Global Research– December 28, 2023

The Companies Profiting from Israel’s 2023 Attack on Gaza

By American Friends Service Committee

The companies listed here have provided Israel with weapons and other military equipment used in its so-called “Swords of Iron” attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria during October-December 2023.

*Since Oct. 7,  Israel has waged unprecedented aerial and ground attacks on Gaza after Hamas-led attacks on Israel. Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been killed at historic pace, and Israel has destroyed large parts of the Gaza Strip, making them uninhabitable. These attacks have been accompanied by a surge of Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, clashes between the Israeli military and armed groups in Lebanon, and Israeli aerial strikes in Syria.

Shortly after Oct. 7, the U.S. government started transferring to Israel massive amounts of weapons. Among these weapons,  Israel received more than 15,000 bombs and 50,000 artillery shells within just the first month and a half. These transfers have been deliberately shrouded in secrecy to avoid public scrutiny and prevent Congress from exercising any meaningful oversight.

Some of these weapons were purchased using U.S. taxpayers’ money through the Foreign Military Sales program; some were direct commercial sales purchased through Israel’s own budget; and some were replenished U.S. military stockpiles in Israel, which the Israeli military may also use. A list of known U.S. arms transfers is maintained by the Forum on the Arms Trade.

The scale of destruction and war crimes in Gaza would not be possibleﾠwithout this continued flow of weapons from the U.S.

Despite massive public protests, the Biden administration has been working to give Israel over $14 billion to buy more weapons. This is on top of the $3.8 billion the U.S. already gives to the Israeli military annually. Israel is required to use this money to buy U.S.-made weapons. This is a form of corporate welfare for the largest weapon manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, and General Dynamics, which have seen their stock prices skyrocket, but also for companies that are not part of the weapon industry, such as Caterpillar, Ford, and Toyota (see below).

As a Quaker organization with a long history of work in Palestine and Israel, including in Gaza, AFSC supports a full arms embargo to both Israeli and Palestinian militant groups. This list focuses on weapons used by Israel because all Palestinian militant groups are already sanctioned and receive no support from Western governments or corporations.

This research relies on media sources, social media, and other open sources. This page is updated regularly as new information comes to light. If you have information that you think we should add, or if you are a researcher or journalist who needs access to the raw data, please contact us.

For a more comprehensive list of publicly traded companies that are involved in the Israeli occupation, accompanied by our divestment recommendations, please refer to our Investigate database.

Companies

AeroVironment

• A military drone manufacturer headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
• Around Oct. 30, Israel requested to purchase 200 AeroVironment Switchblade 600 Kamikaze drones, an advanced direct fire loitering missile system that acts as a “suicide drone.”
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• AM General

• A manufacturer of military vehicles based in South Bend, Indiana. The company’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) has been used by the Israeli military in Gaza. The armor for these vehicles is made by Plasan (see below).
• On Nov. 5, the Israeli military reportedly used Humvees, accompanied by tanks and other armored vehicles, to lead a “supply convoy” into Gaza. Humvees were again used by the Israeli military on Nov. 8 to transport Israeli media correspondents into Gaza.
• On Dec. 6, a U.S. cargo plane delivered additional Humvees to Israel.
• In addition to Oshkosh (see below), AM General also makes the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

• BAE Systems

• The world’s seventh largest weapon manufacturer, UK company BAE Systems manufactures the M109 howitzer, a 155mm mobile artillery system that the Israeli military has been using extensively, firing tens of thousands of 155mm shells into the Gaza Strip.
• Some of these shells are white phosphorus bombs, the use of which is forbidden in densely populated civilian areas and potentially amounts to a war crime.
• BAE also manufactures electronic missile launching kits and other components for Israel’s F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets, which the Israeli Air Force has used extensively in all of its attacks on Gaza, including in 2023.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments) see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• The Boeing Company

