Congress wants to tie the United States to Israel with this new legislation. It’s a trap

‘Make no mistake, the intent and the consequences of this legislation, dubbed the United States–Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, go far.’ Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Congress is considering legislation that would embed Israel’s military deeply within the US military-industrial complex. Stunned by the cratering of public support for Israeli policies in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank and towards Iran, Israel’s advocates are frantically seeking to preserve and even escalate US support for the Jewish state in ways that do not rely on defense of its policies or permit scrutiny of the manipulations involved.

Politically, this means avoiding public discussion of Israeli policies in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank or Iran and disguising the sources of massive amounts of money pouring into election races to defeat candidates raising questions about US support for Israel. The proposed legislation shows what this means bureaucratically.