Eleven years ago, my family and I visited Israel. My father attended a pharmaceutical conference and invited us to explore the Holy Land. Upon our arrival, one of the doctors in the group, who happened to be Arab, was detained and questioned by authorities. Fortunately, he was eventually released.
At the time, I didn’t comprehend why this occurred. In hindsight, I’ve come to realize that this incident was just a glimpse into Israel’s racism and discrimination against Arab people.
That was years in the past, but those attitudes have come to define generations of state policymaking in Israel. Let’s be frank: We are witnessing a genocide decades in the making. Even before the heinous actions that came on Oct. 7, it was a clear, slow genocide.
Unfortunately, Israel appeared to be succeeding. Before the war unfolded, 65% of Gaza’s population lived below the poverty line, and 97% of its water was undrinkable. Israel provides a clean water pipeline to go into Gaza, and unsurprisingly, clean water access has been denied in response to the Hamas attacks.
This is no longer a slow genocide. In the wake of the Hamas attacks, Israel’s Defense Minister declared the country’s plan to “eliminate everything” in Gaza. Ironically, in its retaliation against Hamas, Israel has committed actions similar to those of Hamas. Actually, it’s worse. As of Nov. 10, there have been over 1,200 deaths in Israel and at least 11,025 in Gaza during the conflict.
The median age of Palestinians is 19.6 years, which means a significant portion of the Palestinian population consists of innocent children unaffiliated with Hamas, but it doesn’t seem to matter to Israel. More than 4,000 of those deaths have been children — more deaths of Palestinian children than total deaths in Israel.
Support for Palestine isn’t antisemitic and many members of the Jewish community understand this. In a national survey of Jewish voters, the majority supported U.S. humanitarian aid to Palestinians. In many ways, members of the Jewish community that speak out against Israel are the strongest members of the liberation movement. It is an important distinction that the actions of the Israeli government do not necessarily reflect the values of the Israeli people or Jewish people as a whole.
The bombing of innocent civilians is a clear violation of international law. So why has the international community not taken stronger action against this clear overkill? The answer is relatively straightforward: money and pride.
Israel holds a dominant position in cybersecurity and arms sales. Western countries rely on it for arms, giving Israel significant leverage on the international stage. To make matters worse, the U.S. is intimately intertwined in these affairs.
The U.S. has sent billions of dollars to Israel in the form of military aid, enabling the country to build one of the most sophisticated and advanced militaries in the world. It is likely that U.S. arms are being used extensively in the Gaza Strip, potentially contributing to the targeting of hospitals and refugee camps.
To admit the contemptible nature of Israel’s actions would also damage the pride of each and every government involved in the creation of Israel. They facilitated the colonization of a country where there were already people living, and stood side by side with a country who had been committing disastrous crimes.
Another reason for Western countries’ support of Israel is the belief that it’s the sole democracy in the Middle East — an easily contestable notion. The current Prime Minister, Netanyahu, faces indictment for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He has managed to evade these charges by reshaping the entire judicial system and consolidating power in his hands.
In the country’s history, the U.S. has provided over $260 billion to Israel, providing more aid to them than any other country since the end of World War II. This support is not going anywhere — the Biden Administration and Congress are seeking billions more in wake of the war.
Even if the U.S. did not pledge that money, its support for Israel will never waver due to lobbyist groups.
Israeli lobbyist groups are undoubtedly some of the strongest foreign lobbyist groups in the United States. They rank 44th out of 31,995 lobbyist groups for most financial support given. They also make sure to personally take every member of Congress that pledges loyalty to them on a trip to Israel — though conveniently don’t show them the Gaza Strip.
Considering the haunting discrimination many Jews have faced historically and continue to face, it is understandable to be incredibly sensitive about the conflict. However, pointing out faults in a government is not antisemitic, but rather being a rational and active member of global citizenry.
As long as geopolitical interests and financial ties continue to influence the discourse on Israel, achieving any form of resolution seems impossible. At this juncture, it appears more likely that we will witness the complete eradication of the Palestinian population before our politicians recognize the consequences of their actions.
