U.S. Sends Israel 2,000-Pound Bunker Buster Bombs for Gaza War

[former9thward]

The U.S. has provided Israel with large bunker buster bombs, among tens of thousands of other weapons and artillery shells, to help dislodge Hamas from Gaza, U.S. officials said.

The surge of arms, including roughly 15,000 bombs and 57,000 artillery shells, began shortly after the Oct. 7 attack and has continued in recent days, the officials said. The U.S. hasn’t previously disclosed the total number of weapons it sent to Israel nor the transfer of 100 BLU-109, 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs.

The airlift of hundreds of millions of dollars in munitions, primarily on C-17 military cargo planes flying from the U.S. to Tel Aviv, shows the diplomatic challenge facing the Biden administration. The U.S. is urging its top ally in the region to consider preventing large-scale civilian casualties while supplying many of the munitions deployed. ...

“It seems inconsistent with reported exhortations from Secretary Blinken and others to use smaller-diameter bombs,” said Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the nonprofit International Crisis Group, and a former attorney-advisor at the State Department.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-sends-israel-2000-pound-bunker-buster-bombs-for-gaza-war/ar-AA1kRdqy

[Lonestarblue]

1. Why are we giving Israel the bombs to murder thousands of innocent Palestinians?

There are no uniquely military targets in Gaza. The whole are is filled with tunnels that Hanas uses. If the IDF is serious about rooting out Hamas, they need to be in the tunnels, not murdering thousands of innocents with “bunker busting” bombs that mostly kill people and level buildings, with possibly some tunnels destroyed, though Hanas has many more to hide in. I am dismayed that the US is helping Israel with these bombs. It’s no wonder those in the Middle East are blaming the US for the destruction in Gaza.

[GuppyGal]

3. Blame FUCKING HAMAS FOR THE DESTRUCTION IN GAZA

[dutch777]

4. Sad. I wonder how many hostages will be killed clearing the tunnels and bunkers by these means?

I can appreciate Israel wanting to eliminate Hamas once and for all. And they don't want to suffer more IDF casualties than they need to. But bombing all the infrastructure and housing into rubble doing it this way will only make the end game so much more difficult and the feelings of the remaining Palestinians and the world even more hardened against Israel.

[Oopsie Daisy]

5. The hostages are already dead. (Or "as good as dead" at this point.)

[dutch777]

6. You are probably right. I don't understand how Israel can think this will be any kind of "win" in the long term

I get that domestic politics in Israel probably demands they take forceful action but many Israelis must understand they are making their future only more violent and difficult.

[Lonestarblue]

8. Yes. Israel had much of the world's sympathy after the heinous Hamas attack, but it has now

squandered most of that sympathy with its vicious attacks on Palestinians. We do not know how many Hamas fighters have been killed. Israel claims hundreds. They reported 1,500 bodies of Hamas fighters in Israel near the border with Gaza. Most of the bombing has occurred inside Gaza, not in Israel, so those are more likely deaths from clashes with the IDF. It is not reasonable to kill 15,000 people hoping the bombs will kill a few Hamas fighters.

Israel is not without some blame here. The intelligence group had information for more than a year on the Hamas plan for the attack. For whatever reason, they chose to ignore it and instead move troops to support the settlers’ land grabs in the West Bank. The analysis since the attack has been that Israel could have prevented it or at least been prepared to counter it with fewer Israeli deaths. Instead the Netanyahu government did nothing.

Here’s an interesting article with some history on the conflict.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2023/10/how-does-this-end

[Oopsie Daisy]

9. 🎵 Blame Israel! 🎵

[dutch777]

10. So true and so sad for the innocents caught up in this. Thanks for the good article link.

[JohnSJ]

11. No they didn't. The UN Secretary General after the hamas attack said "nothing happens in a vacuum", which sure

wasn't showing sympathy after the terrorist attack.

https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/anti-israel-activists-celebrate-hamas-attacks-have-killed-hundreds-israelis

"Swarthmore College’s SJP chapter released a statement on October 10, justifying Hamas’s violence by saying, “Since early Saturday morning, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have valiantly confronted the imperial apparatus that has constricted their livelihoods for the past seventy-five years.” The statement also said that “decolonization is far from a metaphor confined to the classroom” and that “There exists only a colonizer and colonized, an oppressed and an oppressor. To resist is to survive, and it is our right."

