According to the Congressional Research Service, as of November 2020, Israel was the largest recipient of U.S. Foreign Military Financing. For Fiscal Year 2021, President Trump’s request for Israel would encompass approximately 59 percent of America’s total requested Foreign Military Financing worldwide. For decades now, the U.S. has had several Memoranda of Understanding consisting of tens of billions of dollars in its military aid package to Israel. As a result of U.S. financial assistance, Israel also has been allowed to purchase 50 F-35s fighter jets in three separate contracts and missile defense systems. In all, these annual military grants to Israel significantly represent approximately 20 percent of the overall Israeli defense budget.
Needless-to-day, the above appropriations suggest that the U.S. government should have some clout in terms of dealing with Israeli interactions with Palestinians. Indeed, in May of this year, President Biden made an unusually blunt demand that Israel de-escalate its military attack on Gaza, creating a bit of a rare rift between the two countries. Then there is the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem where nearly three million Palestinians are living. Nearly 140 unauthorized settler outposts were built there in recent decades in the West Bank, taking over lands lived on by Palestinians for centuries. Much like former Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the new right-wing Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, appears once again to support the settlers.
What is troubling over recent months, it has recently been disclosed by the Israeli military at the defense ministry that Israeli settlers have dramatically increased their attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. They further note that violent incidents by settlers are up about 150 percent in the past two years. Remember that the Israeli army is in charge of security in areas of the occupied West Bank where Israeli settlements are located. However, observers, including Israeli human rights groups, have testified that soldiers frequently do little to intervene during the hate incidents against Palestinians. Advocates also claim that crimes by Palestinians are aggressively prosecuted while settler violence typically goes unpunished. By making life difficult for Palestinians who have lived in the these territories for generations, whether or not settler violence is part an overall strategy of expanding Israel’s presence is hopefully far from the truth. Some suspect that it may not be.
Yes, anyone studying the history between Israelis and Palestinians recognizes that the issues are fairly complex. However, with the evident clout that the U.S. has with respect to supporting Israel’s military, you would think that the Americans might do more to pressure the Israeli government to do more immediately to protect Palestinians in areas under their control. Settlements that are illegal under Israeli law should be dismantled and greater protective measures should be implemented for the Palestinians. Failure to do so could prove to be a blemish on human rights not only in Israel, but also for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. When it comes to improving relations between Israelis and Palestinians, the Biden administration should attempt to revive America’s former role as a more neutral mediator in the Middle East’s most protracted conflict.
FROLITICKS 