Congress is currently considering a deeply troubling proposal to expand cooperation and coordination between the U.S. and Israeli militaries as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is the annual legislative package that outlines the budget and policies for the Department of Defense. The U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative was quietly added to the NDAA in both the House and Senate versions and would expand joint defense technology research, development, testing, evaluation, integration, and co-production. Members of Congress must ensure the removal of this provision from the NDAA.
Amnesty International has continued to call on the U.S. government to immediately suspend the supply, sale, or transfer of all weapons, munitions, and other military and security equipment to Israel, including the provision of training and other military and security assistance. The risk is clear that any U.S. military and security support provided to the Israeli government would be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, as well as other serious violations of international law.
Congress Must Act
The U.S. should be disentangling itself from the lawlessness of Israel’s military operations in the region, including in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lebanon, and Syria. Instead, this provision seeks to further entrench the U.S.-Israel military relationship at a time when support for restricting arms sales to Israel has reached unprecedented levels in Congress. In the House of Representatives, 75 members from both parties have signed on in support of the Block the Bombs Act (H.R. 3565), which would impose a partial arms embargo on Israel. In April, 40 senators voted in favor of blocking shipments of bulldozers and 1,000-pound bombs to Israel.
Congress has the responsibility to ensure the U.S. is no longer enabling and fueling the atrocities of the Israeli government. This requires opposing efforts to expand U.S.-Israel military integration and co-production, including removing the U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative from the NDAA and blocking any arms transfers to Israel.
In the House of Representatives, members should vote YES on the amendment introduced by Rep. Massie to remove the U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative from the bill. Senators should likewise oppose the inclusion of this initiative in the Senate version of the NDAA.
The U.S. Should Not Deepen its Ties to Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
In the occupied Gaza Strip, Israel’s genocide against Palestinians continues unabated. Israel’s unlawful and wanton destruction of civilian buildings and infrastructure continues to have devastating consequences. Over 76 percent of the homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, forcibly displacing most of Gaza’s population under inhumane, unsafe, and unsanitary conditions. At the same time, Israel continues to carry out attacks and impose conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza, who face compounded and life-threatening consequences resulting from the blocking of lifesaving aid, the collapse of healthcare, heightened exposure to disease, as well as profound physical and mental harm.
Just last week, a new in-depth report laid bare the scale and severity of the ethnic cleansing campaign in the occupied West Bank against Palestinians, including the crime against humanity of forcible transfer. The Israeli government has made formal annexation an explicit policy objective and has increased financial and logistical support to illegal settlements and armed settlers and enabled a brutal state-sanctioned campaign of settler violence. Palestinians are being forcibly erased from their ancestral lands, cut off from their livelihoods and terrorized into fleeing their homes. The report clearly demonstrates that this campaign is an integral part of an organized state policy and is not an aberration or the product of “rogue” settlers or “extremist” government ministers.
Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing falls within a wider context of illegal occupation and a broader system of apartheid over all Palestinians.
The U.S. Should Not Become Entrenched in War Crimes in Lebanon and Syria
In Lebanon, a new investigation by Amnesty shows that Israel has radically expanded its use of unlawful mass evacuation and no-return orders in southern Lebanon to forcibly displace and terrify hundreds of thousands of people, violating international humanitarian law. This constitutes unlawful transfer, which is a war crime. At the same time, Israel’s military has accelerated the deliberate destruction of civilian property and agricultural land, which are war crimes.
Israel has also expanded its occupation of Syrian territory and has carried out home raids, ordering residents to leave. The Israeli military has also deliberately destroyed civilian homes and agricultural land, displacing entire families, which is a war crime. The unlawful destruction of civilian property has become a hallmark of Israel’s military operations in the region, documented over the past years in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.
Urge your U.S. representative to co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act and stop U.S. weapons from fueling genocide.