s (R-FL-13) amendment to the House NDAA. The amendment would strike the word ‘integration’ from several places in Section 219. Don’t be fooled, the amendment DOES NOT strike the word ‘integration’ where it matters. ... The goal of this amendment is not to make the bill better, but just to muddy the waters. That is why A New Policy OPPOSES Representative Luna’s amendment.”
The analysts below were featured on the IPA news release “Plans to End Aid to Israel -- and Replace it with Something Worse“ and are available for interviews:
BENJAMIN FREEMAN, freeman@quincyinst.org, @BenFreemanDC
Freeman wrote the pieces “Congress quietly moves to integrate U.S. and Israeli militaries“ and “Congress blocks Massie-Khanna effort to kill U.S.-Israel integration“ for Responsible Statecraft. He is director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy Program at the Quincy Institute. He is also co-author of the The Trillion Dollar War Machine.
He said today: “Congress has once again defied the will of the American people and moved us one step closer to fusing our military industrial complex with Israel’s. Even worse, they’re not even willing to have an honest, public debate about the issue. They just keep pushing this dangerous proposal forward behind closed doors. And, the reason they’re doing this is painfully obvious: they know the American people don’t want it, but they’re too scared to stand up to the Israel lobby. But, enough is enough, it’s well past time that Congress puts the interests of the American people above the interests of Benjamin Netanyahu.”
ANNELLE SHELINE, annelle@quincyinst.org, @AnnelleSheline
Sheline is research fellow for the Middle East at the Quincy Institute. In 2024, Sheline resigned from the State Department over Biden’s “unconscionable“ Gaza policy.
The Quincy Institute warned in a briefing paper in May: “The United States and Israel are now approaching the renegotiation of their 10-year defense Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU. Israeli officials have said they want to phase out U.S. military grant aid -- a position that sounds like a step toward ending U.S. military assistance to Israel. It is not.
“What top Israeli officials -- including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- are quietly backing is not a reduction in American support, but a reorganization of it: shifting billions in resources from State Department-administered foreign aid grants into general Pentagon procurement accounts, industrial partnerships, and sustainment pipelines. The shift will strip away the political and diplomatic oversight mechanisms that make the relationship publicly accountable, moving it from a visible annual aid vote into the opaque machinery of defense acquisition, where oversight is limited and political accountability is minimal. The result would be a defense relationship that is simultaneously deeper and less transparent.”
My representative and senators won't touch this with a ten-foot pole. They ignore my letters and continue their "Israelis our ally" rhetoric. Obscene.