Posted on 08/01/2026 1:26:31 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. European Command, sent written notification to senior Pentagon officials saying that without another Navy destroyer he will be forced to choose defense of the United States “homeland” over that of Israel, said the officials, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the correspondence.
A U.S. defense official said Grynkewich’s notification appears consistent with past outreach to the Pentagon from the military’s top generals when they see certain risks that require Washington’s consideration. This can occur, the official said, as commanders compete for finite resources and weapons.
The Pentagon declined to comment. U.S. European Command did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington could not be reached for comment.
The general’s warning comes at a tenuous moment in the five-month conflict, as near-daily attacks have resumed following the collapse of peace talks between Washington and Tehran and the operation’s intensity has drained U.S. supplies of key defensive weapons.
The Navy has been particularly taxed, as the Trump administration has directed a blockade of Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The standoff has stymied the movement of Middle Eastern oil and other commodities through the narrow waterway, upending the global economy.
U.S. naval destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have been employed as a part of Israel’s defense for many years. The vessels, equipped with powerful radar and armed with an array of missiles, have downed missiles aimed at Israel not only by Iran, but by Houthi militants in Yemen that are equipped by Tehran.
European Command is central to this mission, as it coordinates military operations in the Mediterranean. At the same time, its forces must remain ready for any Russian incursion into territory protected by...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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What you said. Well done.
“I’m curious how many FReepers would elect to protect Israel over the United States if faced with the choice.”
Personally, the question doesn’t even make sense to me. But then I’m a native U.S. citizen of native U.S. citizens and have no allegiance to any other country. I wish Israel (and Ukraine, for that matter) all the luck in the world, but I really don’t care what happens to them.
Have they really needed it or just asked for it and got it?
“What do you think NATO Article 5 is?”
What do you believe NATO Article 5 actually says?
Most Americans under age 55 are now quite capable of evaluating the merits of the Jewish and Palestinian causes on their own merits, and for a people who according to you "hate Jews" if they don't do what some foreign country wants, Americans certainly have a funny way of showing it considering the blessings this country has showered on Jewish Americans who came here with nothing and built homes and lives in this country.
Bezalel Smotrich (Finance Minister): Stated that Israel has “no interest in joining the conflict,” calling a separate U.S.-Iran confrontation the “best scenario” to conserve Israeli resources and avoid direct retaliation.
Greatest ally ever
Air Force dude.
World War Three is going to drag out for decades. Everybody will get their turn in the barrel.
I'd like to see the actual letter because the above doesn't make direct literal sense.
EUCOM has the 6th fleet which generally operates in Europe and Africa. CENTCOM has the 5th fleet which generally operates in the Middle East.
The US itself is directly covered by the 2nd and 3rd fleets which operate off the east and west coast respectively.
So, even though all US armed forces protect the US by definition, neither the US nor Israel is under EUCOMs immediate zone of operation.
I presume the General got his undies in a wad because some of his resources were redeployed to the 5th fleet. Technically, even if they are short on toilet paper, that would "negatively impact their ability to defend the US".
In case you haven't been able to figure it out all by your lonesome, realize that this might have something to do with us launching missiles at Iran, as opposed to Russia as part of the Ukraine fight. If we were shooting at Russia you'd likely see ships coming out of other fleets to the 6th and those commands would be bitching instead.
But, as usual, the press doesn't serve to inform, it serves to stir the pot.
This apparently wasn’t meant for public knowledge. It may just have been another general begging for more resources and saying, if you don’t give me this, bad things will happen.
Trump’s been better than any recent president, but the positive side of his leaving office will be a cooling down of all this. We won’t be as close to Israel in the future and won’t be talking as much about the Middle East. Netanyahu won’t be in office forever either. Either his successors will be less extreme or too extreme even for many posters here.
People often assume the worst if you tell the truth about anything.
That is hardly a sound reason for lying—unless you are a politician.
Well said. Israel, and the Jews, are always a special case deserving particular scrutiny. Sad but a fact in this world.
A little history for those who probably know very little about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Order_No._11_(1862)
My guess is these types of communications/requests happen with every conflict. Leaders have to manage finite resources and he is requesting more. The difference is people (and media) with an agenda to make trump look bad so we see it in the Compost
Yup. We all know the predelictions of US Grant on this subject. Antisemitism has been a planetary disease for a long, long time.
Why do you hate Israel?
Post of the year.
My take: this report is politics. Assume Israel can defend itself, issuing such a statement is a polemical position to discredit the US position in the war with Iran by presenting a false dichotomy.
Just my take.
Idiotic reply- based on the assumption that this “report” is even true, since revealing the placement of US assets as if they were abandoning containment of N. Korea’s missile capabilities.
As if we have no other assets employed- which is simply not true. Semper Supra. Look it up. And consider the source of this and the phrasing of “word spew” from the dying WaPo owned by Jeff Bezos with a 600 mill$ loan from see eye ehhhhhhh the clowns in action of those days.
This is fake, OR if it was stated by the ComEUR— it is a swan song self compromising. Let us see what happens to people that high up who run their mouths— if they even have spewed.
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