When the Parties Agree…
The 2016 political conventions are over. And the American people are trying to figure out what is going on. Both parties saw energetic insurgent movements challenging their “establishment” leadership during the primaries. Republic
an insurgents united behind Donald Trump and took over, while many regular party leaders refused to go along. The Democratic establishment kept control after conceding on a few policy issues to the Sanders insurgents. Supporters of Trump and Clinton will each tell you that the other guy is dangerous to our national health and wellbeing.
But on one point they pretty much agree, as they almost always have: They both pledge unwavering support to Israel and only compete to see who will give Israel the biggest increase in US military assistance over the next 10 years.
The final aid package will likely be near $4 billion annually. Partisan warfare over everything from gun safety to Supreme Court appointments has virtually halted federal policy-making this year, but you can bet that Republicans and Democrats will eagerly pass the Israel aid package and brag about it to their campaign donors.
For decades, tiny Israel (about the size and population of New Jersey) has been the single largest recipient of US aid. Today Israel has the fourth largest military in the world. Pro-Israeli interest groups in the US support this policy with their campaign contributions. They include a small group of wealthy Jewish donors, like Sheldon Adelson (pro-Trump this year) and Haim Saban (pro-Clinton). But they also include major evangelical Christian funders, who believe that reestablishment of a Jewish nation in all of Palestine is a pre-requisite for the coming of the End Times. And don’t forget the military industrial complex, which expects most aid to Israel to be spent on US military goods and services. Finally, the periodic outbreaks of Israeli military action in Gaza and Lebanon enable the US to observe field tests of new military technologies.
The cost of this aid is high for Americans, living in a country where over 46 million people exist in poverty, including 10% of seniors and over 21% of all children. The cost is even higher for Palestinians – both those who are citizens of Israel and those in the occupied territories of Gaza, West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
For nearly 50 years, since it seized all of Palestine in the Six Day War of 1967, Israel has aimed to take over the land and resources physically through illegal “settlement” building and expropriation. It is a policy of settler colonialism pursued with more or less candor by all the major Israeli parties, and it most resembles the way that European settlers destroyed native American nations over a period of 300 years, except that Israelis aim to do it in far less time.
Just recently, Israel completed a record number of Palestinian house demolitions and announced a massive number of new housing units to be built for Jewish Israelis on occupied land. These actions are violations of international law by an occupying power; they are part of a slow-motion annexation of captured land, together with ongoing oppression of the native population.
The US State Department responded, as usual, with a statement of disapproval. But that is all the U S will do. Neither party wants to disrupt the profitable relationship with Israel by instituting sanctions or ending the ever-growing aid package. Both parties want our government (but not the parties) to disapprove verbally, but block any meaningful action, such as a UN Security Council resolution.
At their conventions, both party platforms reaffirmed support for Israel. Sanders supporters tried to add at least a vague statement of concern for the rights of Palestinians, but the Democrats stuck to their standard Israel policy: Hear no evil; See no evil; Speak no evil.
7/31/2016 Contact Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven at: JVPNH.org
JOIN THIS VIGIL FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE—EVERY SUNDAY 12-1 P.M.,
BROADWAY, PARK & ELM STREETS:RESIST THIS ENDLESS WAR!
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