Trump Could Move U.S. Bases to Israel. Here’s Why They’d Become Netanyahu’s Newest Human Shields
Proposals to move U.S. troops from the Gulf to Israel would empower Israeli aggression and keep the U.S. entangled in pointless war, writes former defense intel analyst Harrison Mann.
You may have heard that Congress is on track to approve an alarming Pentagon funding bill that would merge U.S. and Israeli military R&D, giving the Israeli government leverage over critical defense supply chains, access to military secrets, and extra sway over the innumerable members of Congress with a soft spot for the military-industrial complex. But the Trump administration could be preparing to tether the United States to Israel’s runaway war machine in an even more dangerous way: establishing massive U.S. military bases inside Israel.
With the evacuation and partial destruction of major bases, including the regional U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force headquarters – located in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, respectively, all fewer than 200 miles from Iran – the Pentagon is exploring safer options further west, including in Israel. Plus, the Trump-chaired “Board of Peace” is planning a 350-acre base in Gaza and has nearly completed a logistics base in Israel near the borders with Egypt and Gaza for the largely hypothetical International Stabilization Force for Gaza. And there are already hundreds of U.S. troops, including combat units, permanently based in Israel, on top of the thousands sent for the Iran war.
Here’s why trying to turn Israel into America’s “aircraft carrier in the Middle East” makes the region a much more dangerous place: