De Israelische Terreur 868

Rethinking the costs of peace

Obama must revisit the holy cow of military aid to Israel

By Josh Ruebner

25 May 2009

Josh Ruebner calls on US President Barack Obama to make US military aid to Israel consistent with the Arms Export Control Act, which limits the use of weapons given to foreign countries to “internal security” and “legitimate self-defence”, not the killing of innocent civilians and illegal occupation, as Israel is doing.

    “The provision of US 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 US weapons as a prime factor “fueling” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

In pledging to trim ineffective spending, President Obama declared that “there will be no sacred cows and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it's time their government did the same.”

By asking earlier this month for 2.775 billion US dollars in military aid to Israel in his financial year 2010 budget request, it would seem that on this important policy issue President Obama's commitment is more rhetorical than substantive. Since 1949, according to the Congressional Research Service, the United States has provided to Israel more than 100 billion dollars in military and economic assistance. In 2007, the United States and Israel signed an agreement for 30 billion dollars in additional military aid up to FY2018.

Yet the provision of US 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 US weapons as a prime factor “fueling” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, during the Bush administration, Israel killed more than 3,000 innocent Palestinian civilians, including more than 1,000 children. During its December 2008-January 2009 war on the occupied Gaza Strip alone, Israel killed nearly 1,200 non-combatants.

Lees verder: http://www.redress.cc/americas/jruebner20090525