United States Arms to Israel
Updated 2024-08-29
How to Use the U.S. Military Funding to Israel Map First, type in your city or state. When you do, you’ll see the total estimated funds the U.S. government sends to the Israeli military from taxpayers in your area, through federal tax dollars. The graphic will also update, showing what needs could be funded for the future of your local community instead. Imagine what your community could look like if the U.S. government funded healthcare, education, and housing instead of systems of violence. https://uscpr.org/activist-resource/us-military-funding-to-israel-map/
End U.S. Military Funding to Israel – USCPR It’s clear—the United States is the Israeli military’s greatest funder and enabler. Every year, the U.S. government writes Israel a blank check for at least $3.8 billion to fund Israel’s violence against the Palestinian people. Rather than using those funds to provide for communities in need here, our government uses taxpayer dollars to enable the Israeli military to kill Palestinians, destroy their homes, and steal their native land. But we know that this doesn’t have to be the only way. We know that if we collectively rise, we can stop the funding of state violence. We know that Palestine will never be free, until we are all free. https://uscpr.org/campaigns/end-u-s-military-funding-to-israel/
2024-08-26 Squadron of US Stealth Jets Arrives in Israel in Bid to Prevent Iran Starting WW3 The United States has deployed 12 of its avant-garde stealth fighter jets to the Middle East as the ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas threaten to break down.
Knewz.com has learned that these fearsome Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor aircraft, costing the American taxpayer $350 million per piece, will patrol Israel’s borders paying special attention to Hezbollah in the north and any attacks that may originate in Iran. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/squadron-of-us-stealth-jets-arrives-in-israel-in-bid-to-prevent-iran-starting-ww3/ar-AA1pt2us?
2024-08-21 Former Israeli and Palestinian Fighters Join With US GIs to Call for Peace in Gaza A group of former fighters from Palestine and Israel plus active duty U.S. GIs announced last week why they decided to stop participating in war and urged U.S. military members to tell Congress to stop funding Israel’s genocide in Gaza via the ” Appeal for Redress v2.”
The online news conference was organized by Veterans For Peace and featured a former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) special forces member, a young Israeli who just finished 85 days in jail for refusing to join the military, a former Hamas youth activist, and three active-duty U.S. military members who are awaiting discharge as conscientious objectors. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israeli-palestinian-fighters-peace
2024-08-20 ‘History Is Watching’: Gaza Doctors Urge Harris to Back Israel Arms Embargo at Democratic Convention As humanitarians opposed to the U.S. government’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza continued to protest during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday, American doctors who recently volunteered in the besieged enclave implored the party’s presidential nominee Kamala Harris—based on the carnage and heartache they have witnessed—to embrace an arms embargo on Israel and an immediate cease-fire.
during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Uncommitted National Movement held a Tuesday press conference at which American doctors who volunteered in Gaza implored Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, to embrace an arms embargo on Israel and an immediate cease-fire.
Alawieh slammed the “hypocritical action” of Biden administration officials who, while “saying they want a cease-fire,” continue “to send more and more weapons” to far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “murderous government,” which “is using those weapons to kill civilians” and is “preventing any hope for all captives, Israeli and Palestinian, to be reunited with their families.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/uncommitted-dnc
2024-08-15 “Incomprehensible”: U.S. Approves $20 Billion in New Arms for Israel as Gaza Death Toll Tops 40,000 Health officials in Gaza said Thursday that the official death toll from Israel’s 10-month war has topped 40,000, though that is believed to be a vast undercount of the true figure. The grim milestone was reached just days after the Biden administration greenlit $20 billion in additional weapons sales to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter jets, tank ammunition, mortar rounds, tactical vehicles and advanced air-to-air missiles. The U.S. approved the sales despite growing calls for an arms embargo on Israel. “This is just a continuation of a policy that has been going on now for 10 months of the U.S. providing to Israel all the arms that it requests,” says Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official who worked on arms deals and resigned in protest over Gaza policy in October. “It is a dark day for American foreign policy.” We also speak with Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who says it’s “incomprehensible” that the U.S. keeps supplying Israel with weapons. “There should be no more arms going into that place before there is a ceasefire.” Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCtywovwpx8
2024-08-15 As Gaza Death Toll Tops 40,000, Congress Urged to Block New Weapons to Israel “U.S. arms transfers to Israel have fueled unimaginable suffering in Gaza, including staggering levels of civilian harm,” said one embargo advocate.
