2010-2-17 Schakowsky, Burris, Durbin: Israeli Defense

I write to urge you to challenge President Obama’s request of $3 billion in security assistance to Israel for fiscal year 2011 and his overall international affairs budget request of $58.5 billion.

While it is clear that Israel continues to face threats to its security from its neighbors it is also clear that US military aid, which we have been providing to Israel for years, has not accomplished the intended aim of bringing peace and stability to the region. Nor has the 8 percent per capita GDP that Israel spends on its own defense had this effect. On the contrary the Middle East remains as volatile as ever.

The military aid my tax dollars have provided to Israel has been misappropriated. I was disgusted and dismayed in the winter of 2009 when I saw American-made weapons being targeted at Gaza. The guns and munitions purchased with the tax revenue I provided leveled schools and the errant bullets and shrapnel hit innocent civilians. While such casualties may be a sad, if inevitable reality of war, I expect that a military that receives my tax dollars will be held to account for its actions.

I have seen no such pressure put on Israel. That so few Israeli civilians were killed by rockets calls into question the claim that it was necessary to kill so many civilians in Gaza in order for Israel to protect itself. Further, there have been reports from numerous credible sources claiming that Israel did not provide adequate relief for the vulnerable civilian population in Gaza during and after the incursion.

I would like to see you ask hard questions of Israel regarding these practices before we approve another $3 billion in military aid. Further, I think it important that these questions be asked in a public manner. I have corresponded with your staff several times in both letters and in face to face conversations. I found their positions on this matter encouraging. That said, I think it is not enough to have these conversations with one concerned citizen. I ask that you investigate the use of our military aid to Israel in the winter of 2009 before any further military aid is provided and make a public statement about how our aid was used in the incursion and what your expectations for use will be in the future.

-HW