• The world’s fifth largest weapon manufacturer, Boeing manufactures F-15 fighter jets and Apache AH-64 attack helicopters, which the Israeli Air Force has used extensively in all of its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, including in 2023.
• Boeing also manufactures multiple types of unguided small diameter bombs (SDBs) and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits, which convert these bombs into precision-guided munitions. 
• Israel has been using these bombs extensively, including in a Nov. 1 bombing of Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, which killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians and could amount to a war crime, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• On Oct. 10 and 22, the Israeli military used bombs equipped with Boeing JDAM kits to carry out what Amnesty International calls “unlawful air strikes on homes full of civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip.” The attacks, which could amount to a war crime, killed 24 people of the al-Najjar family and 19 people of the Abu Mu’eileq family.
• Immediately after Oct. 7, Boeing expedited delivery of 1,000 smart bombs, and another 1,800 JDAM kits, to Israel. Both deliveries were part of a 2021 order that Israel made during its previous large-scale attack on Gaza.
• Headquartered in Chicago, the company has important production facilities outside of Los Angeles, Seattle, and St. Louis. For more locations, see this map.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Caterpillar

• For decades, Caterpillar has been supplying Israel with the D9 armored bulldozer, which the Israeli military routinely uses to demolish Palestinian homes and civilian infrastructure in the occupied West Bank and to enforce the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
• Armored D9 bulldozers have been crucial in the Israeli military’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, accompanying combat troops and paving their way by clearing roads and demolishing buildings.
• D9 bulldozers were also used in raids of Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank, including Jenin and Tulkarem, where a bulldozer was used to destroy a memorial to former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. Deliberate destruction of cultural heritage sites during an armed conflict canconstitute a war crime.
• Israel placed an urgent order for dozens of D9 armored bulldozers during the current attacks.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Colt’s Manufacturing Company

• Colt’s Manufacturing Company makes firearms, including the M16, which was the standard-issue assault rifle used by the Israeli military from the 1990s to the early 2010s. Many older M16 rifles are still in use by the Israeli military and police.
• Israel requested to purchase from Colt about 18,000 M4 and MK18 assault rifles, out of 24,000 total assault rifles from U.S. companies. Israel designates these firearms for newly-formed civilian “security squads” in dozens of cities and towns, including illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
• U.S. State Department officials, who have to approve the sale of automatic rifles, expressed concerns that these weapons will be used to expel Palestinian civilians from their land in the occupied West Bank. While Israel guaranteedﾠthat the rifles will only be used by government agencies, the U.S. has reportedly delayed a shipment of 4,500 rifles from the same order.
• Colt is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, and is owned by Czech firearms manufacturer Colt CZ Group (CZP).
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Day & Zimmermann

• A privately owned munitions manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• In 1990, company subsidiary Mason & Hanger manufactured some of the 120mm rounds that Israeli Merkava tanks fired at a U.N. school in Gaza in November.
• The Israeli military also routinely uses 155mm artillery rounds made at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, which is operated by American Ordnance, another subsidiary of Day & Zimmermann.

• Dynamit Nobel Defence (DND)

Dynamit Nobel Defence (DND) is a German weapons company that co-developed the Matador (RGW 90) portable shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket with Rafael (see below) and the Singaporean government. It is unclear whether the Matador systems used in Gaza are made in Germany.

Elbit Systems

• Israel’s largest weapon manufacturer, Elbit Systems is one of the primary suppliers of weapons and surveillance systems to the Israeli military, including Skylark and Hermes military UAV drones, which form the majority of Israel’s fleet of large drones and have been used extensively in Gaza.
• Elbit Systems’ killer Hermes 450 and 900 drones have been used extensively in attacks on and surveillance missions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Lebanon.
• It also supplies the Israeli military with 155mm artillery shells and many other weapons systems and technologies.
• Elbit Systems spearheaded the technological aspects of the “smart” border wall surrounding the Gaza Strip, which failed on Oct. 7. It is also a prime contractor for the militarization of the U.S.– Mexico border.
• On Oct. 13, the Israeli military fired 120mm tank rounds at journalists in south Lebanon, killing Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injuring six others in what could amount to a war crime. The munitions used were most likely M339 rounds made by Elbit Systems, according to Amnesty International.
• The company, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, has a large U.S. presence, with facilities in Alabama (Talladega), Florida (Boca Raton and De Leon Springs), Massachusetts (Cambridge), New Hampshire (Merrimack), Pennsylvania (Birdsboro) South Carolina (Ladson), Virginia (Reston and Roanoke), and Texas (San Antonio).
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Emtan Karmiel