As the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s 314-day assault on Gaza passed 40,000—a figure Palestinian and United Nations officials say is made up of mostly women and children and is likely a vast undercount—human rights groups this week decried the Biden administration’s approval of $20 billion worth of new weapons for Israel and renewed pleas for Congress to block further arms transfers to the nation’s far-right government. https://www.commondreams.org/news/arms-embargo-israel-congress
2024-08-09 US releases $3.5 billion to Israel to spend on US weapons, military equipment Washington will provide Israel $3.5 billion to spend on U.S. weapons and military equipment, the State Department said on Friday, with the release of the money coming months after the U.S. Congress appropriated it during Israel’s war in Gaza.
A State Department spokesperson said on Friday that the department notified Congress on Thursday that the government intended to release the billions of dollars worth of foreign military financing to Israel. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-releases-35-billion-israel-spend-us-weapons-military-equipment-cnn-reports-2024-08-09/?
2024-07-23 Major Unions Urge Biden to Stop Arming Israel Amid Netanyahu Visit A group of seven major unions, including some of the largest unions in the U.S., are calling on President Joe Biden to immediately stop sending military support to Israel amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S. this week.
In a letter sent to Biden on Tuesday, the unions said that ending weapons shipments is the only way to secure the ceasefire deal that U.S. negotiators have supposedly been working on for months. It is one of the strongest statements yet from organized labor in the U.S. against the genocide.
“We write to publicly call upon your Administration to immediately halt all military aid to Israel as part of the work to secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza,” the unions wrote. A copy of the letter was posted online by HuffPost labor reporter Dave Jamieson. https://truthout.org/articles/major-unions-urge-biden-to-stop-arming-israel-amid-netanyahu-visit/
2024-05-07 ‘Overdue But Welcome’: Biden Reportedly Holds Back Bombs for Israel “The White House must leave no stone unturned in its effort to stop the Israeli government’s offensive on Rafah—the hundreds of thousands displaced there do not have more time,” said the head of Win Without War.
Anti-war voices on Tuesday welcomed Politico’s reporting that U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is delaying “shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel,” which on Monday launched a long-awaited invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-bombing
2024-05-02’Stop Sending Arms’: Global Day of Action to End Israel’s Assault on Gaza The straightforward demand consistently made by human rights experts, a top European Union official, and college students across the U.S. and in a growing number of countries formed the basis for a Global Day of Action on Thursday, with 250 groups organizing direct actions to call on governments around the world to “Stop Sending Arms” to Israel.
Groups including Amnesty International, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the Center for Jewish Nonviolence helped organize actions in at least 12 countries, “with a strategic emphasis on countries with significant arms exports” and an “aim to resonate globally.”
Protest events including rallies, “die-ins,” and the projection of messages and images on government buildings were organized in countries including the United States—the top supplier of arms to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)—Canada, Germany, Australia, South Korea, and Slovakia. https://www.commondreams.org/news/day-of-action-gaza
2024-04-11 US Tax Day Campaign Urges Congress to Stop Arming Israel’s Genocide in Gaza “This scale of devastation is only possible because of financial, political, and military support from the United States,” said one Quaker campaigner. With the April 15 U.S. federal income tax filing deadline just around the corner, the American Friends Service Committee on Thursday announced a Tax Day campaign to demand members of Congress stop funding Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza.
