Advertisements There is a promising bill in the House of Representatives, brought by Betty McCollum of Minnesota, that would *gasp* require that Israel obey U.S. law in its use of U.S. military aid. [A bill which counts ReThinking Foreign Policy among its supporting organizations] While the political power to seeContinue Reading
There is no rational justification for Israel to simply be exempted from U.S. laws regarding the aid we give. As the largest recipient of aid over the past thirty years, we should expect Israel to honor U.S. law to the letter. This letter demands just that, and given the amount of harm that home demolitions do to Palestinian civilians, the overwhelming majority of whom have committed no violation worse than building without a permit, it is long overdue.Continue Reading
It is useful to bring the idea of using aid to leverage Israel into recognizing Palestinian rights not because that alone will force Israel to change but because it is a component of building the public support, and, crucially, the policy debate that moves U.S. foreign policy from its focus on coercion and warfare to achieve its ends. That’s how we work toward a policy of leading by promoting universal human rights through international law.Continue Reading
The conditions for a two-state vision, such as the one Bill Clinton envisioned in his late and unlamented Parameters, are now two decades in the past. We must start basing our goals on current conditions. The supporters of Israeli policies have been doing that for years while we live in the past. And that’s why they’ve been winning.Continue Reading
A campaign to reduce or eliminate U.S. aid to Israel, or narrower campaigns to tie that aid to specific policy demands, could do a lot to promote dialogue about U.S. policy toward Israel, even if it doesn’t achieve its broader objectives. If advocates undertake campaigns with that understanding, they may find the collateral benefits worth the effort.Continue Reading