National Students for Justice in Palestine released a toolkit for their "day of action", describing the murders of Israeli civilians as “a historic win for the Palestinian resistance: across land, air, and sea, our people have broken down the artificial barriers of the Zionist entity.” The organization added, “This is what it means to Free Palestine: not just slogans and rallies, but armed confrontation with the oppressors.”

Anti-Israel activist Nerdeen Kiswani called on people to support the liberation of Palestine “by any means necessary:” “If you support Palestine understand that necessitates supporting our right to defend ourselves and liberate our homeland by any means necessary….Freedom has only ever been achieved through resistance.”

The ADC, an Arab American organization, claimed that the Hamas’ massacre of Israeli civilians was an expression of Palestinian self-determination efforts: “The unprecedented and ongoing resistance by Palestinians from Gaza, that caught Israel by surprise, did not happen in a vacuum…. Palestinians are asserting their right to self-determination and unequivocally demanding their freedom.”

Young Democrats of America Black Caucus chair Amber Sherman issued unequivocal support for the Palestinian actions: “As Chair of the Black Caucus I fully support the Palestinian people and the uprising happening in Gaza right now…. I encourage folks to publicly acknowledge the uprising happening in Gaza and stand in support of the Palestinian people.”

The Boston Mapping Project, an anti-Zionist organization which has called for people to “dismantle” and “disrupt” most of Boston’s Jewish community, posted several times in support of Palestinian resistance, and encouraged its readers to follow the Resistance News Network, an antisemitic encrypted news channel that shares violent anti-Israel imagery and promotes Hamas propaganda.

The U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) wrote about the Hamas violence: “Our people are waging an anti-colonial, anti-occupation, and anti-Zionist liberation struggle!” In a longer statement, the group said that the violence was a justified response to “over 100 years of zionist [sic] settler-colonialism” and a laundry list of grievances against Israel.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced that it had signed on to the statement of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, which ignored Hamas’ violence against Israeli civilians and instead called for the United States and world governments to “exert pressure on Israel” to stop its “atrocities” against the Palestinians. "

......

"About 35 student associations at Harvard University signed on to a statement from the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and Harvard Graduate Students for Palestine which said, "We... hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible" for the violence perpetrated by Hamas."

https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/anti-israel-activists-celebrate-hamas-attacks-have-killed-hundreds-israelis

[sboatcar]

12. I can't help but worry that Israel won't let the palestinians back into their previous homes in Gaza

Hasn't that been the result of previous incursions?

[Igel]

16. In Gaza?

No.

[David__77]

2. Yes, actions speak louder than words.

[Chainfire]

7. It is much more efficient to take out neighborhoods block at the time.

It gripes my soul that we are participating in this "war" at that level.

[Lonestarblue]

13. We have differing opinions about a way forward, but I think Bernie Sanders has some good ideas.

I think his piece in the NYT was posted several days ago, but it’s worth reading if you missed it. A free link is below.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/opinion/bernie-sanders-israel-gaza.html?unlocked_article_code=1.C00.SgYk.N21mUr7pUiwf&smid=url-share

Most of us can agree that war is rarely a good thing and a lot of innocent people are hurt. It’s my personal opinion that this war is accomplishing very little for Israel while it is doing great damage to the Palestinians and actually to Israel’s stated goal of peace and security. For real peace, both sides must have a lot to lose if they break the peace. Currently, Palestinians have little to lose because Israel has forced them into prison-like conditions, including in much of the West Bank. When a population has no alternative to freedom, violence is sure to follow.

Palestinians must be allowed to govern themselves. They may well need international help, but it’s clear that Israel cannot govern them and be allowed to continue taking their lands or peace will be impossible.

[Celerity]

14. proportionality down the loo

[David__77]

15. Thank you for posting these images. Sadly, the US has moral ownership of this.

It is not too late to change course, and withdraw military aid.