This year, the group’s focus is on U.S. military aid to Israel amid the ongoing Gaza genocide, in which at least 109,500 Palestinians have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces, often using weapons supplied by Washington—including 2,000-pound bombs that can level entire city blocks. The majority of Palestinians killed during the war have been women and children, including more than 13,000 minors. https://www.commondreams.org/news/afsc-israel
2024-04-07 Israel’s Aid Capitulation Exposes the Lie Behind Biden’s Gaza Policy The Biden administration has insisted there’s very little it can do to alter policy in the region and acted as though Israel’s policy decisions are unconnected to the United States, the country that gives them more than $4 billion a year in military aid. https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/israel-s-aid-capitulation-exposes-the-lie-behind-biden-s-gaza-policy
2024-03-21 The False Charges of ‘Antisemitism’ by Apologists for Israel’s Atrocities in Gaza The gist of the trick is to equate Israel with the Jewish religion—and then to equate opposition to Israel with antisemitism.
The U.S. government continues to make the atrocities possible. As retired Israeli Major General Yitzhak Brick said midway through the second month of the war: “All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S.” He added: “Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.” https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/antisemitism-genocide-israel-gaza
2024-03-20 While Mulling Israel Claims, Biden Urged to ‘Stop Weapons Sales Now’ “After over half a million uncommitted votes and counting, it’s time Biden administration officials finally listen,” said one campaigner. “We need concrete action to stop weapons aid immediately.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has until March 25 to certify to Congress that Israel is adhering to President Joe Biden’s February 2023 memo stating that “no arms transfer will be authorized where the United States assesses that it is more likely than not that the arms to be transferred will be used by the recipient to commit… genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949… or other serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.”
If Israel fails to provide written assurance that it is using U.S.-supplied weapons in accordance with international law, arms sales would automatically be suspended. According to HuffPost, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew on Tuesday privately claimed to the State Department that Israel is in compliance with domestic and international law. However, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Wednesday that officials from three State Department bureaus—Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Population, Refugees, and Migration; and the Office of Global Criminal Justice—as well as the United States Agency for International Development are deeply skeptical of Lew’s claim. https://www.commondreams.org/news/u-s-arms-sales-to-israel-2667561951
2024-03-19 Rights Groups Tell Biden Israeli Claims About US Weapons Use in Gaza ‘Not Credible’ As the Biden administration formally reviews the use of U.S. weapons by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip, a pair of human rights groups on Tuesday submitted a joint memorandum detailing Israel’s abuse of Palestinians and demanding an end to all arms transfers.
“There are good reasons why U.S. law prohibits arms support for governments that block lifesaving aid or violate international law with U.S. weapons,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “Given ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is meeting U.S. legal requirements are not credible.”
HRW and Oxfam’s memo comes after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week signed a letter claiming his country has not arbitrarily blocked humanitarian aid and U.S.-supplied arms have been used in line with international law, assurances required under a national security memorandum about weapons support that U.S. President Joe Biden released in February. https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-weapons-in-gaza
2024-03-19 Armed With US Weapons, Israel Carpet Bombs Genocide Convention The backbone of the war on Gaza comes with a label: “Made in USA.” It’s been almost two months since the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to stop killing Gazans and destroying their means of subsistence. So let’s look back and ask (1) how Israel has responded to its “orders,” and (2) how hard the Biden administration has pushed Israel to abide by those orders. Spoiler alert: the short answers are (1) not well and (2) not very.
The American government has provided most of the armaments and targeting technologies being used to kill Gazans by the thousands while turning many of the rest of them into refugees by destroying their homes, offices, schools, and hospitals. Nor did the Biden administration threaten to withdraw that support when Israel blocked shipments of crucial food and fuel to the 25-mile-long Gaza Strip. It also keeps vetoing U.N. Security Council resolutions that would hold Israel accountable. And President Biden, despite an increasing amount of rhetorical shuffling, continues to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), even though they have ignored the International Court’s orders and continue committing atrocities.https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-weapons-israel-gaza-genocide
2024-03-15 Israeli Assurances on US Weapons and International Law Called ‘Sick Joke’ “We know Israel won’t comply so long as there are no consequences,” said one advocacy group. “The U.S. must cut off weapons now!”
