Yesterday, even AIPAC’s top Democratic shills— like Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Greg Meeks (D-NY), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Brad Schneider (D-IL)— signaled in advance of the MAGA Mike amendment to hold aid to Israel hostage to GOP mania to prevent the IRS from investigating millionaires who don’t pay their taxes. Before it passed, 226-196, Democratic leaders asked the few “yes” votes on their side of the aisle (Israel-first types like Jared Moskowitz and Josh Gottheimer pand other olitical opportunists) to hold their vote until Republicans passed the bill on their own. Besides Moskowitz and Gottheimer, the other Dems who voted with the Republicans on this travesty were all the usual suspects: Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL), Don Davis (NC), Jared Golden (ME), Lois Frankel (FL), Haley Stevens (MI), Angie Craig (MN), Greg Landsman(OH), Darren Soto (FL), Juan Vargas (CA), and poor senile Frederica Wilson (FL).
I think Mark Takano spoke, at some length, for many progressives who voted against the package. “I support our ally Israel in its right to exist and meeting its pressing security needs as Israelis grieve and respond to the barbarous attacks waged by Hamas on October 7, he said. “And I do intend to support military aid to Israel— as I have many times before— for its defense and to degrade the capacity of Hamas. However, such military support to Israel should be combined with humanitarian assistance to support the Palestinians and Israelis who are suffering in this crisis. The bill before the House today not only excludes that humanitarian aid, but also includes a partisan effort to reduce the ability of the IRS to crack down on wealthy tax cheats and creates a dangerous precedent tying poison pill riders to national security bills, which is why I cannot support it.”
Further, he said that he was on the same page as Biden when “he called for a ‘humanitarian pause’ to provide space for the release of hostages and relief for civilians on the ground. What I cannot support is a protracted ground invasion absent substantial humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people that will lead to further loss of life and breed more extremism. Israel must continue to ensure that water, food, electricity, and telecommunications are freely available to Palestinians. Israel must also be expected to obey international law in its campaign to destroy Hamas and make every attempt to avoid civilian casualties. Anything less will ensure a prolonged occupation that would in effect strengthen Hamas by creating a fertile breeding ground for extremism… Both Israelis and Palestinians deserve a state, and deserve to live in peace.”
Chris Deluzio (D-PA) concentrated more on MAGA Mike’s determination to screw with the IRS. “Former President Obama once said, ‘if there was an asteroid headed towards earth and you asked Republicans what they want to do, they’d say cut taxes on the wealthy.’ House Republicans did not miss a beat. The Republican proposal I voted against today is a fiscally reckless and partisan effort to condition Israel aid on helping billionaires and massive corporations cheat on their taxes— putting the interests of the wealthy over security for Israel and services for Americans. To twist the knife further, because the Republican bill would defund IRS efforts to crack down on rich tax cheats, the bill would balloon the deficit by an estimated $12.5 billion. This is fiscal irresponsibility at its worst, all to protect the rich and powerful… I look forward to supporting President Biden’s security supplemental request. The package not only helps our friends in Israel, Ukraine, and around the world, but also provides humanitarian assistance to desperate Palestinian civilians and fights for America’s national security interests abroad and at home— like stemming the flow of fentanyl across our border. It is time for House Republican leadership to treat this urgent moment with the seriousness it demands and stop playing politics with issues of grave national security. Speaker Johnson and his party need to get behind the President’s emergency supplemental package— the only proposal that supports both Israel and other United States national security interests.”
Since assassinating Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin— who claimed Prigozhin was high on coke and set off a grenade in his plane by accident— has taken over control of the murdeous mercenary operation, the Wagner Group. Writing for the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Michael Gordon and Vivian Salama reported that the Wagner Group is going to arm Hezbollah (according to U.S. intel sources).
They’re sending the Iranian-backed group in southern Lebanon an air-defense system that “uses antiaircraft missiles and air-defense guns to intercept aircraft. One U.S. official said that Washington hasn’t confirmed that the system has been sent. But officials are monitoring discussions involving Wagner and Hezbollah, and officials say the potential delivery is a major concern… The U.S. has positioned an aircraft carrier in the Eastern Mediterranean to try to deter Hezbollah and Iran.”
Next door in Syria, the Wagner group has shored up the Assad regime… The intelligence comes amid broader concerns that Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia, may open up a northern front against Israel. Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah is expected to give a speech on Friday, which will be his first public comments since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s forceful military response. That speech will be studied for clues on whether the militant group plans to enter the war.”
The potential arms delivery to Hezbollah comes amid concerns about Moscow’s role in the region and Russia’s tightening relationship with Iran.
Iran has become a major supplier of one-way attack drones that Russian forces have used to support their invasion of Ukraine. The two nations are also collaborating on the construction of a factory in Russia that could make thousands of the drones for Moscow’s war effort.
The provision of a Russian air-defense system to an Iranian-backed group like Hezbollah could be a way to reward Tehran for that assistance, some foreign-policy analysts say.
The SA-22 air-defense system, also called the Pantsir, is mounted on a wheeled military vehicle. The system was designed by Russia to intercept aircraft, drones and enemy precision guided munitions.
…The Russian military and particularly its special operations forces have developed a “very close operational bond with Hezbollah over the past years in Syria,” said Charles Lister, the director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “It’s no secret that that relationship continues.”