For a very long time I was a major apologist for Israel and admired what I saw as its integrity and tenacity, but the protracted situation with the Palestinians over decades has gradually changed my convictions. And I don’t think I’m alone.
A 2016 report by the Pew Research Center found that while Israeli Jews are skeptical that Israel and an independent Palestinian state can peacefully coexist, most American Jews are optimistic it can. The report also found that Israeli Jews felt the continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank helps the security of the country, while American Jews were more likely to say the settlements hurt Israel’s own security.
If the United States government was clearly objective in the matter, this conflict would have ended decades ago. But fear of the political consequences from powerful pro-Israel groups and the Israeli government is why this tragic oppression of the Palestinian people continues.
The United States very rarely sticks its neck out in international affairs unless it serves a strategic or economic purpose, nor does it support anyone for purely humanitarian reasons. So it should come as no surprise that the U.S. has historically favored Israel in the conflict.
Like a mortally wounded animal fighting until its last breath, the Palestinian nation is hanging on for dear life. Israel’s stranglehold blockade of Gaza by air, sea, and land since 2007; and the ever expanding, illegal settlements in the West Bank are slowly choking the Palestinian Territories to death. As though these measures were not enough, Israel has repeatedly narrowed the 20 nautical mile fishing zone off Gaza’s coast to just three miles.
Getting bogged down with who started the conflict is like trying to figure out who started a fight in a grade school playground, but odds are it’s the bully who’s the instigator.
Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories under international law has been condemned by the international community since 1967 including the United Nations Security Council. And the International Criminal Court in The Hague recently launched an investigation into alleged Israeli crimes in the Palestinian territories. Yet Israel continues to act with impunity with forced displacement of Palestinians in East Jerusalem through home demolitions and evictions, and illegal annexations.
According to The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem), 9,930 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis in the conflict since September of 2000 and 1,268 Israelis (including 440 in the military) have been killed by Palestinians. When you consider that Israel’s population is almost double the Palestinians, it is about 16 times more likely that a Palestinian will die in the conflict.
A 2014 Voxmedia article notes that Israel’s strategy is often described as "cutting the grass." Israel more or less maintains the status quo, tolerating a level of violence while periodically bombing or invading Gaza to weaken the enemy. Meanwhile, permanent settlements continue to be built forcing more and more Palestinians off their land.
Between 2016 and 2020, the U.S. continued to be the world’s largest arms exporter, distributing almost double that of Russia, the second largest, and it accounted for 92% of all Israeli weapons imports according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
“Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II” according to The Congressional Research Service, and almost all current U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance. Israel receives more U.S. foreign military financing than all other countries in the world combined according to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
This is particularly irksome in light of Israel’s per capita GNP which is greater than the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France, and Japan according to the World Bank. Meanwhile, Palestinians live in squalor and fear because of Israel’s draconian tactics and American financial support.
The current U.S. foreign policy of President Biden offers little hope things will change. It calls for the United States to defend and protect human rights while paradoxically pledging to maintain its commitment to Israel’s military aid.
Most troubling of all is that U.S. taxpayers have been subsidizing the Israeli arms industry for years which has now become one of the world’s leading arms exporters, selling approximately $9 billion in arms in 2017 according to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Some politicians defend the policy saying the U.S. military benefits from Israeli technology, but isn’t this another example of sending jobs overseas? Don’t Americans have the technical know-how to develop such weapons on American soil?
Once and for all the U.S. needs to unconditionally standup for what’s right at home and abroad. And now is the ideal time to do so when our international reputation is at an all-time low.
