 So I think most of you know what the Iron Dome defense system is. It is the defense system that Israel uses primarily vis-a-vis the Gaza Strip. It is an amazing stunning technology that manages to knock down very small projectiles out of the air. Projectiles that stay up in the air for very short periods of time. These short-range missiles that are going to be deploying against Israel and Israel manages to knock them out of the air. And it truly is a stunning and difficult technological assignment to do. And Israel has been unbelievably successful at doing it. This is incredibly valuable technology. And the United States has paid a lot of money to help Israel fund the development of deployment of this technology. I think partially because the United States wants this, right? This is a technology that could potentially protect US bases, let's say in a place like Iraq from the Iranians deploying the same kind of missiles against them. This is the kind of technology that could be deployed in a variety of different situations in a battlefield environment against these kind of weapons. Now the reality is, I mean that's what the US says. The reality is it's not a very useful technology for the Americans. Maybe they could use it in order to deal with somebody like North Korea and maybe deploy it in South Korea. You see, that would be the real use of this. Hopefully Israel is selling it to the South Koreans. Imagine if this technology was deployed on the border with North Korea. And thus the technology would mitigate the threat that the North Koreans have of, in a sense, bombarding South Korea. The problem there is, going back and forth, the problem is that the North Koreans are so close to Seoul, South Korea, the most populated city in South Korea, that they could use artillery and this would not protect you against artillery. So bottom line, I don't think this is a particularly useful technology for the Americans. It might be, but it's certainly, I doubt that it is worth the kind of money that the United States spends in supporting Israel in this technology. Just last week, I think it was last week. No, it was this week, just this week. The House of Representatives passed a bill to fund, to spend $1 billion, $1 billion worth of beef in funding for Israel's Iron Dome defense system. And the question every American taxpayer has to ask is, why? Why are we paying a billion dollars to protect Israel? Why does an Israel pay the billion dollars to protect itself? What is the American national interest? What is the protection of individual rights in America that requires us to spend a billion dollars on Israel's self-defense? And the answer is there is none. Now, again, you could buy the technology from the Israelis, but I don't think this billion on top of all the other billions that have already spent on this is the right price. This bill, by the way, passed Congress 420 to 9. 420 to 9. The only people who oppose this are the wacky left. But I would have voted against it. It's not America's responsibility to pay for the defense of Israel. It's Israel's responsibility to pay for it. Indeed, one could argue that maybe if Israel was forced to pay for its own self-defense, they would take their self-defense more seriously. And they wouldn't put themselves in the situation where these missiles are being launched against them in the first place. So, I'm here on record as saying that I object, I think in spite of my strong support for Israel, in spite of my strong support for strong Israel, for a robust Israel defense-wise, I object to the United States spending American taxpayer dollars to buy more missiles for the Iron Dome defense system, which Israel can afford. And if it can't afford, then it should go in and wipe out the Hamas in the Gaza Strip, so they don't need to have the Iron Dome. It's only because Israel's been weak in addressing the terrorist threat in the Gaza Strip that it even needs the Iron Dome. Anyway, so I think it's wrong. However, it turns out that on this, I am even further out than AOC. In a stunning event, AOC did not vote against this. AOC, who is super anti-Israel, AOC that is part of the progressive gang in the House of Representatives together with Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, AOC abstained. Talk about a coward. Now, why did she abstain? Well, she couldn't vote for spending the money on Israel because she hates Israel. She despises Israel. She thinks Israel is a bad country, an evil country for the way it treats the Palestinians. She's on the other side. But why didn't she vote against the bill? Why didn't she join her other so-called progressives, regressives in voting against the bill? Well, here's the problem. There are rumors that AOC is going to challenge Chuck Schumer for the Senate seat in New York State. Now, to win in New York State, you've got to at least get some of the Jewish vote. And if she votes against this, she is afraid that she might alienate the Jewish vote. So she got herself in this quandary where she votes for the bill to fund a billion dollars for this defense. She's betraying everything she believes it. If she votes against it, she is probably destroying her bill, her chances of becoming a senator from the state of New York. So she chose the cowardly route, which is to abstain from the bill. She first, by the way, voted against it, then changed her vote and abstained. Now, she realized that this was a cowardly, pathetic move. And therefore, on the House floor, she broke down crying, literally crying, tears rolling down. Her congressman, I guess, Republicans and Democrats came down to console her to try to tell her that everything is going to be okay, AOC. Nobody thought you had too many principles, anyway. Nobody was too concerned about your principles, so don't worry. Everything will be fine. Now, I think this has destroyed her ability to ever become senator, or at least become senator this round. She won't get the Jewish vote because, well, the Jews know how, or the pro-Israel vote at least. They all know how she would have voted, and they don't believe her crying. She won't get the anti-Israel vote because she didn't vote, right? Basically, it's completely undermined her. So the tears were real because strategically tears were the worst thing she could have done. So AOC, as always, is a loser, loser. So that is AOC and the Iron Dome. Thank you for listening or watching The Iran Book Show. If you'd like to support the show, we make it as easy as possible for you to trade with me. You get value from listening. You get value from watching. Show your appreciation. You can do that by going to iranbrookshow.com. I go to Patreon, subscribe to our locals, and just making an appropriate contribution on any one of those channels. Also, if you'd like to see The Iran Book Show grow, please consider sharing our content and, of course, subscribe. Press that little bell button right down there on YouTube so that you get an announcement when we go live. And for those of you who are already subscribers and those of you who are already supporters of the show, thank you. I very much appreciate it.