Op-Ed: Why does the US continue Aiding Israel Amid Human Rights Violations?
Nov 29, 2024 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip gather outside a food distribution center on November 29, 2024 (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Editor’s Note:
This piece was written in December 2024. Subsequent events have rendered some details outdated. Readers are encouraged to consult current sources after reading to ensure they have the most up-to-date information.
Upon receiving her presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris said she and President Joe Biden were working “around the clock” to negotiate a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel. Harris has since made dozens of statements claiming that the administration has been “dedicate[d] to ending this war and bringing the hostages home.”
These statements are misleading for two reasons. The first is that the United States enabled the war. Since the October 7 escalation conducted by Hamas, the United States has sent over 17.9 billion dollars worth of military aid to Israel including military financing, arms, bombs and rockets. This is over 76% of what Israel’s total military budget would be on an average year excluding US aid.
Israel would not be able to fight in this war were it not for the United States. An Israeli Senior Air Force official stated that “without the Americans' supply of weapons to the
Israel Defense Forces, especially the air force, Israel would have had a hard time sustaining its war for more than a few months.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also asked the US Congress to accelerate its military aid in July 2024.
The second reason that the administration’s statements are misleading is because the US has vetoed fourteen UN Security Council ceasefire resolutions.
Although the US argues that the promise of releasing hostages was absent in some resolutions, continuing to support the bombing and decimation of a civilian population until hostages are released is collective punishment. It is a war crime. The release of Israeli hostages should be negotiated separately from a ceasefire against the more than 11,000 Palestinians Israel has taken captive since October 7, 2023.
Given the vital role that the United States plays in sustaining Israel’s massacre in Gaza, it must be considered an active and responsible actor in Israel's wartime initiatives. It is, afterall, American-supplied bombs that are raining on the children of Gaza. It is American-supplied planes that are delivering those bombs, and it is American-supplied bulldozers demolishing Palestinian residences and infrastructure. Furthermore, this is all paid for with American tax-dollars.
It is important to be aware of what exactly the United States is funding. Findings by the United Nations Human Rights Committee concluded that “Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities.”
It has also been estimated that over 800,000 Palestinians in Gaza are projected to face famine. Over 17,000 children have been killed, 31 of 36 hospitals were destroyed and 87.7% of all school buildings were destroyed.
More recently, the United Nations International Criminal Court of Justice has put out arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant on the charges of war crimes. The court’s decision read as follows:
“The Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity, from at least 8 October 2023 to 20 May 2024 ... Finally, the Chamber assessed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear criminal
responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza. In this regard, the Chamber found that the material provided by the Prosecution only allowed it to make findings on two incidents that qualified as attacks that were intentionally directed against civilians.”
Given that the Biden-Harris administration is directly providing Israel the ammunition needed to continue fighting in lieu of human rights violations, the United States holds the power to end the conflict.
With that said, why has the Biden-Harris administration continuously promised a ceasefire while instantaneously providing the weapons that are used to draw out the war? If they truly cared about mitigating harm and stopping combat, they would simply cease their aid to Israel. Their actions demonstrate unparalleled loyalty to their regional partner, even in the face of evident human rights violations. The administration is therefore not dedicated to ending the war and bringing about a cease-fire.
It is clear that while Vice President Kamala Harris was running for president, these statements were in attempts to garner the Arab and Muslim vote in key swing states such as Michigan. Clearly, her voters saw through her false promises.
There is, however, a broader reason why the administration acts like they care about bringing about a cease-fire while actively working against one. The United States must maintain its reputation as a “good” global power to maintain its legitimacy and good-standing among the West’s prominent liberals. To do this, the US has historically pretended to take the humanitarian approach to situations while acting in ways which perpetuate harm, in this case it is pretending to care about bringing about a cease-fire while greatly funding Israel.
Mohammad Mosaddeq was Iran’s last democratically elected leader. Mosaddeq was overthrown by the US and UK government after seeking to nationalize Iranian oil, a major blow to western interests. Of course, the US spread the misleading rhetoric that their involvement in shifting Iranian leadership was for the better interests of Iranians in order to maintain the humane and “good” global power. Following Mosaddeq’s oughsting, the US imposed the corrupt Shah to lead Iran who was shortly thereafter overthrown in the revolution of 1979.
Those seeking to support the actions of the IDF and US’s funding are quick to proclaim that the IDF is the most moral army in the world. They declare that the IDF does the due diligence of dropping pamphlets informing the people in Gaza that their homes will be bombed before they actually are. They claim that Hamas uses Palestinians as human shields and this warrants the IDF’s onslaught of more than 17,000 children.
If it is justifiable for the IDF to bomb a school because a Hamas member is suspected to be there – despite there also being students in the building – why can’t American police forces simply bomb a school when there is a school shooter inside? The logic does not carry over.
This moral army, similar to the US, puts on the facade that it cares about Palestinians and wants to minimize deaths. However, its actions paint a different story.
Designated “safe zones” within Gaza have been routinely bombed, humanitarian aid has been blocked, civilians holding white flags have been shot, jailed Palestinian have been raped and degraded, Khan Younis undergoing settlement and annexation, and in the West Bank, where Hamas does not operate, there have been routine raids, home demolitions and settlement expansions. These actions run contradictory to Netanyahu’s statement that “Israel cares more about Palestinians than their leaders do.”
The United States knowingly turns a blind eye to the current aftermath of their actions when it decides to approve another multi-billion-dollar package financed by American tax-payers to Israel. Recently, while there were discussions of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the US approved another 680 million in arms sales to Israel.
In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, killing around 17,000 individuals and carrying out strikes on hospitals and schools. They also carried out two massacres in a Palestinian refugee camp.
Former US President Ronald Reagan called former prime minister Menachem Begin and declared that the bombings stop. Raegan believed Begin was ‘promoting’ a holocaust. Shortly following this conversation, the bombing ended and a ceasefire came into effect.
This was all achieved despite the US having helped Israel in many of their previous initiatives, including sending a marine unit to Beirut.
Why can’t Biden follow the precedent that Reagan set and call for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza? It could be because the administration does not believe what is happening to Palestinans is detrimental enough to put an end to it. Or, they simply do not care because they are more invested in supporting their ally while portraying itself as the good actor by claiming they are “working around the clock” to bring about a cease fire.
If the administration wanted to cease the war in Gaza, they could with just one phone call. The solution is simple: Stop arming Israel and the war ends.