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Bernie Sanders says Senate should use aid package to force Israel to change (www.politico.com)

submitted 1 year ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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Highlights: Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday the United States should use aid to Israel as leverage to force its government to change its approach.

“If you want this money, you got to change your military strategy, Sanders (I-Vt.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about a possible aid package for Israel to be considered by the Senate.

But the two senators who followed Sanders on that program were much more concerned about what Iran might be up to than what Israel is doing. Sanders condemned both Hamas (“an awful terrorist organization”) and the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (whom he hopes will be voted out), calling for a two-state solution to the intractable crisis but not specifying how to create a path forward without Hamas, Netanyahu or war.

While decrying empty slogans on both sides of the conflict, Sanders also declined to endorse or condemn Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-Mich.) criticism of President Joe Biden — she accused him of supporting “genocide” — even as he said attention needed to be paid to the rhetoric of Republicans on the subject, citing former President Donald Trump.

“If anyone thinks that Trump is going to be better than Biden on this issue or any other issue, for that matter, I think they are sorely mistaken,” he said.

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[-] TechyDad@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

Not with Hamas in charge. A lot of aid has flowed to Gaza. The problem is that the Hamas leaders take it for themselves or use it for weapons to launch against Israel. Very little actually reaches the Palestinians. Hamas's leaders are billionaires who live in luxury in Qatar while the Palestinians suffer.

I do agree with you in theory, but we need to ensure that aid actually reaches the Palestinian people and isn't just used to make some billionaires in another country even richer.

[-] derphurr@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

but we need to ensure that aid ... isn't just used to make some billionaires in another country even richer

For one thing the paultry tens of millions of aid to Gaza/West Bank are audited and mostly goes towards roads and water.

For another, how many billionaires has US aid to Israel created? https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf

To date, the United States has provided Israel $158 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. At present, almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance; from 1971 to 2007, Israel also received significant economic assistance.

In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed their third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid, covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledged to provide—subject to congressional appropriation—$38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel.

There are no audits of the monies Israel collects, and no penalty for even destroying the USS Liberty or stealing nuclear technology.

At the very least US needs to suspend the arms and money because of

Section 502B(a)(2) of the FAA (22 U.S.C. §2304(a)(2)) stipulates that, absent the exercise of certain presidential waivers due to extraordinary circumstances, “no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Not with Hamas in charge

If Israel wasn't getting "self defense aid" they likely wouldn't have prevented Gaza from holding elections for the last couple decades...

In the current situation, Israel benefits greatly from Hamas "being in charge" of Gaza, even tho they don't really have any political power.

Like, it's hard to blame Hamas when Israel controls all the infrastructure and borders, and even controls police and what areas ambulances can pass thru.

Neither Hamas nor Israel's current government could exist without the other.

[-] kautau@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They mainly benefit from being a hotspot in a politically charged region where America has interest.

https://theintercept.com/2023/10/27/secret-military-base-israel-gaza-site-512/

Most of the defense spending we send over as “aid” lines defense contractors pockets and allows the US military to have a much larger presence there.

Defense contractors, and most of the politicians voting to support the “aid” that is sent don’t give a shit about Israel’s cause. They want a strong, profitable position in the Middle East, and putting on a front that they are supporting this “free, democratic” ally is a ploy to increase and expand that profit and funding wherever possible

[-] spaceghoti@lemmy.one 12 points 1 year ago

A lot of that could be fixed by making the aid material support like food, clothing, and medicine instead of money.

this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023

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