War in Israel could hasten the end of US support for Ukraine
The US acted as Israel's armory in its 2014 strikes on Gaza, but stockpiles have recently been diverted to Ukraine
America’s proxy war in Ukraine may have indirectly factored into Hamas’ timing of their surprise attack on Israel today.
Headlines in recent months have spoken of the dire situation in Ukraine where the regime’s Western sponsors have been unable to supply it with enough shells and ammunition to make any progress in their summer counteroffensive. Western sources have said that existing stockpiles and manufacturing capabilities in the West have simply not been adequate to replenish what Ukraine is using on a daily basis to try and hold the line against Russian forces.
What many don’t know is that one of the stockpiles from which the US has been supplying Ukraine is a massive one in Israel. The US Central Command’s War Reserve Stockpile Ammunition-Israel, or WRSA-I, was, until recently, relatively secret. But those paying attention to the news coverage of Israel’s massive bombardment of Gaza in 2014 might remember talk of it then. There was some controversy at the time about Israel tapping into it, with US permission, to replenish its stockpiles in that conflict.
News reports earlier this year, however, highlighted concerns that the stockpile had been significantly reduced to provide munitions to Ukraine. There was worry that the depletion left Israel vulnerable to an attack by Hezbollah out of Lebanon or Hamas from Gaza, the latter of which has materialized as of this morning.
It’s unclear exactly how depleted the stocks are or whether they will have a material affect on Israel’s ability to fully liberate Israeli settlements and then prosecute a punishing counterattack on Gaza itself, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said they will pursue.
But given the recent deterioration in support for more money and weapons to Ukraine, and the great uncertainty already created by the US budget battles and possible election of Ukraine war skeptic Jim Jordan as US House Speaker, a war in Israel may prove to be the final death blow for America’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
The recent rapid decline in America’s global authority caused by its failure in Ukraine and weaponization of the dollar against noncompliant states is about to force its leaders to reassess where their priorities lie. With US government borrowing costs drastically rising after years of profligate spending, and a huge and growing fiscal deficit, the era when America could support conflicts on multiple fronts at once has come to an end, whether its leaders realize it or not.
In American politics, the only thing more potent than obsession over opposing Russia is obsession over supporting Israel. In a direct conflict between those two priorities, few doubt which one will win out if both can’t be pursued simultaneously. While there is a sizable minority of antiwar Republicans in Congress, virtually none of them will back denying Israel whatever material support it asks for in a large-scale, protracted campaign against its enemies.
Thus, if there was any question about it before this morning, today’s events provide a definitive answer: Ukrainian President Zelensky’s gravy train is about to derail.
Richie Graham is based in Little Rock Arkansas USA and writes from a free-market libertarian, anti-interventionist perspective.