The United States has announced the approval of the sale of more than $7.4bn in bombs, missiles and related equipment to Israel, which has used American-made weapons to devastating effect during the war in Gaza.

The state department has signed off on the sale of $6.75bn in bombs, guidance kits and fuses, in addition to $660m in Hellfire missiles, according to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

The proposed sale of the bombs “improves Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serves as a deterrent to regional threats”, the DSCA said in a statement.

    • IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldOP
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      17 hours ago

      America gives Israel free money. Israel uses that money to “buy” whichever American weapons they want. Example:

      Israel says it has secured $8.7 billion U.S. aid package

      This is a good overview of cost:

      From Iron Dome to F-15s: US provides 70% of Israel’s war costs

      The U.S. government has spent at least $22.76 billion on military aid to Israel from October 7, 2023, to September 30 of this year - (2024 in article)

      • GarlicToast@programming.dev
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        16 hours ago

        My statement was regarding the current deal, both links are talking about other arm deals.

        The reason US citizens don’t have health care or free higher education is a political choice. You spend more dollars per capita than any other nation, but the system is inefficient. Similar shit goes in higher education. In sane countries students don’t need to buy books, they loan them from the library. They don’t have mega stadiums in universities. Admin are nor racking in piles of gold and academic staff pay is shit. So education doesn’t costs so much.

        The USA doesn’t give Israel free money, they give military aid with strings attached. Israel ‘battle test’ American products, with no danger to American soldiers. More so, the US get the fruits of Israeli R&D, such as Iron Dome, that was developed in Israel and is now manufactured in the US, giving the US army access to it. Israel also hosts American bases in the region.

        As for your second link, who ever wrote it lacks understanding in global trade. The US didn’t deploy aircraft carriers to defend Israel. They deployed them to defend global trade routes from an Iranian proxy. The Houthi “blockade” didn’t cause much harm to Israel’s economy, it harmed other nations much more. This is why a coalition of different countries took part in the attack on the Houthis.

        [0] “houthi blockade economic damage” in your favorite search engine and pick a source you trust. [1] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/china-presses-iran-rein-houthi-attacks-red-sea-sources-say-2024-01-26/

        • IndustryStandard@lemmy.worldOP
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          14 hours ago

          The US does not need their 2.000 pound bombs battle tested on refugee camps. Especially when Ukraine could have used those weapons.

          The Houthi blockade was directly related to Israel. The Houthis started blocking ships of every country complicit in the genocide.

          Say do you think Israel is committing genocide by the way?

        • secretlyaddictedtolinux@lemmy.world
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          16 hours ago

          I think the poster’s post was not about this specific instance, but about the bigger picture. If someone gives you 20 dollars in food aid and then you buy 20 dollars in oranges from them, is it a sale or is it really more of a gift just masquerading as a sale? I think that was the poster’s point, not whether the particular article refers to something actually gifted versus paid for.