How Are U.S. Warships Supporting Israel's Genocide In Gaza?
Wherever you're located, get out in the streets to demand an end to genocide in Gaza
Gaza has been under military blockade since 2006. Its one harbor, in Gaza City, was heavily bombed by Israel recently. Repeated attempts to reach Gaza with boats carrying humanitarian supplies have been thwarted by Israel with U.S. backing and we've seen activists beaten and even killed for trying to deliver cargo like medical supplies.
Bringing this question closer to home, How is the genocide in Gaza supported by General Dynamics and Bath Iron Works?
General Dynamics is the world’s fourth largest weapons manufacturer and Bath Iron Works (BIW) is one of its many locations for building weapon delivery systems. In this location in Maine shipbuilders historically profited from building slave ships.
Today, both destroyers and cruisers are built to be nuclear-capable meaning they are designed to be able to deliver first-strike attack nuclear Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-3 'missile defense' interceptors which would take out an enemy’s defenses following a first strike by the U.S.
Currently there are multiple Bath-built warships in the vicinity of Gaza including the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. The USS Kearny, an Aegis destroyer built at BIW, is deployed there as is the USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer which on 27 November engaged in a firefight with Yemeni forces on behalf of an Israeli merchant ship it was sent to rescue. U.S. ships have been reported as routinely shooting down drones launched from Yemen that target ships in the vicinity.
Map dated May, 2020 Source:https://iranpress.com/infographic-military-assets-in-eastern-mediterranean
On 15 November Aljazeera published a video report, “What does the Western naval build-up in the Middle East look like?” with this comment: “The Middle East is witnessing a Western naval build-up that hasn't been seen there for decades: aircraft carriers, destroyers, missile cruisers, amphibious assault ships, a nuclear-powered submarine, and many more.”
U.S. warships are deployed to deter resistance forces in the region -- such as Hezbollah -- from intervening to stop genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. So far they’ve been apparently unsuccessful, however, their presence increases the likelihood of escalation as in the case of the USS Mason fighting Yemen on behalf of Israel.
Since the resumption of Israel's bombing of Gaza on December 1, these confrontations have indeed escalated.
https://twitter.com/BTnewsroom/status/1731400524962861406
https://twitter.com/LumpyLouish/status/1731391459478180288
Treating U.S. warships as inherently different from Israeli warships is mythology. The two nation states have never been in closer lock step as they do the bidding of their corporate overlords.
Israel has been described as "America's unsinkable aircraft carrier" but the U.S. and Israel have never been so reviled in world opinion as they are today. Their collective reputation is sinking like a warship that's taking on water.
Join us in Bath this Friday if you're able. Help us communicate to workers that we know Bath Iron Works only has one customer -- the U.S. Navy -- but it wasn't always like that. So many useful things could be built there and even more good union jobs generated, like hospital ships to provide relief for the bombed out children of Gaza.
Injured Palestinian kid receives medical treatment at Al-Nasr Children's Hospital after an Israeli attack in Khan Yunis, Gaza on November 18, 2023. Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images
If you have the courage, watch or read: "A harrowing video shows decomposing babies in a Gaza hospital after they had to be abandoned amid Israeli attacks."
Then, wherever you're located, get out in the streets to demand an end to genocide in Gaza and to the military blockade that supports it.
What's happening in the Middle East, with U.S. warships already defending shipping in the Red Sea against attacks from Yemeni Houthis, is deeply alarming. Last week, Turkey left NATO and the UAE went off the petrodollar for its oil transactions. BRICS is expanding its membership. Israel is being attacked by Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen, who say they are showing solidarity with the Palestinians, demanding that the attacks in Gaza stop. What might inflate this into a regional conflict that would take us almost overnight into WWIII would be for Iran and Turkey to attack Israel at the same time. Of course, that would also mean attacking the United States. And they would be backed by China and Russia. I've been watching a major shift in geopolitical alliances happening in the world this fall, especially last week. The Abraham Accords among Middle East countries with Israel have been utterly shredded. You are right that Israel and the United States, as its financial backer, have lost any standing that they had and also the goodwill of most countries in the world with the vengeful slaughter and massacre of Palestinians. I pray for peace and harmony among people as I have never prayed so fervently before. Only the will of the people who want peace can stop this deadly warfare that could spiral so easily out of control. Humanity must unite for peace. If we all do our part, we can calm this down, abate the violence, and shift our collective paradigm towards new ways of thinking and being that will take us in a different direction than we are currently heading. It could start with a global day of mourning for all of those who have died and suffered in the war in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and other places.
Thank you for that very good piece. The US naval build-up in the Gulf/Red Sea area is very concerning. The flare-up with Yemen is reminiscent of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, when supposedly innocent US warships were fired on by North Vietnam. That was used as a pretext to bomb Vietnam and start a full-fledged war.