The deployment of an advanced United States anti-missile system to Israel, along with 100 troops to operate it, marks a significant escalation in US entanglement with a widening Israeli war that Washington has already heavily subsidised.But the deployment – in anticipation of an Iranian response to an expected Israeli attack on Iran – also raises questions about the legality of US involvement at a time when the administration of US President Joe Biden is facing growing backlash over its unwavering support for Israel. It also comes as US officials are seeking to project authority and threatening to at last enforce US law prohibiting military aid to countries that block humanitarian aid, as Israel has regularly done in Gaza.
Two recent developments — the Sunday announcement that the US would deploy troops to Israel and a letter sent by US officials the same day calling on Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face unspecified consequences — underscore the inconsistent approach of an administration that has effectively done little of substance to rein in Israel’s ever-widening war.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to say what the consequences of Israel failing to comply with US requests would be, or how this differs from an earlier, unfulfilled threat by the Biden administration to withhold military aid to Israel.
“I’m not gonna speak to that today,” Miller told reporters whe …
