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Sondos Nemati
Mr. Davis
Gov Period 4
23 October 2015
Defunding Aid to Israel
Since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the United States government has been giving aid to
Israel in the form of military and economic assistance. It has been 67 years of constant giving
from the United States government, which has impacted the government in less than stellar ways
and adds to its long list of involvement in controversial conflicts. Giving aid to a State that is
currently occupying territory and enforcing apartheid on its occupied peoples gives the
impression that the United States supports the same principles Israel does. The United States has
no issue of giving aid to legal States, but it should have an issue with giving aid to States with no
legality, no morality, and no regard for human rights. The Hariyah Act of 2015, which states that
the United States needs to defund aid to Israel as long as it is occupying Palestinian territory,
should become a law because the amount of aid is detrimental to the U.S. government, the U.S.
is giving aid to a State that puts occupied Palestinian lives in danger, and the U.S. is giving aid to
a State that under international law is not a legal State.
The amount of aid the United States has given and is still giving is a serious detriment to
its government, especially when the government is in an extreme amount of debt. The United
States, as of today, is in more than eighteen trillion dollars of debt, and this debt is expected to

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approach 21 trillion dollars by 2019 (U.S. National Debt). This debt can be easily brought down
by cutting out trivial aid, such as the aid given to Israel. To date, the United States has provided
Israel, a country with only 7,707,042 people, 237 billion dollars (current, or non-inflationadjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance, and almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form
of military or economic assistance (Sharp 2). This aid to Israel is mostly used for nuclear
materials, foreign military financing, and resettlement of Jewish migrants (U.S. Aid Israel). The
U.S. is currently in a ten year, 30 billion dollar military aid agreement with the Israeli
government from the period of 2009 to 2018, a military aid package agreed upon by the Bush
Administration in 2007 (Sharp 4). The United States continues to plunge itself into debt by
promising the Israeli government more and more aid, and they have no intention of stopping aid
either. In his recent March 2013 visit to Israel, President Obama pledged that the United States
would continue to provide Israel with multi-year commitments of military aid subject to the
approval of Congress (Schmidt 13). These continuous pledges and commitments show that the
United States government is not regarding its aid to Israel as a reason of its debt, although the aid
given is a huge contributing factor of the U.S. national debt. By cutting out aid to Israel, as long
as it is occupying Palestinian territory, the U.S. would cut down on its national debt by a
tremendous factor, and it would also ensure the human rights of current occupied peoples.
The United States is currently giving 30 billion dollars of military aid to a State that
continuously puts Palestinian lives in danger. In 2014 alone, 2,314 Palestinians were killed in
Gaza, including 1,462 civilians, among them 495 children and 253 women (Occupied Palestinian
Territory). Those numbers, reported by the United Nations, would mean that 69 percent of the
total people killed in Gaza in 2014 were civilians, a percentage that is completely unacceptable
and that should be condemned by the United States through the action of defunding aid to Israel.

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Along with the deaths of 2,314 Palestinians, Israels activities in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and
East Jerusalem resulted in 17,125 injured Palestinians in 2014 (Fragmented Lives). These
numbers continue to rise with recent attacks, such as the attack on a United Nations Relief and
Works Agency (UNWRA) shelter in 2014. Israel's missile strike hit an UNWRA shelter that was
located in a school, and killed nine people, including five children, who sought refuge in the
school-- an act that the UNWRA has strongly condemned because their shelters are known for
only housing unarmed civilians (Gaza Situation Report). These attacks on the Palestinian people
are highly ironic because the Israeli government claims they are trying to get rid of "terrorists",
but in reality, they are killing and eradicating innocent Palestinians. These attacks on the
Palestinian people are also very heinous because these attacks occur mostly towards youths since
60 percent of Palestinians living in Palestine are under eighteen years old (Gaza Strip Factbook).
The Israeli government has continuously violated the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states
that you can never target civilians in time of war, especially women and children (Convention
IV). The Israeli government, along with frequent attacks, have a complete disregard towards
Palestinians in the form of apartheid segregation and serious human rights violations. The
Palestinian people have dealt with human rights violation and segregation resulting from
frequent military incursions, Palestinian ID checkpoints, the construction of the Wall that
separates Israel and the West Bank, house demolitions, and farmland takeovers (Human Rights
Council). Over 500 checkpoints and roadblocks obstruct freedom of movement within occupied
Palestinian territories, and the Wall being built in East Jerusalem is an instrument of social
engineering designed to achieve the Judaization of Jerusalem by reducing the number of
Palestinians in the city (Human Rights Council). The attacks, segregation, and human rights
violations towards Palestinian people by the Israeli government is tied to the United States

