Thanks for the comment. I appreciate what appears to be an earnest attempt at understanding and dialogue, and I welcome that—sadly it’s not something often seen among people who consider themselves “pro-Palestinian activists.”

I’m going to take what you wrote line by line. First of all, I’d like to clarify that you have every right as an American taxpayer to opine on anything your tax dollars fund; opining on the volume and nature of aid to an allied nation is not the same as opining on “anti-Zionism,” or rather questioning the right of Israel to exist (and to defend itself).

For that reason, I would not take issue with people like many libertarians (though I would strongly politically disagree with them) who would universally and unconditionally oppose aid of any kind to foreign countries, regardless of diplomacy, because their values are squarely isolationist and individualistic. Not my cup of tea (and IMO more than a little selfish), but it’s not selectively applied based on consciously or subconsciously racist or prejudicial criteria.

Do you disagree with military aid to Ukraine? Because that would be the closest example to the United States’ military aid to Israel. I suspect not, and I suspect that you would scoff at the comparison, because you quite audaciously compared Israel aid most similarly to… Saudi Arabia? Is that a joke?

Let’s be very clear here. You are chalking up Israel’s response to an attempted genocide of its people which, in one day, left more than 1200 civilians dead (with many more raped, tortured, injured, displaced and kidnapped—where 100 remain kidnapped and tens of thousands remain displaced – and more Israeli civilians are injured and killed through missile and drone attacks every day) to “military adventurism”?

You may not comprehend this, as an American citizen whose neighbors aren’t actively trying to rape, maim, torture, kidnap, butcher and bomb you and your family every day of your existence, but Isreal’s war (and this is a war – that they did not start. There was a ceasefire on October 6, 2023) is a fight for their very existence.

The only thing “experimental” (though certainly not reckless, despite the devastating error margin) is trying against unfathomable odds to diminish civilian casualties in spite of a craven enemy who deliberately hides among civilians, knowing that every “martyr” is an asset to their cause and further contributes to an erroneous blood libel that Israel is committing “genocide” against Palestinians.

Indeed, the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point has pointed out that, contrary to popular antisemite logic, Israel has literally set an unprecedented standard in minimizing civilian casualties in urban warfare.

https://www.newsweek.com/israel-has-created-new-standard-urban-warfare-why-will-no-one-admit-it-opinion-1883286

That doesn’t mean there haven’t been innumerable devastating civilian casualties (among other valid human rights concerns that are typical of the horrific conditions of war); but if Israel wanted to “recklessly” genocide the Palestinian people, this war would have been over on October 8th. They have every bit of military capacity within their arsenal and expertise to wipe out every single person on the Gaza Strip. Yet they do not.

At least 17,000 Hamas militants have been killed; that means that some 26,000 civilians have also been killed, which is horrific and should disturb everyone who values human rights. And yet, again, this is an ugly and devastating reality of war. 3.8 million civilians died in Germany in WW2, and that is profoundly sad – but it was also the cost of a victory against what might otherwise be today a global Nazi Reich.

The numbers are considerably lower (due to a variety of factors), but Ukrainians have also killed and injured Russian civilians in the conflict. Does that make them equally guilty for what Russia has wrought upon them? No, because the Russians attacked Ukraine – full stop. They have a right to defend themselves; yes, it matters how, but war is ugly, and will always fundamentally by nature of being WAR involve ugly, lethal consequences and devastating collateral damage.

I find it quite odd that you claim to be concerned with paying for other governments’ wars when we fund not only Saudi Arabia and Israel, but Ethiopia, Jordan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Congo and Syria, to name a few. Are you aware of the armed conflicts (wars) those nations face? Does that concern you whatsoever?

Are you concerned about the hundreds of billions of dollars in trade the US does with China (plus presumably your own personal transactions through TikTok or Amazon or otherwise) despite their genocide of Uyghurs, impending aggression against Taiwan, and ethnic cleansing and annexation of Tibet?

You see, I don’t think you’re quite as concerned with “funding other governments’ wars” as you think you are. I think you are uniquely committed to not funding Israel’s war of self-defense because you have consumed so much propaganda that you are not able to see it clearly for what it is.

