by Stephen Lendman

Israel already gets at least $3 billion annually from Washington - plus a whole lot more. US taxpayers fund its killing machine.

It wants a 50% increase for more wars and ruthless daily persecution of millions of Palestinians - plus terror-bombing Syria, Yemen and southern Lebanon at its discretion as well as regional destabilizing activities.

On May 24, Defense News headlined "Israel Seeks Surge in US Security Support," saying:

"(W)orking bilateral groups have (been) assess(ing) Israel's projected security needs in (preparing) a new 10-year foreign military financing (FMF) deal" to begin when the current one expires in 2017.

According to an unnamed security source, Israel wants up to $4.5 billion annually besides additional amounts on request, resupplying its killing machine as needed, increasing amounts of US weapons and munitions in Israel for "emergency use," and nearly $500 million annually for so-called anti-rocket/missile defense.

Washington's House approved 2016 national defense authorization funding calls for financing an Israeli anti-tunneling defense system to deal with so-called subterranean threats.

Washington is expected to provide Israel with additional billions of dollars of aid if a nuclear deal with Iran is consummated.

Israel's only enemies are ones it invents. Not according to AIPAC CEO Howard Kohr claiming it may need $160 billion for "defense" through 2025 - a big increase over current budgeted amounts.

Israeli military spending is for offense, not defense. It wants state-of-the-art weapons for maximum killing machine effectiveness.

According to Kohr, US military aid for Israel "is an essential component of America's national security strategy" - code language for waging imperial wars of conquest and domination.

Earlier in May, the Al Mezan Center for Human Right reported escalated Israeli attacks on Gaza. The IDF fired on border areas at least six times.

They attacked farmers in their fields. Israeli naval forces assault Gazan fishermen regularly for the crime of fishing.

Palestinian children too close to Israel's imposed buffer zone are shot at with live fire. Deaths and injuries result.

Gaza remains an active war zone. Overnight Wednesday, Israeli warplanes terror-bombed multiple sites outrageously claiming "Hamas' territory is used as a staging ground to attack Israel…"

According to Press TV, Israel attacked Gaza despite Hamas and Islamic Jihad denying firing rockets into Israeli territory as its military claims.

Multiple strikes targeted the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Rafah on Egypt's border, Khan Younis and Beit Lahia.

The attacks followed a rocket fired by an unknown source striking southern Israel, causing no casualties or damage.

Israel's Shin Bet security service claims Tuesday's rocket attack was the third since last summer's war.

The UN Special Coordinator (UNSCO) called Gaza's ceasefire "perilously fragile." Israeli border, air and sea attacks risk renewed war.

Hardline Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said "if there won't be quiet in Israel, Gaza will pay a very heavy price, which will cause all who plan to challenge us to regret their actions."

"Hamas is advised to restrain any attempt to fire rockets at Israel or provoke it, otherwise we will be forced to act with greater power. I would not advise anyone to test us."

Political analyst Talal Okal believes multiple Israeli attacks are in preparation for more war. Israel wants Palestinian resistance groups disarmed and weakened, he said.

When its provocative attacks are responded to in self-defense, it claims terrorism as justification for naked aggression.

Since December 2008, it waged three premeditated wars without mercy on Gaza. Is a fourth in prospect?

A Final Comment

Netanyahu maintains a steady drumbeat of anti-Iranian hate-mongering. He addressed his latest Big Lies to visiting US Senator Bill Cassidy (D. LA) claiming a nuclear deal with Iran "paves (its) path to the bomb (and) fills (its) coffers with tens of billions of dollars to pursue its aggression throughout the Middle East and Israel's borders."

"Once Iran, the preeminent terrorist state of our time, acquires nuclear weapons, it will be a hundred times more dangerous, a thousand times more dangerous and more destructive than IS."

His hyperventilating Big Lies wore thin long ago. Israel and America are the greatest threats to world peace, stability and security. As long as their aggression goes unchecked, humanity remains at risk.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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