US Criticized for Continued Arms Sales to Israel, Gaza Killings
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Alaina
- . December 9, 2023
- . Update: December 9, 2023 3:34 pm
A former US State Department official John Paul has called out Washington for its double standard in war in Gaza, compared to the Ukraine war. In 2022, the world watched millions of Ukrainians flee Russian strikes with the UK and broader Europe opening their borders to let in Ukrainian refugees.
The opposite is for Palestinians fleeing Israeli strikes in Gaza. Israel has the support of the US, UK and other western countries to kill innocent civilians and labeling the killed Hamas. Paul, who resigned because of US’s continued military assistance to Israel, has raised objections to continued bombardment and blockade of Gaza.
He said very little has been done to regulate arms sales to Israel. Highlighting the arms sales to Ukraine following the Russian invasion, Paul said the difference in the way Ukraine and Israel are treated is being turning heads.
US Double Standards
The former director of congressional and public affairs at the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs called out US’s double standards. “And what this has led to is an unwillingness of the global South to stand with us increasingly on Ukraine, to say, ‘why should we vote with you against Russia in the United Nations when your hypocrisy is so blatant, when you are not standing up for the Palestinians?”
Paul believes it’s not the job of the government to provide emotional responses. “It’s the job of the government to be rational, to think through consequences, and that’s what I think a lot was missing.”
Simon Tisdall, foreign affairs commentator, said there are multiple US laws that require monitoring and cutting off military aid to countries that use it to violate human rights and commit war crimes. “This raises the question of why Biden is creating an entirely separate mechanism to enforce the same standards American lawmakers and his own administration created.
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Conditions on US Aid to Israel
However, with the civilian death toll rising in Gaza, Senate Democrats are looking at placing conditions on US aid to Israel. They are pushing the amendment to address the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Sources say the proposal highlights Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s initial resistance to allowing humanitarian aid to enter Gaza Strip in the early days of the conflict. The legislation spotlights existing US law that bans aid to any country that prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance.
But a majority of Democrats are against the idea of conditioning aid for Israel. Some say it would undermine Israel’s ability to defend itself and signal to the world that US’s support for its ally is weakening.