Interesting that you posted that link; did you read through it? One thing that’s historically unique about the “aid” Israel receives from the US is that it is conditioned upon two major factors: 1) that the funds are used to purchase American weapons (which overwhelmingly benefits the American economy and taxpayers) and 2) Israel provides critical intelligence that helps to protect America from threats abroad.

Turns out those Jews are actually incredibly smart and resourceful, which is why even some reluctant Arab nations are eager to trade with them; they have intelligence and technology that is immeasurably helpful to national security on its own, but they are also and have been invaluable military partners and allies to America in a region that largely wants to see the American way of life perish (“Death to America” is not an aphorism, and they are not being cutesy).

Sure, many would argue that there were a great many failures of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And yet, there were also many triumphs. Osama bin Laden is dead. So is Saddam Hussein, who committed genocide against his own people. ISIS is no longer the monumental threat it was more than a decade ago. Yes, the terrorists are like whack-a-moles and they will invariably keep springing up, but their capabilities have been severely diminished. And while America was in Afghanistan, there was no Taliban rule. Now, little girls are back to being forced into child marriages, banned from public and education. It would be a deeply lazy scapegoat to suggest that America’s perceptibly failed war is responsible for Islamist principles that predate American involvement in the region.

I do find it bizarre how you can so brazenly claim that Iraq and Afghanistan failed in regards to “vague notions of ‘defeating terrorism’” when you (presumably) literally experienced 9/11… have you seen that on American soil since then? No? Well, it’s not so vague, then. It’s actually a privilege beyond comprehension that you enjoy, and you chalk the very unique peace that you enjoy (regarding not being bombed in your backyard) to just a passive, natural thing that happens. Alas, it is not so. People bust their asses making sacrifices, facing a barrage of criticism and public outcry and blame and rage so that you can be safe. Safety and peace comes at a cost in this world – it is sad, but true.

And what an incredibly strange argument you made regarding hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting their right-wing government as a reason to cease political, financial and military support? Wow… so that is a democratic country, like this one. Withholding political support (among the others) would be undermining the only democracy in the Middle East. THAT is very obviously meddling. Not the version of this that serves your political worldview and probable hatred of Israel (and Jews?).

Being right wing and having a large proportion of your citizens not like the government is not a reason alone to cease relations with allies. I’m really stunned by this argument… so do you think that every nation in the world should boycott America and have the right to kill us because Trump was elected? Seriously, what?

Which brings me to your final paragraph. That you would equate Saudi Arabia, a place where husbands own their wives (and can legally abuse and rape them), women were only recently even granted permission to drive, there is modern slavery, homosexuality is illegal, journalists are deliberately murdered and repressed, there are few environmental protections (it’s a petrol state lmao…) and hundreds of people are executed by the government every year… with Israel?

This is where it becomes exceedingly difficult to take you seriously. Obviously, opposing arms exports to Saudi Arabia doesn’t make you Islamophobic. You support giving money to plenty of Islamist (not Islamic, but Islamist) regimes – I’m sure you even support funding of the Palestinian Authority, which the United States gives a great deal of money every year. Your taxpayer dollars fund pay-for-slay, or the program that rewards families of terrorists who have been convicted for murdering Israeli civilians with a lifetime guarantee of steady income.

So no, on the contrary, I presume you not only love Muslims, but you actually actively justify and support Islamist terrorists. Please, by all means, correct me if I’m wrong! I’m sure you have many woes with child soldiers and child sex trafficking and all the other things imposed by Islamist rule and Islamist militias in some of those very countries where America provides aid (which invariably ends up, to some extent, in the hands of those terrorists. Or would you call them “freedom fighters”?).

Your argument is hollow and lacks intellectual integrity. And although I have taken the time to respond to you, based on your words, I still doubt that you will be able to comprehend or concede the underlying selective hatred of Jews that is fueling this particularly rageful passion that you have. Or, perhaps by some miracle I will stand corrected, and you might be open yet to conceding that you could be wrong, and that there may indeed be some bias undermining what you have up to this point earnestly perceived to be a truly just cause and concern. I won’t hold my breath 😊