Israeli officials gave a written assurance to the Biden administration on Friday that it would use U.S. weapons in accordance with international law. The assurance comes more than five months into Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, in which the country’s U.S.-backed military has killed at least 31,490 Palestinians, including more than 12,300 children, while claiming to be targeting Hamas members.
Assal Rad, research director at the National Iranian American Council, noted that Israel has also killed at least 95 journalists in Gaza, attacked healthcare facilities, and starved civilians by blocking humanitarian aid deliveries while explicitly calling on the Israel Defense Forces to commit genocidal acts. https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-assurances-weapons
2024-03-15 The Elders Chair Mary Robinson Calls For Biden to Stop Arming Israel In his meetings with the U.S. leader, Ireland’s prime minister must “make it clear that Israel depends on the United States for military aid and for money,” said Robinson, a former Irish president. The Elders chair Mary Robinson on Friday highlighted the unique leverage that the United States has with Israel and suggested that the Biden administration should stop giving the Middle Eastern nation military assistance for its assault on the Gaza Strip. https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-arms-israel
2024-03-13 25 Groups Demand Biden ‘Urgently Comply With US Law’ and End Israel Arms Sales More than two dozen human rights groups on Tuesday implored U.S. President Joe Biden “urgently comply” with domestic law by suspending arms sales to Israel and pressuring its far-right government to end its genocidal policy of blocking aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza.
In a joint letter to Biden, the 25 organizations asserted that his administration’s “unconditional arms transfers and other security assistance” to Israel apparently “violate Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. § 2378-1), which prohibits the United States from providing security assistance or arms sales to any country when the president is made aware that the government ‘prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.'”
“U.S. weapons, security assistance, and blanket political support have contributed to an unparalleled humanitarian crisis and possible war crimes in Gaza,” the groups wrote. “We demand that you urgently comply with U.S. law, end U.S. support for catastrophic human suffering in Gaza, and use your leverage to protect civilians and ensure the impartial provision of humanitarian assistance.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/u-s-arms-sales-to-israel-2667506147
2024-03-05 Majority of Americans Want Halt of US Weapons Bound for Israel: Poll “Everyone knows that the U.S. could end this today if we wanted to,” said one analyst. A new poll released Tuesday revealed that a majority of Americans want to the U.S. government to stop supplying the Israeli military with weaponry to carry out its brutal assault on Gaza that has killed over 30,000 Palestinians, most of them civilian men, women, and children.
As organizers called on Democratic voters in at least seven states to vote “uncommitted” on their Super Tuesday primary ballots on Tuesday to help push the Biden administration to demand a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the YouGov poll provided another measure of Americans’ growing outrage over their government’s material and political support for the “genocidal” campaign by Israel’s far-right government.
Commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), the poll of 1,000 U.S. adults asked respondents whether they agreed with the statement: “The U.S. should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza.” https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-weapons-israel-2667435101?
2024-02-13 VETERANS DEMAND TERMINATION OF WEAPONS TO ISRAEL In a letter to the Inspector-General of the U.S. State Department, a national veterans’ organization today demanded the State Department terminate weapons shipments to Israel and called on the Inspector General to investigate alleged criminal acts by senior Biden administration officials in violation of U.S. law, including ratified treaties, which are the supreme law of the land. The letter from Veterans For Peace alleges violations by the U.S. government and its officials of:
The Conventional Arms Transfer Policy
The Genocide Convention Implementation Act
See full article for more details on violations above.
2023-12-13 Sanders Urges President Biden to Withdraw Support for $10.1 Billion in Military Aid to Israel and Support UN Efforts for a Humanitarian Ceasefire Sanders lays out the devastation in Gaza, now equivalent to that of Dresden after two years of bombing during World War II, and emphasizes it is being carried out with bombs produced and provided by the United States.
