The Administration announced September 13 that US annual military aid to Israel would substantially increase to $3.8 billion, making a total commitment of $38 during the projected 10-year agreement.
We believe that foreign aid to any country should be conditioned on reasonable adherence to recognized human rights standards. That goes for Israel – which is in violation of numerous UN resolutions, including many supported by the US — as well as other countries in the Middle East such as Egypt and Jordan, which also receive massive amounts of US aid. Israel, in any case, is a developed country with a strong economy that does not need to be subsidized by US taxpayers. Contact Congress today to ask them to oppose increased military aid to Israel.
Moreover, promising more US weaponry for a region that is already over militarized is adding fuel to the regional violence. We also oppose military aid for Egypt and Jordan, countries that need to use funding for development not new weapons. And we are against the billions of dollars in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf petro-monarchies which are making war on Yemen and intervening to fuel the violence in Syria. Israel already enjoys a decisive military advantage over any combination of its neighbors and does not need more military aid from the US.
Furthermore, increasing military aid to Israel now that it is consolidating its control over the occupied Palestinian West Bank — relentlessly expanding settlements and conducting a record number of Palestinian house demolitions – sends precisely the wrong message.
As the US State Department recently declared:
“We strongly oppose settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace. These steps by Israeli authorities are the latest examples of what appears to be a steady acceleration of settlement activity that is systematically undermining the prospects for a two- state solution… this is part of an ongoing process of land seizures, settlement expansion, legalizations of outposts, and denial of Palestinian development that risk entrenching a one-state reality of perpetual occupation and conflict. We remain troubled that Israel continues this pattern of provocative and counterproductive action, which raises serious questions about Israel’s ultimate commitment to a peaceful, negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.” (July 27, 2016)
There are many better uses for scarce taxpayer dollars. $38 billion dollars could do much to address issues of poverty at home and among needy countries abroad.
Tell your Members of Congress: This is no time to increase aid to Israel!