• A privately-held Israeli firearm manufacturer that, within a week of Oct. 7, delivered some 12,000 rifles to the Israeli military and other security forces.
• Many of these rifles, if not all of them, are MZ4P assault rifles that have been acquired by the Israeli Ministry of National Security to arm new civilian “security squads” in dozens of cities and towns, including illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. News of these security squads reportedly caused the U.S. to halt shipments of thousands of additional assault rifles to Israel (see above on Colt).

• Ford Motor Company

• A U.S. automaker whose commercial pickup trucks are armored and retrofitted for the Israeli military by AM General (see above), Oshkosh (see below), and Plasan (see below).
• The Ford Super Duty F-350 XL pickup truck, for example, serves as the basis of Plasan’s SandCat light armored vehicle. On Dec. 6, a U.S. cargo plane delivered SandCat vehicles to Israel.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• General Dynamics

• The world’s sixth largest weapon manufacturer, General Dynamics, supplies Israel with artillery ammunition and bombs for attack jets used in Israel’s assault on Gaza.
• The company developed the F-16 fighter jet, although it has been manufactured by Lockheed Martin since 1993.
• General Dynamics is the only company in the U.S. that makes the metal bodies of the MK-80 bomb series, the primary weapon type Israel uses to bomb Gaza. The bodies of the bombs are filled with explosives by the U.S. military, and then can be made into a guided bomb using Boeing‘s JDAM kits.
• It is also the only company in the U.S. that makes 155mm caliber artillery shells, which have been used extensively to attack Gaza. One source reported that, by Nov. 25, one Israeli brigade fired some 10,000 such shells using BAE’s M109 howitzer.
• 155mm shellsﾠhave been part of the U.S.’s recent weapons shipments to Israel. The U.S. is planning to send “tens of thousands of 155mm artillery shells that had been destined for Ukraine” to Israel. Their use by Israel, according to Oxfam, is “virtually assured to be indiscriminate, unlawful, and devastating to civilians in Gaza.” On Nov. 13, more than 30 organizations issued a letter opposing the transfer.
• On an Oct. 25 call with investors, General Dynamics CFO, Jason Aiken, said, “I think if you look at the incremental demand potential coming out of [the attacks on Gaza], the biggest one to highlight and that really sticks out is probably on the artillery side.”
• General Dynamics is based outside of Washington, D.C., in Fairfax, Virginia. For more locations, see this map.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• General Electric

• The world’s 25th largest weapon manufacturer, General Electricmanufactures T700 Turboshaft engines for Boeing’s Apache helicopters.
• GE is headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)

• A large Israeli state-owned weapon manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries makes multiple weapons systems specifically for the Israeli military, including the Heron TP killer drone.
• On a Nov. 22 call with investors, IAI CEO, Boaz Levy, said that Heron drones have “played a pivotal role” in Israel’s attacks on Gaza, including in strike operations. In early October, Germany approved a request by Israel to use two Heron TP drones, manufactured by IAI, in its attacks on Gaza.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• L3Harris Technologies

• The world’s ninth largest weapon manufacturer, L3Harris manufactures components that are integrated into multiple weapons systems used by the Israeli military in Gaza, including Boeing‘s JDAM kits (see above), Lockheed Martin’s F-35 warplane (see below), Northrop Grumman‘s Sa’ar 5 warships (see below), ThyssenKrupp’s Sa’ar 6 warships (see below), and Israel’s Merkava battle tanks.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Leonardo

The world’s eleventh largest weapon manufacturer, Italian company Leonardo makes the Oto Melara 76/62 Super Rapid 76mm naval guns installed on the Israeli Navy’s Sa’ar 6 warships, which were used for the first time on Oct. 16 against targets in Gaza.