In a letter sent to President Biden on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) urged the president to make two critical policy changes in his approach to Israel and Gaza. First, that the president withdraw his support for the $10.1 billion for offensive weaponry for Netanyahu’s right-wing government contained in the proposed supplemental foreign aid package requested from Congress. And second, for the president to support the recent UN resolution that demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and full humanitarian access – a resolution which was vetoed by the United States. https://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-urges-president-biden-to-withdraw-support-for-10-1-billion-in-military-aid-to-israel-and-support-un-efforts-for-a-humanitarian-ceasefire/
2023-12-11 State Dept. Whistleblower Blasts Blinken for Bypassing Congress to Send 14K Tank Munitions to Israel The Biden administration has bypassed Congress to approve an “emergency” sale of over $100 million of tank ammunition to Israel. Congress was notified just hours after the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire. We get response from Josh Paul, former director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which oversees arms transfers to Israel and other nations. Paul resigned from the State Department in October to protest the Biden administration’s push to increase arms sales to Israel amid its ongoing siege on Gaza. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/11/state_department_arms_israel
2023-12-05 Bernie Sanders Rejects $10B in Military Aid for “Extremist Netanyahu Government” The Vermont senator described Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip as unlawful and “immoral.” S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday that he opposes sending billions of dollars in additional military assistance to the Israeli government as it continues to wage a catastrophic war on the Gaza Strip, an assault that the Vermont senator described as unlawful and “immoral.” “I do not believe we should be appropriating over $10 billion for the right-wing, extremist Netanyahu government to continue its current military approach,” Sanders, who has faced backlash from progressives and some of his former campaign staffers for refusing to support a permanent cease-fire, said in remarks on the Senate floor.
Sanders’ speech came as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) set the stage for a procedural vote on a $106 billion supplemental package that includes military assistance for Israel and Ukraine. The vote is expected to fail as Republicans push for the inclusion of asylum restrictions that progressive Democrats have condemned as draconian.https://truthout.org/articles/bernie-sanders-rejects-10b-in-military-aid-for-extremist-netanyahu-government/
2023-11-16 Rep. Omar Introduces Resolution to Block Weapons Sale Used to Fund War Crimes in Gaza Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) introduced a joint resolution of disapproval today for the proposed export license for $320 million in Spice Family Guided Bomb Assemblies to Israel. These weapons have already been used in the siege on Gaza, which has taken the lives of over 4,000 children and over 11,000 civilians, making it the deadliest conflict for children this decade. The United Nations and human rights experts around the world have condemned the bombing of hospitals and schools as crimes against humanity and called for the prevention of genocide.
“Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right ethnonationalist government continue to commit war crimes in their siege of the Gaza Strip,” said Rep. Omar. “From requests to minimize civilian casualties, avoid a ground invasion, avoid reoccupation of Gaza, and institute a meaningful humanitarian pause, Netanyahu continues to thumb his nose at U.S. policy and requests. The United States already provides the Israeli government with $3.8 billion of military aid a year, and holds enormous leverage over their actions. It is the responsibility of Congress to exercise oversight over weapons sales. That is why we must not allow weapons sales that will be used to directly violate U.S. and international law, human rights, and our own moral standing in the world.”
Cosponsors for the resolution include Reps. Cori Bush, Summer Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Delia Ramirez, and Rashida Tlaib. https://rootsaction.org/news-a-views/3236-rep-omar-introduces-resolution-to-block-weapons-sale-used-to-fund-war-crimes-in-gaza
“We cannot be both against occupation, and for it. We cannot be both for freedom, and against it. And we cannot be for a better world, while contributing to one that is materially worse,” writes Josh Paul in his letter of resignation. After 11 years in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs — the entity most responsible for arms transfers to allies and partners — Paul quit October 18, over increased, “indeed expedited” arms sales to Israel. In this conversation, one of the first full-length interviews with Paul since his resignation, he sits down with Laura Flanders to discuss why he resigned, his concerns about how the weapons will be used, the unique way that Israel is treated when it comes to US arms sales and why the US approach to creating peace in the Middle East is clearly not working. US double standards and hypocrisy when it comes to human rights crimes, he says, are dangerous for all concerned. All that, plus a commentary for Laura on the war economy.
