The description of the writer shows "Ben Freeman is Director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute and the author of The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home (2025).
I’m not saying he’s dead wrong, but is there some other site that backs up this claim that isn’t so, uh, shaky?
You can read the text of the proposal and decide for yourself.
Johnathan Pollard is getting his resume and references together as we speak
I think this is a pretty recent development and is obviously in the early stages (and will definitely face opposition), so it hasn’t gotten a ton of attention, but here’s another article.
No different than what we do with a lot of other allied nations.
When I was in Korea, I had four ROK Soldiers (KATUSAs) working in my shop, and every exercise was a joint US/ROK exercise.
During both my Afghanistan tours, (especially my first), I worked directly with the Afghan National Army.
In Japan and Europe, joint exercises and planning with allied and partner nations take place and US/Allied forces are closely integrated.
As our closest Middle East ally, it should be no different with Israel.
This looks like more than that. The article even discusses it.
That type of stuff isn’t unique to Israel.
We have similar joint defense tech projects with other allied nations.
See here.
Don’t see what the problem is.
To give you an idea of how we do stuff like this with other allied nations, I’ll use an example that anyone who has served in either the US Army or USMC over the last 40 years would be familiar with.
The M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW).
It was originally developed by US ally Belgium. We took their FN Minimi design, which they shared, made a few modifications and developed our own version in the early 80s.
It then became a fixture in every US war from Panama through Afghanistan.
Only very recently replaced by the M250.
I don’t have time to listen to an hour and a half video.
The article uses the word unprecedented but we love us some rhetoric and hyperbole with stuff like this these days.
It does seem different than just basic cooperation but that isn’t inherently bad.
It’s not.
We are sharing weapons technology and discussing interoperability with allies and partners all the time and vice-versa.
This is no different.
Nothing burger.
Oh, lord, Lord, Lordy-Lord LORD! A link to Al Jazeera. Bro, you’re not helping your credibility.
Again, you’re free to read the actual document rather than blathering about sources. I didn’t find a Fox News opinion to tell you what to think about it, so you’re on your own.
Maybe you can shake your fist at the congressmen who will be fighting to get this language removed over the next days and weeks and grouse that there isn’t a good enough source to make you happy.
Jeez.
You really have to ask why this amended language showed up. It isn’t because of any American defense needs, and it isn’t in the previous MOU between the US and Israel. We could continue supporting Israel the same way as before without turning it into black box of funding that hides foreign aid under US military line-items.
This is the work of lobbyists and third-parties who stand to profit from virtual unlimited money flowing through this arrangement without being subject to congressional approval. It does nothing to strengthen the US and would cost us billions of dollars with no oversight.
I think that both countries would benefit from less financial integration and funding from the US. Continuing to work with them as an ally, including sharing information as is being done now, does not require what is being proposed. This article pre-dates the proposal, but it gives a useful perspective.
On this last article, there are definitely multiple schools of thought on that.
I doubt that particular school will prevail.
Israel has the US by the balls
Their level of influence on our government should actually concern everyone.
A little more on the Quincy Institute:
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/quincy-institute-for-responsible-statecraft-bias-and-credibility/
The United States relies on Israel to maintain a geopolitical and economic presence in the Middle East, if we stop giving into Israel, then we lose that influence. Unfortunately.
Maybe, but what I posted in this thread isn’t about getting rid of that support. We can continue to support them without issuing blank checks and no oversight. There’s certainly no reason to INCREASE the level of dependence.
Honestly, Ukraine probably brings more to the table as an ally at this point.