(May 2, 2024 at 8:20 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:(May 2, 2024 at 5:27 pm)Belacqua Wrote: Really? I'm surprised to hear this. Do you have a source?
Of course, "get by" could mean "simply survive," which -- I guess, maybe. But it would be a radically different country.
Israel's defense budget is about 15 billion USD. We give about $3.8b to them, though I don't know how they split that out. Even if every penny of American aid goes to the Israeli military, that's only 20+% of its defense budget. Also, much of that aid money is spent on American arms, which means that much of that is gifted weapons.
If we don't give that money, then perhaps they have less money for settlement expansions and so on which only make things worse in the region. I don't see that my tax dollars should be supporting a military that defends apartheid.
(May 2, 2024 at 5:27 pm)Belacqua Wrote: The trouble is that when America objects to Israeli policy, they still send money and weapons.
That's kinda why -- in case you missed it -- I wrote "That's why I think we should not support them any more.'
(May 2, 2024 at 5:27 pm)Belacqua Wrote: Even during the recent attacks on Gaza, Biden is telling them to tone it down, while still sending them the weapons to keep it up.
Which support, in case you haven't noticed, I object to. It's almost like you're not reading what I write.
Earlier I said that Biden has the ability to stop the genocide in Gaza, if anyone does. You disagreed, and said that he doesn't; only Netanyahu does.
We agree that America gives lots and lots of support to Israel, and ought to stop.
I believe that without America's support -- financial, military, and diplomatic -- Netanyahu could not continue what he's doing. That if Biden were to shut it all off, Netanyahu would have to stop murdering people. Israel would have to radically change its policies towards its neighbors and accept a two-state solution. Therefore Biden, in theory, has the ability to stop genocide.
Now whether Biden could actually take such a step is another question. Politically, it would be suicide for him. But I think that if I were 81 years old, and had the ability to stop a genocide by taking morally good steps that would end my career, I would consider it.
