Coming under fire from the left for the glaring contradiction of providing military assistance to a state that is perpetrating an active genocide, AOC issued a statement claiming her vote was about protecting civilians. AOC’s statement is absolute crap. The Iron Dome is not used for defending, it’s used to facilitate constant attacks. In an article for Jewish Currents titled “Iron Dome Is Not a Defensive System,” Dylan Saba explains:

“‘In theory, a weapon like Iron Dome could be used only defensively. But in practice it doesn’t work that way,’ analyst Nathan Thrall told Jewish Currents. ‘Iron Dome facilitates greater Israeli offensive measures, because it lowers the perceived cost to Israel of escalating or extending or initiating attacks.’ In other words, while the Iron Dome may prevent the deaths of Israeli non-combatants, it has made it easier for Israel to engage in deadly operations that take Palestinian lives.”

The Iron Dome isn’t for protecting civilians, it’s for protecting the Israeli regime from deterrence. We see this in the comfort the regime displays in waging constant military violence on its neighbors knowing they can’t retaliate. That’s why Israel cut a ceasefire deal with Iran so fast.

Iran’s advanced missiles can’t be reliably stopped by the Iron Dome, so Iran was able to smash Israel and force it to cease its unprovoked aggressions. If Israel had had a missile defense system which could casually swat those missiles out of the sky at a high rate of success, Israel would still be bombing Iran today, and would continue doing so until Tehran looked like Gaza. Israel’s war-horny population would have supported this, because they’d have no skin in the game.

    • henchmannumber3@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Quote me where I denied it. Genocide is absolutely going on. That doesn’t mean AOC is solely responsible for it. Nuance is a thing.

        • henchmannumber3@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          Quote me where I denied the Democrats role in it. You seem to believe people who don’t agree with the specifics of your fixations must agree with everything you disagree with. You’re inventing enemies that don’t exist.

          • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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            21 hours ago

            It was in your comment that got removed by the mods for genocide denial

            • henchmannumber3@lemmy.world
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              20 hours ago

              So you’re certain it was genocide denial but you don’t actually remember what was said. That is compelling evidence.

              You’re also able to review the mod log if you need a refresher.

              Is it possible in your opinion that a human mod has ever been wrong or are mod actions always factually accurate?

              • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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                19 hours ago

                Sure I can quote you:

                Let’s all turn on one of the most prominent left-leaning American politicians in Congress and pretend she supports genocide

                • henchmannumber3@lemmy.world
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                  18 hours ago

                  Okay…so where was the denial of genocide by me?

                  I didn’t say, “genocide is not happening in Palestine.” If I had said that, I wouldn’t be asking you to quote me.

                  So first, AOC voted against the funding entire bill itself, so the issue surrounding a single doomed amendment vote was irrelevant. It had no possible effect on the bill whatsoever and never had a chance.

                  AOC has literally called out Israel for genocide already, notably in a floor speech last year in March.

                  So where’s the denial?

                  Also, you’re ignoring the nuance that even if AOC had supported funding genocide, that’s not the same thing as denying genocide.

                  This entire issue seems like a right wing troll campaign trying to undermine the left-most voters to stop pushing left, create distracting in-fighting, and just accept corporate Democrats or not vote at all, letting the conservatives continue their authoritarianism.

                  If you care about ending genocide, attacking AOC on a single amendment vote has no effect whatsoever and it has nothing to do with whether people are admitting that genocide is happening or not.