Webinar: Trojan Horse: US-Israel Military Cooperation Initiative

An unobtrusive section of the proposed FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), carefully masked in opaque legislative language, is called The United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative. Which seems almost benign - what’s wrong with cooperation, right? Until you consider that the U.S.-Israel alliance is (a) an ongoing perpetrator of genocide and endless war and (b) already closely connected with each other militarily in matters of weapons, technology, intelligence, and more.

This section of the law, Section 219, requested by Benjamin Netanyahu, is indeed exceptional - and dangerous. Notably, it will, if enacted, establish a so-called Executive Agent (EA) who can overrule other Pentagon agencies, especially with regard to the transfer of technology and information between the two nations. It is meant to integrate Israel into US military supply chains, constituting a marked shift in the relationship between the two countries. Instead of Israel having to go through a Congressional process of review and oversight to receive U.S. funding, it would be merged right into the US war economy itself, moving from outside to inside the Pentagon. Once this is done, Israel’s influence in the U.S. will massively increase and will be very difficult and costly to reverse.

At a time when support for Israel is declining in the U.S., this appears to be a stealthy way to avoid continued public debate about aiding and abetting Israel and to cement an ongoing, tighter than ever, merging of the two militaries and economies.

This webinar will explore the implications and likely consequences of this proposal if it becomes law.

Here is a link to an article about this by presenter Ben Freeman: https://responsiblestatecraft.org/israel-us-military/

Presenters:

Ben Freeman is director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute.

Matt Hoh is a disabled Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War and former Afghan War State Department Officer.