But two other senators are more concerned with altering Iran's behavior.

Highlights: Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday the United States should use aid to Israel as leverage to force its government to change its approach.

“If you want this money, you got to change your military strategy, Sanders (I-Vt.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about a possible aid package for Israel to be considered by the Senate.

But the two senators who followed Sanders on that program were much more concerned about what Iran might be up to than what Israel is doing. Sanders condemned both Hamas (“an awful terrorist organization”) and the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (whom he hopes will be voted out), calling for a two-state solution to the intractable crisis but not specifying how to create a path forward without Hamas, Netanyahu or war.

While decrying empty slogans on both sides of the conflict, Sanders also declined to endorse or condemn Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-Mich.) criticism of President Joe Biden — she accused him of supporting “genocide” — even as he said attention needed to be paid to the rhetoric of Republicans on the subject, citing former President Donald Trump.

“If anyone thinks that Trump is going to be better than Biden on this issue or any other issue, for that matter, I think they are sorely mistaken,” he said.

  • derphurr@lemmy.world
    192·
    1 year ago

    but we need to ensure that aid … isn’t just used to make some billionaires in another country even richer

    For one thing the paultry tens of millions of aid to Gaza/West Bank are audited and mostly goes towards roads and water.

    For another, how many billionaires has US aid to Israel created? https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf

    To date, the United States has provided Israel $158 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. At present, almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance; from 1971 to 2007, Israel also received significant economic assistance.

    In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed their third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid, covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledged to provide—subject to congressional appropriation—$38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel.

    There are no audits of the monies Israel collects, and no penalty for even destroying the USS Liberty or stealing nuclear technology.

    At the very least US needs to suspend the arms and money because of

    Section 502B(a)(2) of the FAA (22 U.S.C. §2304(a)(2)) stipulates that, absent the exercise of certain presidential waivers due to extraordinary circumstances, “no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”