The weapons that Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar supply

For more than 30 years, Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance. And since 1985 Israel has received about 3 billion dollars, each year, in military and economic aid from the U.S.

According to UK's Indymedia Corporate Watch, 2009, Boeing has sent Israel 18 AH-64D Apache Longbow fighter helicopters, 63 Boeing F15 Eagle fighter planes, 102 Boeing F16 Eagle fighter planes, 42 Boeing AH-64 Apache fighter helicopters, F-16 Peace Marble II & III Aircraft, 4 Boeing 777s, and Arrow II interceptors, plus IAI-developed arrow missiles, and Boeing AGM-114 D Longbow Hellfire missiles. The U.S. government also approved the sale of 1,000 Boeing GBU-9 small diameter bombs to Israel.

Now that Israel has dropped so many of those bombs on Gaza, Boeing shareholders can count on more sales, more profits, as Israel buys replacements.

Raytheon, one of the largest U.S. arms manufacturers, is one of Israel's main suppliers of weapons. In September last year, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved the sale of Raytheon kits to upgrade Israel's Patriot missile system at a cost of $164 million.

Lockheed Martin is the world's largest defense contractor by revenue, their products including the Hellfire precision-guided missile system, which has reportedly been used in the recent Gaza attacks. Israel also possesses 350 F-16 jets, some purchased from Lockheed Martin.

Caterpillar Inc. holds Israel's sole contract for the production of the D9 military bulldozer, specifically designed for use in invasions of built-up areas. The U.S. government buys Caterpillar bulldozers and sends them to the Israeli army as part of its annual foreign military assistance package. Israel topples family houses with these bulldozers to make room for settlements. All too often, they topple them on the families inside. American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death standing between one of these bulldozers and a Palestinian doctor's house.

This U.S. complicity in Israel's war crimes is completely invisible to many U.S. people. Yet so many people in Gaza [and around the world] ask, How can you sit back and watch while your taxes pay to massacre us?

[Excerpt of an article by Kathy Kelly, CounterPunch]