“Indisputable”: activists renew call for US to end aid to Israel News of Human Rights

Washington, DC – U.S. human rights defenders have condemned Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s recent visit to the U.S. capital, renewing Israel’s call for an end to unconditional U.S. military aid.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters last week that it would be Israel It requires $ 1 billion to “re-supply” its Iron Dome missile capture system, as well as to purchase ammunition for the Israeli air force, 11 days of fighting Between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian party that governs the Gaza War.

The Israeli bombing of the besieged Palestinian territory killed 235 Palestinians, including 67 children, and at least one displaced 58,000 Palestinians. Twelve people in Israel were killed, including two children, as a result of rockets fired by Palestinian groups in Gaza.

“The State Department is already trying $ 735 million in additional weapons sales on $ 3.8 billion a year U.S. taxpayers give Israel every year, ”Mohamad Habehh, the Palestinian national development coordinator for Palestinian Americans, told Al Jazeera.

“Coming to the United States and demanding another billion dollars after the wholesale destruction of Gaza, after killing more than 60 children, is incomprehensible.”

‘Military edge’

Reports from a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and National Security Adviser Joe Biden on Thursday morning, Jake Sullivan, did not indicate whether Israel’s request for $ 1 billion in military aid was formalized.

Fat he tweeted He discussed “supporting Israel’s QME” with Sullivan. QME denotes “qualitative military side”, pointing to Israel’s technological and military dominance over the decades he helped finance it through generous aid packages that critics say, they encourage the Israeli government to act with impunity in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“American tax money shouldn’t be spent on funding apartheid and ethnic cleansing, especially when the United States needs so much here,” Habehh said.

National Security Council a statement At the meeting, Sullivan stressed that the Biden administration is “committed to strengthening all aspects of US-Israel security cooperation, including support for the Iron Dome System.”

“Sir. Sullivan stressed the importance of being able to reach immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” the statement also said. On May 25, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken he announced The US will provide $ 38 million in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

But for some Palestinian rights advocates, the gesture feels empty.

“So you give a few million dollars to the Palestinians for humanitarian aid, but then you sell hundreds of millions of dollars to the country that is being oppressed?” said Laura Albast, a Palestinian-American activist in the Palestinian Youth Movement, who took part in a small demonstration on Thursday evening on a visit to Gantz outside the White House and an expected request for help.

“Biden said he would stand up for human rights. We went to the street tens of thousands march, we have signed petitions, we have raised our voices against apartheid Israeli crimes. But it’s clear that Joe Biden doesn’t care about us or the human rights of the Palestinians, ”Albast told Al Jazeera.

He added that he has relatives in Gaza who destroyed the house in the Israeli bombing last month. “Everyone is safe, thank God,” he said. “But their house is completely destroyed. Where are they going now? “

Israel’s 11-day bombing of the Gaza Strip killed 235 Palestinians, wounded many others, and destroyed buildings and critical infrastructure in the territory. [File: Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

US support for Israel

U.S. military support for Israel has long been taken as the basis of the country’s foreign policy, and the significant political influence of pro-Israel groups has helped build a strong bilateral consensus that Washington sends billions of dollars annually.

But Palestinian defense groups say they are seeing a changing Israeli-Palestinian discourse in the U.S., and that public opinion it’s changing among Democratic Party voters – even though that change has yet to reach the leaders of the party’s organization.

However, progressive members of the Democratic Party are increasingly critical of military aid. When the Biden administration announced its intention to sell Israel $ 735 million more ammunition – first revelation of Israeli attack on Gaza – several progressive members of Congress he tried to block.

He has also introduced a bill Representative Betty McCollum U.S. aid money to demolish Palestinian homes in Israel, facilitate the arrest of Palestinian children, and confiscate Palestinian land, among other actions.

“My colleagues are in a hurry to give the Israeli military another $ 1 billion to fund apartheid, while our education system, our health care system and our housing system are not subsidized,” Democratic Democratic Congress President Cori Bush said recently. tweet, Referring to Fat’s visit. “Our communities need $ 1 billion. Send instead “.

Meanwhile, on May 23, 500 Democratic workers and others who worked for Biden’s presidential campaign signed a letter to his administration to take a stronger stance against Israel and stand up for Palestinian rights. “As you tweeted last month, ‘A responsible president of the United States cannot remain silent when basic human rights are violated.’ We could no longer agree. That is why we urge you to condemn Israel’s deadly killing of Palestinian civilians,” states.

For Palestinian-American activists, these signs are a gratifying indicator that the organization’s years have begun to bear fruit. “Things are starting to change,” Habehh said. “For so long, Israel’s aid to America has been a mere unconditional verification, and when that is the case, why would Israel change its behavior?”