President Trump can still tell Israel that the United States won’t give it another dime until it stops its reckless adventurism.
Israel’s surprise attack on Iran did significant damage, killing military leaders, destroying infrastructure, and killing hundreds of civilians. One thing it did not do—and probably cannot do without US help—is to destroy the key elements of Tehran’s nuclear program, including underground facilities like the one at Fordow.
To have a chance at disabling Iran’s program, Israel would need bunker-buster bombs from the United States. In addition, to carry out a sustained bombing campaign, Israel might need US assistance with refueling and logistics. And since all of Israel’s combat aircraft are US-supplied systems, the Israeli Air Force may also require US assistance with spare parts and maintenance.
Israel is currently engaged in a campaign of bombing and sabotage in Iran in hopes of destroying Iran’s military capabilities. Israeli officials have suggested that their attacks may result in regime change in Iran despite the devastating and destabilizing impact of past such efforts in the region. Given Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rhetoric about sustaining a long conflict, the prospect of a broader regional war cannot be ruled out.
The United States bears major responsibility for the latest Middle East war. Not only is it Israel’s primary supplier of bombs, missiles, and military aircraft, but it provides these assets at little or no cost to Israel, paying for them instead with US taxpayer dollars. Washington has also run interference with Israel at the United Nations and allowed the weapons it has supplied to be used for mass slaughter with little or no consequences for Jerusalem.
Perhaps the most dangerous trend in US-Israeli relations at this moment is that Washington has repeatedly pledged to back Israel up whenever it has expanded its military objectives, even when US officials had advised against Israel’s choice to widen the war.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations have essentially enabled Israeli escalation by letting Benjamin Netanyahu’s government do whatever it wanted to do in Gaza, with no accountability and no meaningful response beyond rhetoric.
Appeals to Israel to take care not to harm civilians have been routinely ignored, as tens of thousands have died from Israeli air strikes and ground operations in Gaza, including attacks on hospitals, aid workers, and displaced persons seeking to access food aid.
Even more tragically, a paper issued by the Costs of War Project at Brown University estimates that in addition to the tens of thousands of direct deaths caused by the Israeli attacks on Gaza, more than 62,000 people have died of starvation. That’s why independent human rights organizations, academic experts, and UN officials have all declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide.
It is long past time for Washington to set a new course in the Middle East. What President Biden should have done, and President Trump can still do, is to tell Netanyahu that the United States will no longer give Israel a dime of assistance or any more weapons or spare parts until the Israeli government stops expanding its dangerous military actions in the region. But President Trump is unlikely to act absent large and growing public pressure.
Official Washington’s platitudes about standing by Israel, even as the Netanyahu government climbs to new heights of recklessness, need to end. It’s time to craft a policy that reduces the likelihood of war in the Middle East rather than fueling the flames of conflict. For starters, that means standing up to Netanyahu’s government instead of letting him call the tune on US military involvement in the region.
About the Author: William Hartung
William D Hartung is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the author, with Ben Freema, of The Trillion Dollar War Machine (forthcoming, Bold Type Books).
Image: Joris van Boven / Shutterstock.com.
