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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (2741)	8/14/2001 6:04:27 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 23908

Re: Yeah... the gall of Gustave claiming Israel is a stratocracy. A petition that Mr Ron Jewisher-than-you Hawkmoon will not sign.... American Jewish Petition to Suspend U.S. Military Aid to Israel We, the undersigned American Jews, call upon the U.S. government to suspend military aid to Israel until Israel ends its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Israel continues to use U.S. arms against civilians in violation of U.S. and international law. As Americans, we do not want our foreign aid dollars used to deprive Palestinians of justice and human rights. As Jews, although we support a democratic Israel, we must criticize its security policies that have the effect of making it less safe, not more.We believe that U.S. military aid to Israel harms all the peoples of the Middle East as well as the U.S. itself. We further believe that Israel should not receive U.S. military or economic aid unless it complies with the same laws and meets the same standards as other aid recipients. We believe that if military aid is suspended, and economic aid is based on actual need and subjected to normal congressional supervision, Israel will reduce violations of human rights, respond less belligerently to its situation, and move towards full membership in the community of nations. [...] Fact Sheet about U.S. Aid to Israel U.S. transfers billions of our tax dollars to Israel: More U.S. aid goes to Israel (population 6 million) than any other country. In total, we give Israel more than 30% of our total world-wide bilateral aid. Each year we provide $2 billion in direct military aid, $840 million in direct economic aid, and $2 billion in loan guarantees, a total of more than $13 million every day. Since 1949, we have provided more than $84 billion overall. The economic aid continues even though Israel has a booming economy, with a gross domestic product exceeding that of many European countries deemed to be too wealthy for U.S. aid. The military aid continues even though Israel's army is one of the world's strongest and regularly uses excessive force. U.S. aid harms Palestinians: A large part of U.S. aid to Israel goes to purchase tanks, helicopter gunships, machine guns and bullets that are used against Palestinian civilians. When Palestinian doctors remove bullets from the bodies of Palestinian children, the bullets are typically stamped "Made in the U.S.A." U.S. aid literally pays for the Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, either by directly funding, or by freeing up other monies for, the arms, facilities and salaries of soldiers who enforce the closure of Palestinian towns, man checkpoints, and shoot protestors. U.S. aid harms Israel and Jews everywhere U.S. aid deforms Israeli society by allowing it to maintain itself as an armored garrison rather than a civil society working for a just regional peace. U.S. aid also makes Israel into a U.S. client state. A metaphor from Israeli satirist B. Michael is apt: "My master gives me food to eat and I bite those whom he tells me to bite. It's called strategic cooperation." By making Israel the visible agent of U.S. oppression regionally, Jews everywhere are scapegoated, such in Saddam Hussein's recent reaction to renewed U.S. bombing of Iraq as the work of "Zionists." U.S. aid continues the military-industrial complex at home Israel is required to use three-quarters of the military aid to buy arms made in the U.S. It funnels this money to more than 1,000 U.S. arms suppliers, which in turn lobby for U.S. policies that benefit them. As a result, the diversion of our tax dollars not only reduces funding for education and social programs but worsens our public policy overall. [snip] jewishvoiceforpeace.org