Lockheed Martin

• The world’s largest weapon manufacturer, Lockheed Martin supplies Israel with F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has been using extensively to bomb Gaza. Israel also uses the company’s C-130 Hercules transport planes to support the ground invasion of Gaza.
• Lockheed Martin manufactures AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for Israel’s Apache helicopters. One of the main weapon types used in aerial attacks on Gaza, these missiles have been used extensively in 2023. Some 2,000 Hellfire missiles were delivered to Israel sometime between Oct. 7 and Nov. 14.
• On Dec. 11, the Israeli Air Force used a Lockheed Martin C-130-J Super Hercules aircraft to drop approximately seven tons of equipment to Israeli soldiers engaging in ground attacks in Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip. This was the “first operational airdrop” that Israel has carried out since the 2006 Lebanon War.
• On Nov. 9, an Israeli missile hit journalists sitting near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The missile was reportedly a Lockheed Martin–made Hellfire R9X missile, a version of the Hellfire that was developed by the CIA for carrying out assassinations. Instead of exploding, the missile shreds its target using blades, allowing for a direct hit without collateral damage. The target in this case was not a military one.
• The Israeli military also uses Lockheed Martin’s M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). Used to fire Elbit Systems’ high-precision AccuLAR-122, the weapon was used by Israel for the first time, since the 2006 war in Lebanon, on Oct. 6, according to the Israeli military.
• On an Oct. 17 call with investors, Lockheed Martin CEO, Jim Taiclet, “highlighted the Israel and Ukraine conflicts as potential drivers for increased revenue in the coming years.”
• Lockheed Martin is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and has key production sites in Denver, Houston, New Orleans, and San Diego. For more locations, see this map.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• MDT Armor (Shladot)

• MDT Armor, owned by Israeli company Shladot, makes the David Urban Light Armored Vehicle, the standard patrol and reconnaissance vehicle used by the Israeli military and routinely used in human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.
• On Nov. 14, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) posted evidence of the Israeli military using two David armored vehicles to block an ambulance carrying a wounded Palestinian in the Tulkarm Refugee Camp. The same day, the Israeli military used a David vehicle to attack Palestinian youth at the Zaatara military checkpoint near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
• A shipment of David vehicles was rushed to Israel in Oct. 2023. The David is built on the basis of Toyota’s Hilux and Land Cruiser pickup trucks and is retrofitted for the needs of the Israeli military at MDT’s factory in Auburn, Alabama.
• For more information, see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Nordic Ammunition Company (Nammo)

• The maker of the M141 Bunker Defeat Munition, a shoulder-fired “bunker-buster” rocket used by the Israeli military in Gaza. As of the end of October, the U.S. has delivered 1,800 out of a requested 3,000 M141 shoulder-fired rocket launchers to Israel.
• These rockets are made in the U.S., at the Nammo Talley factory in Mesa, Arizona. However, Nammo Talley’s parent company, Nammo, is headquartered in Norway and co-owned by the Norwegian government and Finnish company Patria Oyj. The latter is co-owned by the government of Finland (50.1%) and Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (49.9%), which is part of Kongsberg Gruppen (FRA: KOZ).

• Northrop Grumman

• The world’s sixth largest weapon manufacturer, Northrop Grummansupplies the Israeli Air Force with the Longbow missile delivery system for its Apache attack helicopters and laser weapon delivery systems for its fighter jets.
• It has also supplied the Israeli Navy with Sa’ar 5 warships, which have participated in the assault on Gaza.
• Northrop Grumman is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, and its most important production sites are located in and around Baltimore, Denver, Los Angeles, and San Diego. For more locations, see this map.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Oshkosh

• A specialty truck manufacturer headquartered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Oshkosh manufactures the hulls for the Eitan, Israel’s newest armored personnel carrier, which was used operationally for the first time in the ground invasion of Gaza.
• Oshkosh also makes the trucks that Israel converts into the Panther, an armored personnel carrier used extensively in the occupied West Bank.
• On Dec. 7, the Israeli military captured dozens of Palestinians in Gaza and transported them to Israel for interrogation. Individuals were stripped down to their underwear and publicly humiliated for hours, potentially in violation of international humanitarian law. At least some were transported in Oshkosh Medium Tactical Vehicles. While Israeli media claimed that these individuals were all members of Hamas, the Israeli military later admitted that the vast majority were civilians.
• In October, Israel requested to purchase 75 Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicles for its 2023 attack on Gaza.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• Plasan

