August 1, 2007
On August 16, the United States and Israel signed a ten-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for $30 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel. Full details of the package have yet to emerge; however, it is reported to include a new generation of F-35 fighter jets, advanced bombs, and laser-guided missiles.
This military aid package, amounting to $3 billion per year, represents a 25% increase over the current U.S. annual military aid appropriation to Israel of $2.4 billion. Israel is already the largest recipient of U.S. military aid before the proposed increase.
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation opposes this proposed increase in military aid to Israel. Instead of increasing military aid to Israel, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation calls on the Bush Administration and Congress to sanction Israel by cutting off military aid to it for its continued violations of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act and U.S. Foreign Assistance Acts.
Take action today and send a similar message to your elected officials below.
The U.S. Arms Export Control Act prohibits foreign countries from using U.S. weapons against civilians or civilian infrastructure and limits their use to 'legitimate self-defense' or for 'internal security.' The U.S. Foreign Assistance Act states that 'No assistance may be provided under this part [of the law] to the government of any country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights'.
Rather than use U.S. military aid for 'legitimate self-defense' or 'internal security', Israel relies upon it to prosecute its illegal 40-year old foreign military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. 'Gross violations of internationally recognized human rights' against Palestinians living under Israel’s illegal military occupation have been well-documented by numerous Palestinian, Israeli, U.S., and international human rights organizations, as well as by the U.S. government.
During Israel’s attacks last summer upon civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation documented many instances of Israel using U.S. weapons in violation of U.S. law and demanded that the Bush Administration and Congress hold Israel accountable for these violations of law. For additional details, click here.
Thanks in part to your demand for accountability, the State Department in January 2007 sent a top-secret report to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Joe Biden, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, claiming that Israel may have violated the U.S. Arms Export Control Act by indiscriminately dropping cluster munitions in civilian areas in Lebanon during last year’s war. A final report with definitive conclusions has not yet been issued.
The Bush Administration and Congress make a mockery of the rule of law by supporting an increase in military aid to Israel even before the government’s own investigation of Israel’s prior violations of the U.S. Arms Export Control is completed.
Please take a moment to contact your elected representatives today and urge them to oppose an increase in military aid to Israel and to sanction Israel by cutting off military aid for its prior violations of U.S. law.