“The impact of the operation may be to kill terrorists, but it will also raise another generation who has no confidence in the peace process…This is not a recipe for lasting peace.” – Josh Paul “There is just an unwillingness to criticize Israel…There are many reasons for that, some of them legitimate, but what it means at the end of the day is I think if you don’t have a global standard, you don’t have a standard…” – Josh Paul
🔹 In this episode you’ll get
1️⃣ A thorough examination of Josh Paul’s decision, a move that has stirred various reactions within the State Department, but also across the interagency and congressional staff.
2️⃣ An in-depth analysis of the circumstances surrounding his resignation, and the professional and personal challenges that diplomats often confront, especially in high-stakes scenarios such as the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
3️⃣ A breakdown of the US’ approach to creating peace in the Middle East, and why it is failing.
4️⃣ More information on the US’ military spending, and why President Biden’s expedited transfer of arms to Israel is a unique situation.
Q&A with Josh Paul in The Nation magazine: https://mailchi.mp/lauraflanders.org/…
SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter at www.lauraflanders.org to get notified when the full, uncut conversation with Josh Paul becomes available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTdW2o6TRgI
2010-05-08 US Arms Used for War Crimes in Gaza The devastating Israeli firepower, unleashed largely on Palestinian civilians in Gaza during the three-week attack starting December 27, 2008 was fueled by US-supplied weapons paid for with US tax dollars. Washington provided F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles, and a wide array of munitions, including white phosphorus and DIME. The weapons required for the Israeli assault were decided upon in June 2008, and the transfer of 1,000 bunker-buster GPS-guided Small Diameter Guided Bomb Units 39 (GBU-39) were approved by Congress in September. The GBU 39 bombs were delivered to Israel in November (prior to any claims of Hamas cease fire violation) for use in the initial air raids on Gaza.
Researchers in Gaza found several weapon fragments after the attacks. One came from a 500lb (227kg) Mark-82 fin guided bomb, which had markings indicating parts were made by the US company Raytheon. They also found fragments of US-made white phosphorus artillery shells, marked M825 A1.
Israel’s repeated firing of US-made white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza during its recent military campaign was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a report released March 25, 2009. On January 15, several white phosphorus shells fired by the Israeli military hit the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City, destroying medicine, food and other basic aid. One fragment found at the scene had markings indicating it was made by the Pine Bluff Arsenal, based in Arkansas, in October 1991.
The UN Security Council, Amnesty International, International Red Cross, and voices of protest from around the world demanded a ceasefire. Yet, with shocking lack of regard, both houses of US Congress overwhelmingly endorsed resolutions to support a continuation of Israel’s “self defense.”
Four days after the carnage ensued, on December 31, the US Navy’s Sealift Command hired ships to deliver another 3,000-odd tons of arms to Israel through Greece. This last shipment was halted mid-January due to Greek protest. The US has long been the largest arms supplier to Israel; under a current ten-year agreement negotiated by the Bush administration, the US will provide $30 billion in military aid to Israel.
“As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa program director. “To a large extent, Israel’s military offensive in Gaza was carried out with weapons, munitions and military equipment supplied by the USA and paid for with US taxpayers’ money.” This is among the reasons why it’s so important that stories like the US Congressional endorsement for Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” against Gaza be made known to the public. https://www.projectcensored.org/9-us-arms-used-for-war-crimes-in-gaza/wn to the public. https://www.projectcensored.org/9-us-arms-used-for-war-crimes-in-gaza/
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