• A private Israeli military vehicle manufacturer that makes the SandCat light armored vehicle for the Israeli military. At least some of these vehicles are manufactured at the company’s factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
• Since Oc. 7, Plasan has delivered dozens of SandCat Tigris armored vehicles to the Israeli military and has produced “hundreds of ballistic plates every day” for its use.
• The company also makes the armor for Oshkosh’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) (see above) and AM General’s Humvees and JLTVs (see above). The Israeli military has used all of these vehicles in its 2023 attacks on Gaza.
• On Dec. 6, a U.S. cargo plane delivered Plasan-armored Humvees to Israel.

• Rafael

• A large Israeli state-owned weapons manufacturer, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems makes missiles, drones, and other weapons systems for the Israeli military.
• The Israeli military has used Rafael Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles extensively to target, from the ground, people inside buildings in the Gaza Strip.
• The Israeli military has also used the Matador (RGW 90) portable shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket, which Rafael developed with German company Dynamic Nobel Defence and the Singaporean government.
• Rafael’s Trophy Active Protection System for armored vehicles enables Israeli battle tanks to go into Gaza and avoid being damaged by anti-tank weapons. The company markets the system as one that “increases the lethality of combat forces.”
• Rafael collaborated with the Israeli military to develop the Spark, a new unmanned drone used to carry out intelligence missions, escort ground forces, and direct strikes. After first being received by the Israeli Air Force in September, Spark drones have reportedly been assisting Israeli combat teams in Gaza and acting as a “force multiplier on the battlefield.”

• RTX (formerly Raytheon)

• The world’s second largest weapon manufacturer and largest producer of guided missiles, RTX supplies the Israeli Air Force with guided air-to-surface missiles for its F-16 fighter jets, as well as cluster bombs and bunker busters, which have consistently been used against Gaza’s civilian population and infrastructure.
• RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney manufactures engines for F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.
• As part of a joint venture with Israeli state-owned weapon manufacturer Rafael, RTX makes interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, which have been part of the U.S.’s recent weapons shipments to Israel.
• On an Oct. 24 call with investors, RTX CEO, Greg Hayes, said, “I think really across the entire Raytheon portfolio, you’re going to see a benefit of this restocking.”
• RTX’ is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more locations, see this map.
• For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

• SK Group

A private Israeli company that owns:

• Israel Weapon Industries (IWI): a firearms manufacturer that makes the Tavor assault rifle and Negev machine gun, both of which are standard issue weapons in the Israeli military. Since mid-October, IWI has reportedly been producing “hundreds of Tavor rifles each day” for the Israeli military as well as the domestic commercial market.
• Meprolight: a manufacturer of ‘see-through-the-wall’ radar technology used to identify targets concealed behind walls and barriers. The technology was used by the Israeli military for the first time in its 2014 attacks on Gaza.
• Israel Shipyards: a shipbuilding company that designs and manufactures missile boats, gunboats, and patrol boats for the Israeli Navy and Israel Border Police. On Dec. 5, the company announced the launch of its first Shaldag MK V patrol boat, a ship “equipped with highly advanced weapons,” for the Israeli Navy.
• Other subsidiaries include Greek company Elvo, Israeli real estate developer Oshira, and Uni-Scope, which makes optical systems for armored vehicles.

• Skydio

A drone manufacturer headquartered in San Mateo, California, that has sentmore than 100 short-range reconnaissance drones to the Israeli military, “with more to come.” These autonomous drones are used to navigate and produce 3D scans of buildings in “complex urban environments.”

SMARTSHOOTER

An Israeli company that developed the SMASH 2000L (3000) system, marketed as a ‘smart sight’ for tracking moving targets and used by the Israeli military in its 2023 attacks on Gaza. For example, in November, the Maglan special forces unit of the Israeli military used the system to target homes and infrastructure near a school in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. 

