As Israel has begun its savage response to Hamas’s attacks, the United States government under President Biden has shown Israel that the U.S. has its back. This began with the Pentagon sending the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, the newest and most technologically advanced aircraft carrier in the world, to the eastern Mediterranean. Its attack group of at least five other vessels are all capable of firing guided missiles. Along with that naval power, the U.S. is increasing fighter and other attack planes in the region. It has also offered to share more equipment and munitions as requested, some of which is already stored in Israel for just such occasions, or for when the U.S. has needed munitions in one of its many military actions over the decades.
Although the U.S. already gives Israel approximately $3 billion per year in direct military aid and has done so for decades, the repositioning of the aircraft carrier group to the region is a sign that in this case the U.S. is prepared to use its military might directly in support of Israel. This possibility of direct U.S. intervention shows that despite U.S. politicians occasionally criticizing Israel for its apartheid system and brutal treatment of Palestinians, U.S. support for Israel is still, as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says, “ironclad.”
This is because Israel has been and remains the U.S. foothold and junior partner in the Middle East, weakening and preoccupying U.S. enemies in the region and helping the U.S. to project its power in the oil-rich region, which is economically, politically, and militarily strategic for global power. As long as U.S. capitalism is alive and kicking, it will use Israel as part of its imperialist projects. And that includes the continual oppression and brutal military repression that comes with keeping the exploited and impoverished Palestinian people under Israel’s boot.