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because of its military aid, and this gives the impression that the United States doesn't condemn
these acts, which they have done time and time again. By defunding aid to Israel, the United
States can get uninvolved with Israel's controversial tactics, and it can give back the aid if and
only if Israel stops occupying Palestinian territory-- something that makes Israel an illegal State.
The United States is giving a colossal amount of aid to a State that isn't even a legal State.
Numerous UN resolutions, including 446, 452, 465, 471, and 476, have stated that the building
and existence of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and he Golan Heights are a
violation of international law, and these settlements have no legal validity under the Fourth
Geneva Convention (Playfair 97) (Security Council Resolutions). This means that legally,
although Israel claims it is a State, Israel is not a state and has never been a state. The illegality
of Israel as a State started in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 when Israel claimed it had a right to
create a Jewish State in already Palestinian land. This claim lead to more than 720,000
Palestinians expelled from their homes, Palestinian land being illegally occupied by the Israeli
government, and harsh human rights violations (Pappe 87). The occupation of Palestine and
establishment of civilian settlements for Israeli's by military commanders were at first temporary
measures needed for military and security purposes in 1948, but these "temporary" measures
ended up being permanent for the last 67 years (Schmidt 11). By giving even a small amount of
aid to Israel, the United States shows its support of Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine, and
with the amount of Aid the U.S. has given, it shows that it fully backs Israel's controversial
decisions-- something that the U.S. should not support.
There are two major counter-arguments to why the Hariyah Act of 2015 should not
become a law, and those counter-arguments say that Israel is a legal State and that the United

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States supports Israel's attacks on Palestinians because Israel is trying to get rid of "terrorists"
that put Israel in danger. Both of these counter-arguments are incredibly wrong and come from
people who haven't researched Israel's history and its use of weapons that come from U.S. aid.
Legally, Israel is not a State according to numerous UN resolutions (Playfair 97). It is also not a
State because of its direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the
protection of civilian people during times of war (Security Council Resolutions) (Convention
IV). The State of Israel's original intention was not to create a State, but to occupy Palestinian
land temporarily for military and security purposes, but this intention grew for a thirst of land
and an occupation of almost 90% of Palestinian land (Schmidt 11). This means that Israel's status
of a State is under no circumstances legal or valid. Another argument against this Act is that the
United States supports Israel's attacks on Palestinians because the Israeli government has stated
numerous times it is trying to eradicate "terrorism" that threatens Israel. This is also completely
false because of Israel's actions and frequent attacks on innocent civilians. Israel cannot
distinguish between so-called terrorists and civilians because 69 percent of the people they have
killed are civilians, and who are mostly women and children (Occupied Palestinian Territory).
Israel claims that it only attacks "terrorists" to protect the security of Israel, but this is also
completely false since in 2014 alone there have been 2,314 Palestinian deaths and 17,125 injured
Palestinians, but there have been no Israeli deaths and 3 injured Israeli's (Fragmented Lives).
This ratio of Palestinian lives affected and Israeli lives affected makes the counter-argument of
supporting Israel's decision to eradicate "terrorists" to make Israel safer completely phony. These
counter-arguments have been refuted countless of times with the use of proper research instead
of using opinions-- which the opposing side uses to base their arguments off of.

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The Hariyah Act of 2015, which states that United States needs to defund aid to Israel as
long as it is occupying Palestinian territory, should become a law because the amount of aid
given furthers the United States into debt, the US is giving aid to a State that denies basic human
rights to its occupied Palestinian people, and the US is giving aid to a State that under
international law has absolutely no validity. This issue is not just between Israel, Palestine, and
the United States; it's an issue between the world and peace. By having the United States support
Israel through its military and economic aid, it shows that it wants no part in having lasting
peace. Defunding aid to Israel as long as it is occupying Palestinian territory would show Israel
that the United States does not support its inhumane human rights violation, its illegality as a
state, and it would show that the United States will only support Israel once it starts abiding by
UN rules and the Geneva Conventions-- things that the United States fully abides by.

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Works Cited
Book:
1. Pappe, Ilan. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Oxford: Oneworld, 2006. Print.
2. Playfair, Emma. International Law and the Administration of Occupied Territories: Two
Decades of Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Oxford: Clarendon,
1992. Print.
3. Sharp, Jeremy M. "U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel." Congressional Research Service (2015):
Print.
4. Schmidt, Yvonne. Foundations of Civil and Political Rights in Israel and the Occupied
Territories. Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2014. Print
Web:
1. "Convention IV." International Committee of the Red Cross. International Committee of
the Red Cross, 12 Aug. 1949. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
<https://www.icrc.org/ihl/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c12
5641e004aa3c5>.
2. "Fragmented Lives." Fragmented Intimacy (2014): 125-48. United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs. Web.

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<http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/annual_humanitarian_overview_2014_english_final
.pdf>
3. "Gaza Situation Report 27 | UNRWA.org " UNRWA. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.
<http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/emergency-reports/gaza-situation-report-27>
4. "Gaza Strip Factbook." Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d.
Web. 17 Oct. 2015. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/gz.html>.
5. "Human Rights Council." United Nations. United Nations, 29 Jan. 2007. Web. 17 Oct.
2015. <http://daccess-ddsny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G07/105/44/PDF/G0710544.pdf?OpenElement>.
6. "Occupied Palestinian Territory: Gaza Emergency." (2014): n. pag. United Nations Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs. Web.
<https://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_sitrep_23_07_2014.pdf>
7. "Security Council Resolutions: Israel." UnitedNations.org United Nations Web.
<http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/1979/scres79.htm>
8. "US Aid to Israel." USAID.gov. USAID Web. 22 Sept. 2015
<https://explorer.usaid.gov/country-detail.html#Israel>
9. "U.S. National Debt." The White House. The White House, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2015.
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/infographics/us-national-debt>.