ThyssenKrupp

A German engineering company that built the Israeli Navy’s four Sa’ar 6 warships, which were used for the first time on Oct. 16 against targets in Gaza.

Toyota

A Japanese auto maker that manufactures the pickup trucks used by the Israeli military as the basis for the David Urban Light Armored Vehicle (see MDT Armor above).

XTEND

A privately held Israeli company that manufactures drones, including the Wolverine combat drone that requires “no training.” Operated via virtual reality goggles and a one-handed joystick, the Wolverine is being used by the Israeli military in Gaza to search and gather intelligence on buildings and infrastructure. Equipped with a robotic arm, the drones can also be used for “tactical operations.”

https://www.globalresearch.ca/companies-profiting-from-israel-2023-attack-gaza/5844161

Global Research, December 28, 2023

Will Biden be Forced to Send Ground Troops to Yemen?
“Both Israel and the US want to Implicate Iran”

By  Mike Whitney

The Biden administration is blaming Iran for drone attacks on a commercial tanker in the Indian Ocean. The claims are being used as leverage on Iran to pressure the Houthis to abandon their blockade in the Red Sea and allow maritime traffic to return to normal. But the Houthis have no intention of caving in to pressure from Iran or anyone else. They are determined to continue their attacks on Israel-bound traffic however long it takes and whatever the cost.

On Sunday, numerous articles in the western media reported that Iran had launched a drone attack on a Japanese-owned chemical tanker named the MV Chem Pluto in the Indian Ocean. Many of these articles based their reports on claims made by unidentified Pentagon sources or declassified intelligence. As of Tuesday, none of those allegations have been independently verified or proven to be true.

What we know from previous experience is that elements of the national security state frequently plant fictitious stories in the media in order to garner public support for unpopular military campaigns or to demonize foreign nations for things for which they are in no way responsible.

And that appears to be the case here. There is no doubt that both Israel and the US want to implicate Iran in the recent attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea. But, so far, there is no evidence to verify those claims. Iran’s leaders strongly oppose Israel’s ongoing massacre in Gaza, but they’ve also indicated that they do not want to participate in the hostilities. Iran does not want to get dragged into a broader regional war which could trigger a confrontation with the United States which would result in the deaths of millions of Iranians. All of this suggests that the recent flurry of anti-Iran reporting is agenda-driven disinformation designed to turn public opinion against Iran. This is from an article at BBC:

A chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was hit by a drone launched from Iran on Saturday, the US military says….

Iran has not commented. Houthi rebels in Yemen – who are backed by Iran and support Hamas in its war with Israel – have recently used drones and rockets to target vessels in the Red Sea….

The same company also said the vessel was heading from Saudi Arabia to India, and was linked to Israel. The Houthis have claimed to be targeting Israel-linked vessels over the conflict in Gaza.

The US said the Chem Pluto was hit by “a one-way attack drone fired from Iran”. It is believed to be the first time the US has publicly accused Iran of targeting a ship directly.

It has previously accused Iran of being “deeply involved” in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea – a charge Tehran has denied…Tanker hit off India coast by drone from Iran, says US, BBC

Not surprisingly, the BBC article is factually wrong on several counts. First, Iran HAS commented on the incident, in fact, they have categorically denied any involvement whatsoever. This is from Al Jazeera: Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed accusations of the United States that Tehran struck a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean, as tension rises globally over threats to maritime shipping.

A spokesperson for the ministry dismissed the accusation out of hand at a news conference on Monday. He asserted that the US claim that an Iran-launched drone had hit a Japanese-owned tanker as it sailed near India was false.

“We declare these claims as completely rejected and worthless,” said Nasser Kanaani when asked about the US accusation.

“Such claims are aimed at projecting, distracting public attention, and covering up for the full support of the American government for the crimes of the Zionist regime [Israel] in Gaza,” he added. Iran dismisses US accusations of tanker attack off India, Al Jazeera

We cannot understand why BBC editors did not include this explicit denial of involvement unless they were driven by an ulterior motive, that is, to further demonize Iran.

