President Biden recently signed a bill that gave Israel 735 million dollars in weapons. Since 1946, the US has handed Israel 243.9 billion dollars in military aid, making Israel the second-largest recipient of foreign aid from the US, after Afghanistan. Yet, Palestine has received no military aid from the US, and is left fending for itself. The US should at least provide humanitarian assistance to Palestine and cut military aid to Israel to end the violations of international laws and limit their abuse of power on Palestinians.
In 2016, the US and Israel signed their third ten year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid, with the US agreeing to provide Israel with 38 billion dollars in military aid from 2019-2028. This military aid has facilitated Israel’s violation of international law. These violations include the acquisition of territory by force, the practice of ethnic cleansing, collective punishment and illegal settlement on occupied land. East Jerusalem, Jaffa (now Tel Aviv) and Golan heights are just some of the villages forcefully acquired by the Israeli Forces – evidence of violating international law.
Palestinians in the aforementioned villages are not allowed to return to their land after Israeli forces forcefully acquire their territory, constituting ethnic cleansing. Destroying homes, libraries, Gaza’s only Covid-19 testing lab, and new outlets for the sake of punishment or building a park is the violation of international law. Despite the illegality of occupying land belonging to the indigenous population of Israel, Israel continues to violate the rights of Palestinians. In fact, Palestinians have to demolish their own home because they are threatened by Israeli forces. Fully aware of these violations, the US still stands with Israel, facilitating Israel’s actions. Israeli forces are not even defending themselves against real threats.
So why is the US funding a genocide? Why does Israel feel so threatened that they need excessive military aid from the US? Every critic of Palestine is quick to defend Israel’s funding because Palestine harbors Hamas, but it is important to note that Hamas is not part of the Palestinian government or backed by the US. Israel has an Iron Dome, funded by the US, that stops rockets thrown by Hamas. So, one cannot equate Israeli forces and Hamas, simply because Hamas is not funded or backed by any real government.
Unlike Palestine, Israel is backed by the government allowing them access to more equipment, resulting in more damage. Hamas does not possess the equipment to do the damage that Israel has managed to do for 73 years. The damage done by Israeli forces cannot be reversed, but the US can prevent further deaths and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by terminating military aid to Israel. Once the US terminates military aid to Israel and starts to help Palestine with humanitarian aid, they should build an alliance with Palestine and help find a solution for peace with Israel.
The US continues to publicly support the apartheid and settler colonialism in Palestine at the hands of the Israeli forces they fund. The US needs to stand with Palestine and help those that are actually in need, beginning with the halt on military aid. No human deserves to go through the violence and violations Palestinians face every day.