One of the many questions coming out the Obama/Netanyahu meeting this week is whether the Obama administration will actually use some of the leverage it holds over the Israeli government to exert pressure. The clearest example would be conditioning or withholding the nearly $3 billion in aid that the US gives Israel each year. Josh Ruebner, National Advocacy Director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, says that US aid to Israel not only possibly contravenes US law, but also undermines US foreign policy. From Ruebner’s oped “Rethinking the costs of peace” in the Detroit Free Press:
Yet the provision of U.S. weapons to Israel at taxpayer expense has
done nothing to bring Israelis and Palestinians closer to achieving a
just and lasting peace. Rather, these weapons have had the exact
opposite effect, as documented recently by Amnesty International, which
pointed to U.S. weapons as a prime factor “fueling” the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. . .On average, for each day that President Bush sat in the Oval Office, Israel killed one Palestinian civilian, often with U.S. weapons. Before Congress appropriates any additional military aid to Israel, it should insist upon President Obama providing a comprehensive and transparent review of the effects U.S. weapons transfers to Israel have on Palestinian civilians. The Arms Export Control Act limits the use of U.S. weapons given to a foreign country to “internal security” and “legitimate self-defense.”
If, after reviewing the impact of Israel’s misuse of U.S. weapons, the President and Congress cannot find the political will to sanction Israel for its violations of the Arms Export Control Act and prohibit future arms transfers as is required by law, then there are still steps that the U.S. government should take to ensure that any future transfers are not used to commit human rights abuses but instead to promote U.S. policy goals. For example, previous U.S. loan guarantees to Israel have stipulated that funds cannot be used to support Israeli activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel in the same way would prevent these weapons from being used to kill innocent Palestinian civilians.
Adam, Why is the US so stupid? I don't know. The 'aid' package' should have come after the Netanyahu meeting. Dependent upon him agreeing with the 'super'power. The Congress really knows how to form intelligent strategies. What a bunch of yellow lemmings.
US support for Israel seems counter to most of the US's principles, eg: – The US supports freedom (except the US supports Israel's occupation of Palestine & oppression of Palestinians) – The US supports equality (except it is ok for Israel to discriminate against Palestinians) – The US supports democracy (except for Palestinians who don't go along with what Israel wants) – The US supports human rights (except its ok for the Israel's to commit numerous abuses in their assult on Gaza) – The US supports internation law (except its ok for Israel to construct illegal settlements) – The US supports the Non-proliferation treaty (except its ok for Israel to have nukes) – The US supports implementation of UN SC Resolutions (except 242 etc that involve Israel) – The US supports freedom of speech (except you can't say bad things about Israel, ever) How can the US expect to be taken seriously in the ME while its actions are so counter to its principles?
Bush signed some sort of ten year deal locking in a 25% increase in aid to Israel in 2007 which I believe makes the numbers for the aid automatic.
Bush signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2007 calling for a 25% increase over the next decade, for a total of $30billion. But that's an executive agreement, it's not law. The budget still has to be approved each year. In this case, it's specifically the State Dep. budget for Foreign Military Financing that's the issue (see pg. 91-93 of the State Dep. FY2010 budget if you're interested): http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2046 Hence the focus first on pressuring the Obama administration, which is under no obligation to follow the 2007 MOU, and now on Congress: http://endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=2046
RE: "US aid to Israel is not part of the solution, it's part of the problem" *TAKE ACTION TO END THE OCCUPATION Send a personalized letter (E-mail) to the Members of Congress on the Appropriations Subcommittee. Let these Members of Congress know that you oppose the President's FY2010 budget request for $2.775 billion in military aid to Israel. *TO SEND YOUR LETTER (E-mail) – http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/641/t/2439/c...
Remember when Bush said we couldn't afford to provide health care for the children in this country for $30 billion?
Its both.
That's because with our dole every Israeli Jew has health insurance, cradle to grave. That's what's important.
There has to be a nation wide PR campaign for this to even be noticed by Washington….It must also be made clear that all state representatives will be on notice and held responsible…. TATA
I'm not sure what that means.