Second, we have zero evidence that the “drone (was) launched from Iran“. None of the many cookie cutter articles we have read provide anything remotely resembling verifiable evidence.

Third, Iran is not “deeply involved” in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea”. The idea of attacking Israel-bound merchant ships in the Red Sea was concocted by Houthi leaders alone. Both the Houthis and the Iranians have admitted as much. Here’s more from the BBC:

The Pentagon statement said the Chem Pluto, “a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker”, was struck on Saturday at 10:00 local time …. The BBC was not able to independently verify the incident.” BBC

 

If the BBC “was not able to independently verify the incident,” then why in heaven’s name did they file a report that implied Iranian culpability? Is that not professional malfeasance?

Here’s more from the same article:

Many global shipping groups have suspended operations in the Red Sea due to the increased risk of attacks. The UK government has vowed to ensure the route’s safety.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told the Sunday Times newspaper that the UK was committed to repelling attacks on vessels – and would not allow the Red Sea to become a “no-go area”...

Chris Farrell from Neptune P2P Group, a UK maritime security company, described nervousness in the region and observed that container ships were proving more likely to reroute than larger vessels. “Nobody really knows the situation out there,” he told the BBC World Service’s Weekend programme.

“Because of the lack of stability, that’s creating the uncertainty with the clients and the shipping companies which are putting their assets within that region.”ﾠBBC

This excerpt requires some additional analysis: The UK Defence Secretary says he will not allow the Red Sea to become a “no-go area” while tacitly admitting that it has already become a “no-go area”. In other words, by his own admission, “Many global shipping groups have suspended operations in the Red Sea”, the transit corridors are no longer safe, and “container ship” are already being rerouted. By any conceivable metric, the Houthi strategy is working better than anyone could have imagined.

That is what he is saying. Don’t the authors realize that? Don’t they see that they have just admitted that the Houthi’s asymmetrical attack may be the most successful hybrid attack of all time; that they have effectively detonated a nuclear bomb at the economic epicenter of the “rules-based order”? It would be impossible to overstate the impact this ingenious offensive is having on political leaders and elites scattered across the western world. The sense of hysteria is palpable. A smallish, unsophisticated militia has delivered a withering blow to the Empire’s Achilles heel—the vital transit corridor for global trade that is now under the de facto control of Washington’s mortal enemy, the Houthis. Is that not a victory for the majority of ordinary people around the world who oppose the US and Israel’s sadistic butchery of the Palestinian people?

It is a victory. It is a triumph of good vs evil. But it will not go unanswered. Here’s more from an article at CNN: The US on Friday released newly declassified intelligence that suggests Iran has been “deeply involved in planning the operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told CNN.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched more than 100 attacks against about a dozen commercial and merchant ships transiting the Red Sea over the past four weeks, CNN previously reported. The newly declassified intelligence suggests that “Iranian support throughout the Gaza crisis has enabled the Houthis to launch attacks against Israel and maritime targets, though Iran has often deferred operational decision-making authority to the Houthis,” Watson said.

On Tuesday, a senior US military official said the Iranians are operating in the Red Sea when asked whether Iran is helping the Houthis select targets. But that official said the Houthi attacks have been broadly indiscriminate.

“Iran has the choice to provide or withhold this support, without which the Houthis would struggle to effectively track and strike commercial vessels navigating shipping lanes through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” Watson said….US intelligence suggests Iran involved in planning attacks in Red Sea, CNN

What declassified intelligence? What senior US military official? Who provided this intelligence and what documents can CNN produce to prove their claims? We need to know the answers to these questions.

