The US did not assist Israel in intercepting incoming rockets or drones fired by the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah from southern Lebanon over the weekend, according to the Pentagon. 

Though the US did not play a role in shooting down the projectiles, Pentagon officials said on Monday that America furnished Israeli agencies with intelligence. The Pentagon stated that direct US intervention was “not required” to neutralize the threat to Israel’s security. 

“The US is prepared, as we’ve demonstrated in the past, to use force in order to support the defense of Israel,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters. “In this particular situation, given the threat that was launched from Lebanese Hezbollah, there was no requirement for the US to employ any of our munitions or capabilities to help defend.”

“In other words,” Ryder continued, “Israel was able to do that with its own organic capabilities and systems.”

Israeli fighter jets early on Sunday destroyed thousands of drones and rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, after detecting an imminent attack on the Jewish state.

Hezbollah, which is Iran’s chief proxy force in the Middle East, subsequently fired some 300 projectiles into Israel.

Several reports have confirmed Israeli claims that Hezbollah was preparing to target Israel with a major barrage.

The Pentagon claimed that it provided Israel with information regarding Hezbollah’s planned attack but added that it did not give Israel guidance on its preemptive strike against the Lebanese terrorist group.

“That was an Israeli decision to conduct those preemptive strikes based on information that they clearly had,” Ryder said, clarifying that the US was “not part of” those discussions. 

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated on Sunday that the terrorist group carried out its strikes in retaliation for the killing of Fuad Shukr, a senior Hezbollah commander, in an airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon late last month. Israel claimed responsibility for Shukr’s death.

Hezbollah has pummeled northern Israeli communities almost daily with barrages of drones, rockets, and missiles since the start of the Gaza conflict in October.

About 80,000 Israelis have been forced to evacuate Israel’s north during that time due to the unrelenting attacks. Most of them have spent the past 10 months living in hotels in other areas of Israel.

“What happened today is not the end of the story,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the preemptive strikes. [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah in Beirut and [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei in Tehran need to know that this is an additional step in changing the situation in the north and returning our residents securely to their homes.”

On Monday, Ryder said the US will continue to assist Israel in thwarting potential attacks from neighboring countries in an effort to prevent the Middle East from becoming enveloped in a regional war. 

“We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack,” Ryder continued, “and we again remain well postured to be able to support Israel’s defense.”

In April, when Iran launched an unprecedented direct attack on Israeli soil, the US and other allied countries helped Israel shoot down nearly all of the some 300 missiles and drones fired at the Jewish state.

The post US Did Not Help Israel Shoot Down Incoming Rockets, Drones From Hezbollah, Pentagon Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

US Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) continued to castigate Israel’s military operations against Hamas over the past week, calling for the Biden administration to change its approach to what they described as a so-called “genocide” in Gaza.

While speaking to progressive journalist Mehdi Hasan at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last week, Omar, one of the most vocal anti-Israel lawmakers in Congress, suggested that the White House should force a ceasefire between the Jewish state and Hamas by blocking further arms shipments to the former.

“You said at a protest this week that saying you’re relentlessly working on a ceasefire is not really a thing,” said Hasan, an outspoken critic of Israel himself, in reference to the Biden administration’s efforts to achieve a truce in Gaza.

“Right, because we actually are like the ones who control these weapons,” said Omar, a member of the so-called “Squad” of anti-Israel, far-left lawmakers in the US House of Representatives.

Hasan noted that fellow “Squad” member Ocasio-Cortez praised the White House for “relentlessly” working on a ceasefire while addressing the audience on the mainstage at the 2024 DNC in Chicago. Hasan claimed that Ocasio-Cortez’s comments incited backlash from the so-called “anti-war movement.”

Omar argued that “no one should fall for” the “narrative” that US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, are doing everything within their power to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group. 

“It’s not a rhetoric that makes any sense, right? Because, if you are working tirelessly to end this war, you would start stopping sending them weapons,” Omar said. “And to me, the no more bombs sentiment makes more sense in the pursuit of a ceasefire than saying we are working everyday to guarantee a ceasefire.”

During last week’s DNC, Omar engaged in a sit-in protest with members of the Uncommitted Movement — an initiative which encourages Democratic voters not to support Harris until she adopts anti-Israel policies. The protest was held in response to the DNC for allegedly refusing to give a Palestinian American speaking time during the convention. 

Amid blistering criticism from progressives over her defense of the Biden administration’s ceasefire negotiations, Ocasio-Cortez reiterated her unsubstantiated position that Israel has committed “genocide” in Gaza. Chatting with New York City Council Member Chi Osse at the DNC, she argued that though neither major political party “is good on Palestine,” the Republican Party would be unambiguously worse.

“Neither party’s official platform in my opinion is good on Palestine. I don’t think either party right now is doing justice to Palestinians,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That doesn’t mean that they’re the same. I think that a Donald Trump presidency would be absolutely catastrophic. I mean, he’s coming out here saying finish the job of a genocide.”

Ocasio-Cortez continued, suggesting that the Biden administration has worsened the humanitarian situation in Gaza by “continuing to provide weapons to Israel that have been dropping on innocent Gazans.”

During the DNC, Ocasio-Cortez posed for a photo with the father of Itay Chen, an American hostage in Gaza. The photo sparked swift backlash among the anti-Israel political left and caused some observers to speculate that the progressive firebrand had moderated her position on Israel.

Since being elected to Congress in 2018, both Omar and Ocasio-Cortez have emerged as harsh critics of Israel. They have accused the Jewish state of committing “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and erecting an “apartheid” government in the West Bank. The lawmakers have also expressed support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement (BDS), an initiative which seeks to turn the Jewish state into an international pariah as a first step to its eventual destruction.

Omar and Ocasio-Cortez were among the first members of Congress to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, arguing that the Jewish state’s military operations “indiscriminately” killed Palestinian civilians.

The post Omar, Ocasio-Cortez Swipe at Biden Admin Over Israel Support, Demand Arms Embargo to Stop ‘Genocide’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Canada Revenue Agency cited repeated and serious non-compliance in its detailed documenation.

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