ckaihatsu
18th February 2011, 02:38
The next federal government budget is scheduled to include a record-breaking appropriation of $3.075 billion in military aid to Israel, part of a ten-year agreement to provide $30 billion of weapons to Israel.
From moral, financial, and legal perspectives, the United States cannot afford to continue providing military aid to Israel to commit human rights abuses against and oppress Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, and to deny them their rights to freedom and self-determination.
I strongly urge you to end military aid to Israel as a sanction for its obstinate refusal to abide by UN resolutions, human rights standards, and international law in its apartheid policies toward the Palestinian people.
We cannot afford to be complicit any longer in providing Israel high-velocity tear gas canisters to injure and kill Palestinians civilians nonviolently protesting the theft of their land. We cannot afford to be complicit any longer in providing Israel armored bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes and raze Palestinian agriculture to clear land for illegal Israeli settlements. We cannot afford to be complicit any longer in providing Israel the guns, ammunition, tanks, missiles, naval vessels, helicopters, and fighter jets used to impose an inhumane and illegal blockade on the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians of the Gaza Strip.
We cannot afford to be so munificent in providing Israel with the weapons of war it needs to destroy Palestinian infrastructure, especially while our schools, roads, and other basic infrastructure are crumbling. We cannot afford to pay for Israel to make Palestinians homeless especially while millions of our own citizens lack access to affordable housing. We cannot afford to provide Israel with the weapons of war it needs to injure and kill so many innocent Palestinian civilians especially while millions of our own citizens still lack access to quality health care. We cannot afford to employ Israeli soldiers to impose apartheid on Palestinians especially while millions of our own citizens cannot find a job.
Instead of providing Israel with $3.075 billion in military aid in FY2012, we could much more wisely spend this money to provide 373,376 low-income families with affordable housing vouchers; or retrain 495,640 unemployed workers for green jobs; or educate 909,204 at-risk youth through early reading programs; or supply basic health care services to 24,902,818 people lacking insurance. [1]
We cannot afford to continue to turn a blind eye to Israel’s blatant violations of U.S. laws that are supposed to prevent U.S. military aid from being used to commit human rights abuses. The Arms Export Control Act limits the use of U.S. weapons to “internal security” or “legitimate self-defense.” Israel’s illegal military occupation and apartheid policies toward Palestinians are neither. The Foreign Assistance Act states that no U.S. aid may be provided to any country “which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” During the past ten years, the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem has documented Israel’s killing of more than 3,000 Palestinians civilians. Is this not enough evidence to enforce the law?
During last December’s Human Rights Day, the State Department affirmed that “there is a single universal standard [of human rights] that applies to every country, including our own. We apply it to the Israelis, and we also view…Palestinians as being human beings under the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] and entitled to those rights.”
It is long past due for the United States to make good on its words. It can and must do so by ending military aid to Israel.
[1] Calculations made from federal government data at: http://aidtoisrael.org/
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=20
From moral, financial, and legal perspectives, the United States cannot afford to continue providing military aid to Israel to commit human rights abuses against and oppress Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, and to deny them their rights to freedom and self-determination.
I strongly urge you to end military aid to Israel as a sanction for its obstinate refusal to abide by UN resolutions, human rights standards, and international law in its apartheid policies toward the Palestinian people.
We cannot afford to be complicit any longer in providing Israel high-velocity tear gas canisters to injure and kill Palestinians civilians nonviolently protesting the theft of their land. We cannot afford to be complicit any longer in providing Israel armored bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes and raze Palestinian agriculture to clear land for illegal Israeli settlements. We cannot afford to be complicit any longer in providing Israel the guns, ammunition, tanks, missiles, naval vessels, helicopters, and fighter jets used to impose an inhumane and illegal blockade on the 1.5 million Palestinian civilians of the Gaza Strip.
We cannot afford to be so munificent in providing Israel with the weapons of war it needs to destroy Palestinian infrastructure, especially while our schools, roads, and other basic infrastructure are crumbling. We cannot afford to pay for Israel to make Palestinians homeless especially while millions of our own citizens lack access to affordable housing. We cannot afford to provide Israel with the weapons of war it needs to injure and kill so many innocent Palestinian civilians especially while millions of our own citizens still lack access to quality health care. We cannot afford to employ Israeli soldiers to impose apartheid on Palestinians especially while millions of our own citizens cannot find a job.
Instead of providing Israel with $3.075 billion in military aid in FY2012, we could much more wisely spend this money to provide 373,376 low-income families with affordable housing vouchers; or retrain 495,640 unemployed workers for green jobs; or educate 909,204 at-risk youth through early reading programs; or supply basic health care services to 24,902,818 people lacking insurance. [1]
We cannot afford to continue to turn a blind eye to Israel’s blatant violations of U.S. laws that are supposed to prevent U.S. military aid from being used to commit human rights abuses. The Arms Export Control Act limits the use of U.S. weapons to “internal security” or “legitimate self-defense.” Israel’s illegal military occupation and apartheid policies toward Palestinians are neither. The Foreign Assistance Act states that no U.S. aid may be provided to any country “which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” During the past ten years, the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem has documented Israel’s killing of more than 3,000 Palestinians civilians. Is this not enough evidence to enforce the law?
During last December’s Human Rights Day, the State Department affirmed that “there is a single universal standard [of human rights] that applies to every country, including our own. We apply it to the Israelis, and we also view…Palestinians as being human beings under the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] and entitled to those rights.”
It is long past due for the United States to make good on its words. It can and must do so by ending military aid to Israel.
[1] Calculations made from federal government data at: http://aidtoisrael.org/
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=20