From Draft NOtices, April-June 2024
- Lauren Reyna Morales and Ana Yeli Ruiz
The U.S. government’s unwavering support for Israel remains steadfast despite public outcry for a ceasefire and an end to the genocide directed at the Palestinian people. Admittedly, it's only been in the past few months that some of us have truly grasped the staggering sum of taxpayer funds directed towards supporting Israel, but now both left- and right-leaning individuals are speaking out against the government’s prioritization of funding for yet another endless war.
From Israel’s establishment in 1948 through the conclusion of 2023, the United States has provided Israel with a total exceeding $300 billion in contributions, and several more billion dollars may be sent later this year according to the latest aid package being negotiated in Congress. Make no mistake, the Republican and Democrat parties alike benefit from providing support to Israel. One of the most powerful lobby groups in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, backs politicians from both parties who support aid for Israel.
According to the AIPAC website, 98% of AIPAC funded candidates in 2022 won their general election races. Among the top ten recipients of AIPAC funding are names like Chuck Schumer, Ted Cruz, and Mitch McConnell. The number one recipient has been Joe Biden with a whopping $5.2 million in campaign funding (Open Secrets). In addition to campaign financing, AIPAC also arranges all-expenses-paid travel to Israel for members of Congress. According to The Intercept, an AIPAC affiliate called the American Israel Education Fund (AIEF) allocated $2.32 million in 2019 for 129 congressional member trips to Israel. With these arrangements, it is unsurprising then that the majority of our representatives in Washington remain steadfast supporters of Israel’s crimes.
The narrative following Hamas’ attack on October 7th followed a familiar pattern. With backing from the United States and other Western allies, Israel invoked self-defense to justify its assault on Palestinian civilians. However, self-defense occurs in response to an immediate threat, whereas Israel's actions constitute an ongoing genocidal campaign against Palestinian civilians. Even proponents of Israel are struggling to defend its actions, which are increasingly being recognized by the global community as war crimes. The purported objective of "eradicating Hamas" lacks clear measurability and has been questioned by the media. Moreover, the significant loss of Palestinian lives, with over 30,000 deaths and 73,000 injuries, only fuels further resistance, which will ensure the emergence of a successor to Hamas.
In addition to faithfully backing Israel's actions, our political leaders consistently refrain from impeding the defense industry from profiting during wartime. There has been a longstanding trend of defense corporations capitalizing on conflicts to sustain profits for their companies and shareholders. This practice is not novel. Companies like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, RTX, and Northrop Grumman have experienced increases in their stock values following Israel's assault on Gaza. The prolonged duration of this attack, or an escalation of conflict in the region, promises even greater profits for such companies.
United States support for Israel’s war on Gaza has encountered growing opposition from Americans, global citizens, and human rights organizations. According to polling conducted in December 2023 by Data for Progress, 61 percent of likely voters said they supported a permanent ceasefire, with more than three-quarters of Democrats supporting efforts to de-escalate the violence in Gaza. The Biden Administration has received strong backlash from its constituents, with disapproval of the administration’s handling of the situation being expressed on moral, financial and political grounds. Opposition to Biden’s policies have been especially strong among youth and people of color. The administration has seemingly all but destroyed their relationship with Arab-Americans who have increasingly abandoned the administration in droves. In January, a coalition of more than 1,000 Black pastors representing hundreds of thousands of congregants nationwide issued a public letter pressuring Biden to press Israel to end its offensive operation in Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank, while also calling for a release of hostages held by Hamas (New York Times).
By February of this year, some 70 U.S. city councils had passed resolutions calling for an Israel-Gaza ceasefire. Most of these cities are located in regions of the country with Democratic strongholds like San Francisco and Minneapolis (Reuters). Yet for months, the Biden administration consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, arguing that such a move would only encourage Hamas. Although this position has left Americans feeling powerless to change the situation, since public opinion seems to have little influence on governmental action when it comes to support for Israel, the last several months have seen more protests in solidarity with Palestine.
Movements opposing Israel’s military campaign seem to be growing by the day domestically and abroad. Tens of thousands of Americans have taken to the streets to demand the United States use its considerable power to end the assault on Gaza and stop its aid to Israel. The level of protest has even reached the extreme point of two self-immolations in the U.S.: one carried out by an unidentified woman in front of the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, the other by an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, Aaron Bushnell, in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.
U.S. officials and lawmakers across the political spectrum have been challenged at public events and increasingly pressed to end complicity in the violence against Palestinians. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have both experienced heavy protests at campaign events and public speaking engagements.
Many Americans are taking a principled stand against the countless documented human rights violations that have been committed in Gaza in the name of Israeli “self-defense.” As the number and tenor of protests increase, there is hope that they will force the United States government to accept meaningful policy changes that, in turn, would improve the prospects for eventual peace in the Middle East.
Information sources:
American Israel Public Affairs Committee, https://www.aipac.org/.
Pro-Israel Recipients, Open Secrets, https://www.opensecrets.org.
Data for Progress, https://www.dataforprogress.org.
“Black Pastors Pressure Biden to Call for a Cease-Fire in Gaza,” New York Times, 1/28/24.
“US City Councils Increasingly Call for Israel-Gaza Ceasefire, Analysis Shows,” Reuters, 2/2/24.
“Taking Aaron Bushnell at His Word (and Deed),” The Nation, 2/28/24
“Aaron Bushnell Set Himself on Fire Over the US's Role in Palestine. Who Was He?” Teen Vogue, 3/5/24.
This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (http://www.comdsd.org/).
