3rd Thursday Middle East Action Alert: Call on the US Congress to Block Sales of Military Aid to Israel; Ask candidates for elected office about how they will approach the war in the Middle East

More than a year has passed since Israel declared war on Gaza, in response to the deaths of 1200 Israelis and more than 200 taken hostage.  Since then, more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and nearly 100,000 injured.  The UN also estimates that 1.9 million people, out of the total population of 2.3 million, have been displaced from their homes and communities, some multiple times.  Almost all of the population in Gaza is suffering from or at high risk of food insecurity and famine.  Israel’s military campaign has intensified in the West Bank and expanded to Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, and Syria, in addition to its April strike in Iran.  More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced and over 1000 killed in these last weeks. 

Last month, it was widely reported that USAID and the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration submitted assessments to Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this year that Israel deliberately blocks humanitarian aid – food and medicine – into Gaza.  Such an assessment would automatically result in the US cutting off military assistance.  President Biden and Sec. Blinken ignored those assessments of their own staff and in May, Sec. Blinken stated in a Congressional hearing, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”  In addition to the ethical problems of denying aid to people in desperate need and setting aside such internal assessments, the continued provision of military assistance, therefore, is in violation of US law.

In addition to human death and injury, Israel’s campaign has resulted in the massive destruction of homes, communities, and infrastructure in Gaza, Southern Lebanon and Beirut.  Bombs and missiles have destroyed programs in places where our churches support partner programs, and where the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported infrastructure for many years in Lebanon and Gaza.  The irony, therefore, is that US tax-payer money has been allocated to US military aid to Israel, and US-made planes, missiles, and other weaponry is being used to destroy the lives and communities that have been built there.

The US has supported a campaign to vaccinate Palestinian children in Gaza against polio, a disease that had been eradicated there more than a quarter-century ago.  The campaign has largely been successful.  Such a model must be used to provide for the safe delivery of sufficient nutritional and medical aid in Gaza to relieve the desperate humanitarian crisis.

Since last October, the US has spent at least $17.9 billion on military aid for Israel, according to a report from Brown University’s “Costs of War” project.  In August, the State Department announced the approval of $20 billion in new arms sales to Israel, including F-15 fighter jets, medium-range, tank ammunition, and high explosive mortars and tactical vehicles.  On Sept. 25, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a Joint Resolution of Disapproval (S.J. Res. 112), co-sponsored by Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Brian Schatz (D-HI).  If adopted, the resolution would block the $20 billion sale.

The US must no longer supply military aid and support to Israel.  Contact your senators and representative and urge them to support this Joint Resolution of Disapproval.

The United States is in the final weeks before election day. In some states, in-person and mail-in voting has already started.  Candidates – both incumbents and challengers – will be holding town hall meetings in their districts.  As the war in the Middle East rages on, you can take the opportunity of such fora to ask, and press, candidates on their positions related to the Middle East.  Three sample questions follow:

1. Israel’s war on Gaza has lasted more than a year, and resulted in the death of more than 11,000 children, according to the UN.  That number is likely to be conservative.  Will you support a cease fire and an end to US military aid and assistance to save countless more lives and future generations, and uphold US (and international) laws?
2. Israel’s war on Gaza has lasted more than a year, and almost all of the population in Gaza is suffering from or is at high risk of food insecurity and famine.  According to State Department and USAID assessments, Israel has deliberately denied the entry of food and medical relief.  Three-quarters of Gaza’s hospitals are out of service and the remaining hospitals are overburdened with greatly diminished capacity and supplies.  Will you support robust humanitarian aid, including the restoration of funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) – as the UK, Germany, France, and others have done – and press for safe access for its delivery and for medical care for the people in need?
3. The war in the Middle East extends in scope from Gaza and the West Bank to Lebanon, and beyond.  The US has supplied or sold the weaponry Israel has used to kill tens of thousands and displace millions of people.  Will you support an immediate end to this war and a demilitarization of the Middle East region, perhaps the most heavily militarized regions in the world?

Sample letter to your Senator and Congressional representative:

Dear ____,

More than a year has passed since Israel declared war on Gaza, in response to the deaths of 1200 Israelis and more than 200 taken hostage.  Since then, more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and nearly 100,000 injured. Almost all of the population in Gaza is suffering from or at high risk of food insecurity and famine. 

Last month, it was widely reported that USAID and the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration submitted assessments to Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this year that Israel deliberately blocks humanitarian aid – food and medicine – into Gaza.  Such an assessment would automatically result in the US cutting off military assistance.

In addition to the ethical problems of denying aid to people in desperate need and setting aside such internal assessments, the continued provision of military assistance, therefore, is in violation of US law.

Since last October, the US has spent at least $17.9 billion on military aid for Israel, according to a report from Brown University’s “Costs of War” project.  In August, the State Department announced the approval of $20 billion in new arms sales to Israel, including F-15 fighter jets, medium-range, tank ammunition, and high explosive mortars and tactical vehicles.

On Sept. 25, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a Joint Resolution of Disapproval (S.J. Res. 112), co-sponsored by Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Brian Schatz (D-HI).  If adopted, the resolution would block the $20 billion sale.

As a person of faith and as a US taxpayer, I do not believe the US should continue to supply military aid and support to Israel.  I therefore write to urge you to support S.J. Res. 112, the Joint Resolution of Disapproval, or a parallel resolution in the House, to block the most recent $20 billion sale of military equipment and arms to Israel.

Sincerely,