Once again, there’s no evidence, no witnesses, no documents, no electronic communications, and no proof. We are left with nothing but a “tapestry of lies” supporting an insidious anti-Iran narrative that may or may not be true. We just don’t know, because there are no verifiable facts, just speculation amid huge doses of hearsay. All we know for sure is that the authors want us to believe that Iran is source of all the problems in the Middle East. But that idea defies any understanding of the region’s history or recent events. It’s not Iran that has been toppling governments, killing millions and obliterating countries across the ME for the last 30 years. That is Washington’s doing. And it’s not Iran that has waged a brutish war of extermination on the civilian population in Gaza, reducing most of the area to smoldering rubble while herding 2 million starving people towards the Egyptian border. That is Israel’s doing. Iran wages war on no one; rather, they have been the target of relentless US hostility for over 5 decades for having the audacity to assert control over their own resources. That is Iran’s real crime; it’s unwillingness to bend a knee to Uncle Sam and timidly accept its role as Washington’s servile meat-puppet. Is that true or not true?

It’s true. This is from ABC News:

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the United States military to carry out retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three U.S. service members were injured in a drone attack in northern Iraq….

Iraqi officials said that U.S. strikes targeting militia sites early Tuesday killed one militant and wounded 18. They came at a time of heightened fears of a regional spillover of the Israel-Hamas war….

The U.S. has also blamed Iran, which has funded and trained the Hamas group, for attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militants against commercial and military vessels through a critical shipping choke point in the Red Sea. ﾓBiden orders strikes on an Iranian-aligned group after 3 US troops wounded in drone attack in Iraq, ABC News

Are these really “retaliatory strikes” on Iranian positions or is Biden trying to coerce Iran into putting pressure on the Houthis?

IMO, the attacks are clearly aimed at the Houthis who can only be approached via their ally, Iran. The administration has made no effort to talk directly with the Houthis nor will they. US leaders will not negotiate with people they see as their inferiors which means they must persuade Iran to make their case for them. But, what does Iran get for its efforts?

They avoid the wider regional war that Netanyahu is angling for but that no one else (including the US) really wants. So, the Biden team is pressuring Iran because the next escalatory step is firing directly on Houthis positions, command-and-control, arms depots, communications and the rest. Once that happens, events will move very quickly. The Houthis will close the Red Sea to maritime traffic, they will attack regional US bases and installations, and they will take out critical oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The genie will be out of the bottle and all Hell will break loose across the region. Oil prices will skyrocket, markets will plunge, and the global economy will go off a cliff. Which is why Biden is pursuing the Iranian track. It’s a last-ditch effort to avoid a Middle East catastrophe.

Sadly, it won’t work because Israel is determined to continue its ethnic cleansing in Gaza and then move on to the West Bank. So, the attacks on commercial ships are going to continue which will leave Washington with no option but war.

Yemen poses a unique but serious threat to US hegemony. Its military is small by US standards but they are adept at fighting in rugged terrain and they know every nook and cranny of the battlefield. They are fully prepared to fight a guerrilla war that could drag on for years. Naturally, Biden and his advisors would rather avoid such a conflict, but that may not be possible, after all, the “rules-based order” rests on a foundation of economic-political-military power.

So, when a smaller country ‘disrespects’ the US by disrupting merchant ships in the world’s most important shipping lanes, Uncle Sam must prove that he has the power to put down that rebellion or be prepared to face similar insurgencies in the future. This is the logic that guides imperial policy. Never show weakness or the jackals will rip you apart and leave you to die. That is the maxim Washington lives by.

What the Houthis are showing the world is that the Washington is no longer capable of imposing its Pax Americana on the hinterland. The US cannot form a broad-based maritime coalition because America’s allies no longer trust Washington’s judgement or believe in its moral authority. Nor does the Navy have a flotilla large enough or nimble enough to protect the waterways and transit corridors that sustain western economies. This is no small problem. This is crisis of legitimacy. It is a question of whether the US can act as the guarantor of global security or not. We don’t think it can, but we do think that the administration and the western elites that support them, are going to give-it-the-old-college-try by charging into Yemen ‘guns blazing’ in an effort to put down the Red Sea rebellion and to restore America’s image as the world’s premier military power.

Bottom line: Uncle Sam is not going to allow itself to get slapped-around in public by a country it sees as a ‘third-rate power.’ It’s going to roll-out the heavy artillery and then send in the ground troops. God help us.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/will-biden-forced-send-ground-troops-yemen/5844486
 

 

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HEADLINES

 The Journal of America Team:

 Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott

Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab