2 weeks Ago
The Nov. 5 general election ballot in Cunningham Township asks the following question: “Shall the United States federal government and subordinate divisions stop giving military funding to Israel, which currently costs taxpayers 3.8 billion dollars a year, given Israel’s global recognition as an apartheid regime with a track record of human rights violations?” As a start, I would like to raise the simple fact that the wording in the advisory question is highly flawed: It is a leading question that is phrased so that the part “given Israel’s global recognition as an apartheid regime with a track record of human rights violations” is backgrounded as if this is common knowledge on which everyone agrees, which is simply false.
This is a highly biased and inappropriate way to ask a question on a ballot. I believe this question is wrong in several ways: The war in the Middle East is not limited to the Israel-Gaza conflict. In fact, this is a complex regional war.
Iran with its proxies surrounding Israel with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria have been attacking Israel for the past year with tens of thousands of rockets, missiles and drones, which has caused death, injuries and the displacement of about 150,000 Israelis. Iran and its proxies have the publicly declared goal of the destruction of Israel. Stopping the military aid to Israel helps them realize this goal.
The military aid is not limited to Israel’s security. Israel is a close ally of the U.S.
with similar democratic values and plays a major role in protecting and advancing U.S. interests in the region together with other regional U.
S. allies. Israel is also a major U.
S. partner in a variety of areas such as intelligence, knowledge sharing, technological development and advances in fighting terrorism. Another key factor in the military aid is that much of it is spent purchasing U.
S.-made equipment, thus providing well-paying jobs to U.S.
employees. A great example for this partnership is the Iron Dome, which was invented and developed in Israel with U.S.
funding and is currently produced in the U.S. and is embedded into the U.
S. military defense systems. Within the sovereign territory of Israel, all citizens regardless of religion, sex, ethnicity, etc.
, have equal rights. Any person can vote, get elected, serve on the courts and pursue any political position or career. All people are equal in front of the law.
Minorities are part of Israel’s democratic system and over time have been represented in all three branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial. Also, minorities serve in the IDF. As for the West Bank, which Israel captured from Jordan in 1967, this is an occupation of Palestinians.
The military essentially controls almost 3 million Palestinians who live either directly or nominally under the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians are not Israeli citizens, nor is there a plan for them to be. The occupation of this population is meant to be temporary until a solution is achieved that will allow self-determination for both peoples, where both sides will recognize each other, with security needs addressed.
There were several attempts to resolve this situation such as the Oslo accords (mid-1990s), the Camp David Summit (2000), the Realignment plan (2006) and the Olmert-Abbas plan (2008). Unfortunately, none of these plans materialized, but I still believe that the only solution for ending the Palestinian occupation in the West Bank will be via negotiations that will end in a two-state solution. Bottom line: Israel does not meet the definition of an apartheid state: — There is no discrimination or segregation based on race, religion, etc.
— All citizens enjoy the same legal system and have full and equal rights. Although the advisory question is nonbinding, it does suggest measures which (if adopted by the federal government) would decrease Israel’s ability to defend itself against multiple threats and which would categorize Israel as an apartheid state, hence diminishing the ability of Israel to survive over time. The measures proposed in this advisory question are aimed to prevent Jewish self-determination.
The International Holocaust Remembrance alliance definition of antisemitism states that claiming the existence of Israel is a racist endeavor is antisemitic. In addition, the U.S.
House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution that states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Any resolution passed by Cunningham Township that aims to prevent the self-determination of the Jewish people is antisemitic by definition. No matter where your politics lie, a blanket referendum lacking depth and substance cannot do justice to the complexities of foreign policy and only serves to stoke the flames of antisemitism and calls for destruction of Israel.
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