The Biden administration is putting U.S. troops in Israel as it continues to provide unconditional support for Israel’s wars:
The United States is sending one of its most advanced missile defense systems and about 100 U.S. troops to Israel, deepening U.S. involvement in the escalating war in the Middle East amid U.S. expectations of an imminent Israeli assault on Iran.
The deployment of the missile defense battery and American personnel illustrates just how heavily Israel depends on the U.S. Far from being the self-reliant state that hawks like to celebrate, Israel has overreached so much in the last year that it has to rely on the U.S. to bail it out. Like clockwork, Biden has chosen to side with the war criminals in the Netanyahu government rather than let them face the consequences of their reckless actions. The president said he is doing this to “defend Israel,” but in reality he is providing their government with cover so that they can launch more attacks against other countries. Deploying defensive systems can be very destabilizing when those defenses reduce the costs of escalation.
Putting U.S. troops in a non-allied country currently waging at least two wars is unacceptable. Congress has not authorized a mission that will almost certainly put these troops in harm’s way from future Iranian and Hezbollah attacks. It doesn’t matter if they are there in a purely defensive capacity. Except when the U.S. or its forces are under attack, the president cannot lawfully put U.S. forces into a situation where they are likely to become engaged in hostilities without Congressional approval. In the words of the War Powers Resolution, “The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances [bold mine-DL], are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.” Obviously none of those requirements has been met. Those troops have no business being in Israel, and Biden cannot lawfully send them there on his own.
The U.S. is increasing its direct involvement when our government ought to be cutting off all weapons transfers to Israel. It is illegal under U.S. law to continue arming the Israeli government because of its blocking of humanitarian aid and its myriad war crimes, so how much worse is it to send American forces to risk their lives on behalf of a government committing those crimes?
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Daniel Larison is a contributing editor for Antiwar.com and maintains his own site at Eunomia. He is former senior editor at The American Conservative. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, World Politics Review, Politico Magazine, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and was a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Lancaster, PA. Follow him on Twitter.