US Money, Taxes for Arming ’’Israel’’

Local Editor 

A new policy paper published earlier this week by the "US Campaign to End the "Israeli" Occupation documented a number of cases occurring over the past decade in which weapons and ammunition produced and financed by the US have been used to kill unarmed Palestinians and US citizens.

"US military aid to "Israel" is a policy that is running on autopilot and must be reconsidered," Josh Ruebner, the national advocacy director for the organization and author of the new policy paper said.
 
According to Ruebner, "US weapons provided to "Israel" at taxpayer expense make the US complicit in "Israel's" human rights abuses of Palestinians living under "Israel's" 44-year military occupation of the West Bank, East "Jerusalem", and Gaza Strip."
He further estimated US military support as "a defeat for US foreign policy objectives of halting "Israeli" settlement expansion, ending "Israeli" military occupation, and establishing a just and lasting "Israeli"-Palestinian peace."
 
The report also unveiled that "between the years 2000 and 2009, the US transferred more than 670 million weapons, rounds of ammunition, and related equipment."
During the same period, "Israel" killed at least 2,969 unarmed Palestinians, including 1,128 children, often with US weapons in violation of the Foreign Assistance Act and Arms Export Control Act.
 
The Foreign Assistance Act, signed into law in 1961, stipulates that no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.
"From fiscal year 2000 to 2009, the State Department licensed - and US taxpayers funded - the delivery of more than 595,000 tear gas canisters and other riot control equipment to the "Israeli" military, valued at more than 20.5 million (dollars)," the report disclosed.

In a 2007 memorandum of understanding, the US pledged 30 billion dollars in military assistance to "Israel" between 2009 and 2018 - a 25-percent increase in average annual military aid over previous years. "Israel" will receive roughly 3.1 billion dollars in US military aid for fiscal year 2012.
 
Citing data obtained for the US Internal Revenue Service and Census Bureau, the report places the quantity of US military aid in a larger context.
"With the same amount of money that the US gives each year to fund weapons for "Israel", the federal government could instead fund affordable housing vouchers for 350,000 low-income families, or green jobs training for 500,000 unemployed workers, or early reading programs for 900,000 at-risk students, or primary health care to 24 million people without insurance," according to the report.
 
The release of the policy paper coincided with the annual conference of the American "Israeli" Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group, in Washington that included speeches by senior US government officials, including President Barack Obama.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org