Rethinking Israel's Blank Check in Light of Palestinian Teen's Death with US
Weapon
As Americans become increasingly critical of the Israeli government, foreign
assistance is put under a new microscope.
by Jessica Buxbaum
February 26th, 2021
Mint Press
By Jessica Buxbaum
JERUSALEM - Last year, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager with an
American gun. Now human rights organizations, activists, and politicians are
calling on the United States to investigate the killing and stop the flow of
military support to Israel.
On Dec. 4, 2020, Israeli forces fatally shot Ali Abu Aliya in the stomach
while he was watching a protest against the establishment of a new
settlement in the West Bank. It was his fifteenth birthday. According to
Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCIP), Aliya wasn't
participating in the demonstration and did not pose a threat to Israeli
soldiers.
"Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in
circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is
present," DCIP said. "However, investigations and evidence collected by DCIP
regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian
children in circumstances that do not appear to be warranted and may amount
to extrajudicial or [willful] killings."
Aliya's death drew international condemnation and prompted the Israeli
military police to launch a criminal investigation. In the U.S., calls are
growing for President Joe Biden's administration to investigate Aliya's
killing, given that he was shot with a weapon made on American soil.
American dollars fueling human rights abuses
Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, acquiring an
estimated $3.8 billion annually in aid. Roughly $800 million of the funds is
dedicated to purchasing weaponry from inside Israel. In addition to American
dollars maintaining Israel's occupation of Palestine, American weapons are
also being used in the deadly violence against Palestinians.
Aliya was shot with a Ruger rifle, a gun manufactured in the U.S. by
Connecticut-based Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. This isn't the first instance
of the Ruger firearm being used by the Israel Defense Forces. The Ruger
10/22, the semiautomatic sniper rifle that killed Aliya, has been used by
Israeli forces as far back as 1987 during the First Intifada (Palestinian
uprising against the Israeli occupation). Despite Sturm, Ruger & Co.'s code
of ethics, the company has a distribution partnership with Israel.
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The Arms Export Control Act and the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 contain
provisions barring the sale of American weaponry to countries engaging in
gross violations of human rights. And under the nation's Leahy Law, the U.S.
government is prohibited from providing assistance to foreign security
forces committing human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killing.
With these laws in mind, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) - along with
29 human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International USA, and DCIP - sent a letter to the State Department urging
the agency investigate Aliya's death "as a possible case of extrajudicial
killing that is subject to sanctions under the Leahy Law."
"The United States is obligated to investigate whether our tax dollars have
contributed to gross violations of human rights," AMP's advocacy director,
Raed Jarrar, told MintPress News. "Every year around 1,000 foreign units
will get suspended," Jarrar said. "It's a very strong system that works very
well in other parts of the world, but it has not been implemented a single
time in Israel."
The State Department responded to AMP's letter addressing military training
in the U.S. but not the larger issue of the U.S.'s yearly, billion-dollar
military aid package to Israel. Currently, AMP is drafting a coalition
response to the State Department. "What we are trying to do now is to say
'enough is enough,'" Jarrar said. "It is time to hold Israel and all other
foreign countries accountable. It's time to hold all countries to the same
standard."
For Jarrar, the Biden administration's decision on whether to follow through
with the AMP letter's requests is not just a matter of morality but a matter
of law. "If the Biden administration chooses to break U.S. law and continue
to equip and arm foreign units accused of gross violations of human rights,
that will not only be a political issue, it'll also be a legal violation,"
Jarrar said.
A new administration, a new congress: greater accountability?
Human rights organizations aren't the only ones pushing for an end to
military support to Israel in light of Aliya's killing. Just a few days
after Aliya's death, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) entered a statement into the
Congressional Record, calling on the then "incoming administration of
President-Elect Biden to investigate Israel's killing of Ali Abu Aalya, as
well as Israel's ongoing pattern of using state sponsored military violence
against Palestinian children." McCollum explained:
Members of Congress and the American people deserve to know whether U.S.
taxpayer funding to Israel's Ministry of Defense is being used directly or
indirectly to facilitate or enable violence against Palestinian children.
Committing human rights abuses with impunity and with U.S. taxpayer aid is
intolerable and there must be accountability on the part of the U.S.
Government."
McCollum introduced a bill in 2019 and a bill in 2020, both of which focus
on U.S. military funding to Israel. Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian
Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act bars foreign funds
from being used for the military detention, interrogation, abuse, or
ill-treatment of children. The bill currently has 24 cosponsors. The Israeli
Annexation Non-Recognition Act, currently with 11 cosponsors, bans certain
funds from supporting activities in West Bank areas annexed by Israel and
activities facilitating annexation.
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Grassroots activists are pressuring congressional leaders to stop the flow
of American weapons to Israel. The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
launched a call to action demanding Congress hold Israel accountable and
cease arms sales. And, on a more local level, Massachusetts Peace Action
released a similar direct-action initiative for Massachusetts residents to
urge their representatives to support the aforementioned bills.
The U.S. has been a great ally to Israel since the state's inception, with
some experts even arguing that Israel can't survive without American
financial support. But as Americans become increasingly critical of the
Israeli government, foreign assistance is put under a microscope.
Recent polls have shown that Americans-particularly Democrats, Millennials,
and Gen-Z'ers-believe Israel has too much influence on American politics and
support conditioning aid to Israel. This public shift is reflected in
congressional support. "There's been a really magnificent movement in
Congress in the last two years." AMP's Jarrar said, continuing:
When I moved to Washington, D.C. 15 years ago, we used to have four or five
members of Congress willing to step outside of the pro-Israel, hardcore
line. And now sometimes we have 50 or 60 members of Congress who sign on to
letters demanding accountability and justice in Israel and Palestine. So,
the tide is definitely shifting and this administration feels the heat from
Congress and change will come."
Whether it's Rep. McCollum, "the squad," or Sen. Bernie Sanders, more and
more of Congress' progressive wing is speaking out against Israel's actions.
The majority of Americans and Congress are still largely supportive of
Israel, but voices from the pro-Palestinian camp are getting louder.
With a slew of domestic problems spurred by the coronavirus, Americans want
greater transparency when it comes to how their tax dollars are spent. And
they appear less willing to tolerate their government's complicity in human
rights abuses in foreign nations.
"Public opinion has been shifting not only on Israel, but on the idea that
the United States government can give its allies a blank check," Jarrar
said. "There's a clear movement saying our government has to stop
contributing to human rights abuses abroad. And Israel is no exception to
that."
