Don’t let these figures overwhelm you. Please note that when I talk about Israel and Palestine, I am not talking about the good people on both sides who are caught in the crossfire. I am talking about those megalomaniacs that will forever be only interested in pursuing their broken ideas at all costs, or at most profit.
Out of 1.4 million people in Gaza, children make up more than half of the population. Of these, 50,000 were malnourished before the Israeli offensive, with many suffering from anemia. Moreover, according to the World Health Organization, most if not all primary health care services for the population has ceased, including services for vaccination, thereby placing even more at risk for hepatitis and measles.
By Jan. 6, around 800,000 people in North Gaza, Gaza and Middle Area had no running water, according to the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility. Some 430 children were killed, and 1,855 children were injured during the 23-day conflict. At the zenith of displacement, around 28,560 children were in United Nations Relief Works Agency shelters. UNICEF has also stated that only nine bakeries remain open throughout Gaza, with limited supplies that are rationed to households.
Just last month an Iranian aid ship was barred from transporting supplies to Gaza, and in December, the Israeli navy slammed into the United States’ Free Gaza movement’s SS Dignity also bound for Gaza. Thursday in Beirut a Lebanese aid ship bound for Gaza was fired upon and boarded by the Israeli Navy, according to journalists onboard. This ship was trying to deliver about 60 tons of aid in the form of medical supplies, food and children’s toys. Israel has some nerve. In front of the entire world, it has assaulted and stopped a ship from carrying in humanitarian supplies.
In fact, Israel has closed international access to the territory and its waters, proclaiming the strip a blocked military zone. It has not allowed aid vessels entrance to Gaza since the offensive began in late December. And what about Sderot, the chief Israeli victim of the rocket attacks? Well, Sderot was built on a Palestinian village named Najd, a town that was bulldozed and ethnically cleansed by Jewish terrorists in May 1948. More than 600 villagers were forced to flee from their homes. According to U.N. Resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Palestinian Arabs have a right to return home. Israel refuses to recognize their rights and will not allow their return. After all, to what can they return? The 82 homes in Najd were bulldozed, along with the utter destruction of more than 10,000 homes in 418 other Palestinian villages. Most of these residents are now seemingly refugees in Gaza.
Less than a month ago, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with the House of Representatives passed a resolution 390 to 5, “recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza.” What does this conflict have to do with America? Well, a lot. In terms of direct aid, America gives $3 billion a year. More than $7 million a day. More than $114 billion since 1949. In just the last 10 years, the United States has sold over $7.2 billion in weapons alone to Israel, with $6.5 billion of that coming from the Foreign Military Financing program that is part of the foreign aid. Because of this, Israel has the largest fleet of F-16s outside the U.S, along with F-15s and F-4s. Through the Excess Defense Articles program, we have also freely given (yes freely) Israel 64,744 M-16A1 rifles, 2,469 M-204 grenade launchers, 1,500 M-2 .50 caliber machine guns and literally tons of ammunition. They have also acquired Blackhawk, Sea Stallion, Cobra and Apache helicopters. The list can go on and on.
I do not say all that to make an argument against the right of Israel or any other country to defend itself, but it is important to note how Israel is using our military aid. Israel has attacked first in all but one of its conflicts. This is in direct defiance of the Arms Export Control Act, which requires U.S. weapons be used in legitimate self defense. Does legitimate self defense include the killing and maiming of thousands in Lebanon with American-made cluster bombs, with 90 percent of these strikes occurring in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when it was known there would be a resolution?
How about Israel’s use of our so-called “aid” to fund an arms industry that has now won the right to require the Defense Department and contractors to buy Israeli-made equipment? How about in 1954 when Israel tried to bomb U.S., British and Egyptian government offices in the hopes that Muslims would be blamed? How about in 1963, when Sen. William Fulbright discovered Israel’s funneling of U.S. aid back into U.S. pro-Israel lobbying firms and media campaigns advocating even more taxpayer backed funding? And how about the thousands of jobs and billions of dollars lost during the U.S. recession induced by the Arab oil embargo in 1973 that was in retaliation to the Arab defeat in the conflict that attempted to regain lands taken by Israel? I wish I could keep going. Maybe next week.
Israel has robbed us, America. It has robbed us financially and economically, taken advantage of our military, bloodied our hands unnecessarily and ruined our moral and diplomatic character in the Middle East region. It has taken our aid and done nothing but destabilize and create backlash and resentment toward the United States, a backlash so strong that terrorists use it as justification. There is a reason why some of our most brilliant minds have advocated isolationism.
Granted, all of this I have just written goes with a grain of salt, for a lack of a phrase less cliché. Maybe all of this is completely necessary. After all, I’m not running the show, and I don’t know anything. I’m just a kid. All I can do is talk.
But is it true? In America can we really criticize God more easily than we can Israel?
Julio Cespedes is a junior majoring in biological engineering. He can be contacted at [email protected].