On March 23rd a Wall Street Journal piece appeared, alleging that an Obama administration official accused Israeli intelligence of spying on close door nuclear talks between the US and Iran and leaking the details to congress. The claim was denied by both Israel and top ranking US Legislators. This comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s successful reelection campaigning in which he voiced clear opposition to a potential Palestinian state. A position he has since back-pedaled on after criticism from the Obama administration. These ongoing tensions have led the Obama administration to public consider withdrawing support for Israel at the UN. Historically the US has Vetoed UN resolutions that would penalize Israel for its treatment of Palestinians or set plans for a future Palestinian state. This is not to mention the billions of dollars American tax payers provide in aid to the Israeli state each year.
The increasingly strained relations between the US and Israel begs the question of why Israel should get any money from the American tax payers in the first place. The Israel is an apartheid state much like South Africa was. A third of the Palestinian people in Israel live under military occupation in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza complete with curfews, concrete walls, military check points, arm guards and watch towers. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from Israel and are unable to return to their homes. The Israeli state treats the Gaza strip as an open air prison and killed over 2000 of its residents in 2014. Americans should not be forced to pay for this mass killing of civilians, ethnic discrimination and religious apartheid.
This is not to condone the violence used by Hamas or other opponents of Israel. Such violence is often used to justify further barbarism form Israel. Nonviolent resistance would do far more to win international support for Palestinian independence. While violence on both sides should be denounced, Israel is by far the stronger party in the conflict and must shoulder the majority of the blame. This is especially true given Israel’s demonstrated preference for managing the conflict rather than ending it and the US’s role as Israel’s enabler. Tragically misguided support for Israel has become a point of competition among American politicians. It also contributes to both anti-Americanism and antisemitism around the world.
Governments by their nature are coercive and intrusive, as such it is little wonder that powerful governments like the United States sponsor violent client states like Israel. Ultimately our goal should be to end coercion and promote peaceful interaction around the world. Abolishing the US government intervention on behalf of Israel should be just one step towards abolishing all forms of coercive government intervention in our lives. Israels government is big government as is it’s partnership with the US. Fortunately support for Israel among Americans is declining. As such it is time to quit forcing them to fund this criminal apartheid state and it’s war hungry leaders. The American people should never have to fund apartheid, military occupations and murder. Furthermore criminal states like Israel should not have the American people as enablers. Ending this unhealthy and costly relationship will free the US tax-payers and force the Israeli state reconsider some of its uglier policies.
