We have reached a novel point of contention regarding Israel; should America place conditions on any money, weapons, or resources sent? My knee-jerk response is an unequivocal yes, “Yes!”
Why of course! All of the stuff we send to other countries should come with the condition that it is not used to slay the innocent, destroy valuable infrastructure, and make life hell for others. On the contrary, our aid should be used to promote freedom and happiness across the globe. So, especially in this matter of Israel pummeling Palestinians to the point that 5000+ children have been slain and over 50% of northern Gaza is rubble, we should definitely withhold any aid unless Israel intends to resolve the conflict sometime soon.
But this begs the question: have conditions ever been placed on American aid before? Not really. For instance, Saudi Arabia receives a lot of weapons from the USA and generally uses them to pummel Yemen and nearby regions into dust. The Syrian refugee crisis, one of the largest displacement crises in history, is propelled in part because Saudi Arabia provides arms to rebel groups within Syria. Our fingerprints are all over this stuff, but it isn’t until now that public outcry has lead us to question our weapons dealings abroad. One might be lead to think that antisemitism drives criticism of Israel given that America has never before questioned the intention of foreign governments acquiring our weaponry. Are Jews undeserving while the Saudi royalty is? Of course not, but I can see where some might draw that conclusion. Scrutiny against Israel has seemingly never been higher, despite the fact that Israel and many other countries have been committing war crimes on America’s dime for a long time.
What is it about this particular conflict, Israel versus Palestine, that so invigorates us, while we are numb to others? I don’t know broadly, and I can’t speak for others on this issue. Personally, I have been following the tension between Israel and Palestine since I was a kid. And even when I was a supposedly impressionable youth sitting in the synagogue listening to my rabbi claim that everyone in the world wanted us dead, I questioned. It seemed like conservative Jews were being made to feel that somehow the survival of Israel spoke for the survival of all Jews (even though Israel itself seemed always very far from annihilation, always militarily dominant and backed by the USA). Now that the full vengeance of Israel is on display for the whole world to see, I feel that I was right to question. What Israel is doing right now in Gaza is nothing short of genocide–calling on millions of Palestinians to leave their homes and pilgrimage south to live in camps–bombing hospitals, schools, and living quarters into dust–bombing fleeing civilians dead as they try to find safety–hemming an entire population into a small region and refusing their right to freely leave. And all of this AFTER 75 years of settler violence and the steady exile of the Palestinian people to the small regions that now remain to them. Jews across the world should be appalled that the country claiming to represent us is willing to commit acts so deranged and clearly evil.
The word we hear from Israel’s government does not suggest that they are actively working to end this conflict in any way other than violent domination. Tellingly, Israel uses the American military response to 9/11 to justify its own actions today. Doing such a thing is nothing short of an abuse of history, because the Iraq war has been unilaterally recognized to be an utter mistake. Bush himself has admitted to such. Israel is making its own mistake now, and the Israeli government should stop immediately and pursue a more meaningful path toward peace as soon as possible.
So to conclude, yes, we should not give Israel one cent unless they promise to resume consistent, mandatory peace talks with Palestine with the ultimate goal of connecting Gaza to the West Bank. It is not until Palestinians have a place to call home that it will be possible for a real Palestinian government to form that is not driven by resentment and blood lust (cough ahem Hamas). On a larger scale, *all* American foreign aid should hinge on this same ideal. We should not be selling weapons to anybody unless there is a clear path to peace that can be pursued (looking at you Saudi Arabia). Otherwise, we propel geopolitical conflicts into eternity.