There was no comment from Israeli authorities regarding the American military deployment at Israel’s main civilian airport.
The Boeing KC-135 refuelers and C-17 Globemaster cargo planes had arrived at Ben Gurion over the course of the preceding day. It was unclear whether they were in the country temporarily as part of a stopover.
At least two refuelers had arrived from Al Udeid base in Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
— the biggest US base in the Middle East — according to analysts monitoring open-source flight tracking information.
Around the same time, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was seen arriving at Crete’s Souda Bay, likely as part of a supply stop at the US Naval Support Activity base located there.
US President Donald Trump
...Never got invited to a P.Diddy party...
ordered the carrier strike group to the Middle East earlier this month to join another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, that is already deployed to the region.
The US is holding talks with Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
over its nuclear program, but has threatened to attack if they do not bear fruit. Trump also vowed to help anti-government protesters in Iran, before the regime killed them en masse last month.
According to the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts that routinely analyzes military and government flight activity, more than 85 fuel tankers and over 170 cargo planes have headed into the region since mid-February.
It is the largest buildup of American military forces in the Middle East since the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, though that buildup dwarfed this one, and included a major ground force, which this one does not.
USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier arrives at Souda Bay on the island of Crete, Greece, February 23, 2026. REUTERS/Stelios Misinas pic.twitter.com/1wVMm4lwKg
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) February 23, 2026