cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/33487836
By MEE staff
Published date: 21 July 2025 21:11 BSTThe New York lawmaker voted against an amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene last week that sought to block $500m in Congress’ annual defence spending bill for Israel’s Iron Dome programme.
Fellow Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar [as well as Democrats Al Green of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky - PL] had supported Taylor Greene’s amendment, which eventually lost in a 422-6 vote.
In a post on X on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Greene’s amendment did “nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza”.
More than that, Isreal is basically a forward opperating base of the US in the middle east. They’re just the US with Groucho Marx glasses on, our sock puppet for genocide and imperialism.
Thats just not true at all.
If true, then why doesnt Israel allow any actual operational bases inside Israel? There are no US warplanes flying out of Israel, and there never have been. They fly out of Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan-- which is actually a forward operating base that you pretend Israel is, and hosts British planes too. It was a big celebration when a navy ship was allowed to dock and resupply in israel in 2018, after no US warship had been allowed to dock in Israel in the previous 20 years.
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us-navy-returns-to-israeli-port-in-sign-of-deep-alliance-idUSKCN1ML2IT/#%3A~%3Atext="This+visit+has+significance.%2Cthe+safety+of+our+sailors."
The US has a shared radar site in the negev that has 10 people staffing it, that they are just now talking about building a barracks for, and also what they call a “base within a base” AKA a desk inside a Israeli military base. Not operational. Israel is not a FOB for the US, nor is it a “giant aircraft carrier” for the US.
The US doesn’t need its own troops there if the IDF acts on their behalf and they get to claim deniability. There’s only a thin veil of secrecy, you can see through it in the ridiculous ways they’ve been allowed (and supported) in infiltrating US politics. Hell you can’t even be a school teacher in Texas without pledging support to Israel.
I see a lot of people thinking the US must be ordering israel around as a proxy. Less people believe its possible that Israel could be controlling the US.
It seems to me that whenever a vote for Israel comes up in US congress, it gets almost 100% of the vote, which seldom happens on any other issue.
the US government is run almost completely by lobbying (bribes) whereas the Israeli government is less so.
AIPAC sends handlers that tell us congressman how to vote. The US doesnt do that in Israel.
The US has baes all over the region, but arent allowed in Israel.
The Us historicallt yhas gained nothing by supporting Israel. No oil. No land. Just trouble. If they were a puppet, they’d be doing actions that accrue benefits to the US.