Apartheid Palestine
It was CRIMINALLY bad to begin with…
Signed in 1973, the Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid defines crimes of apartheid as “inhumane acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systemically oppressing them” and lists criteria that can be used to identify the crime of apartheid. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, signed in 1998, defines crimes of persecution as “the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity.” Both of these extremely serious crimes are considered under international law to be crimes against humanity.
In April of 2021, Human Rights Watch — one of the world’s leading human rights organizations — reported that the state of Israel has been, and continues to, commit egregious crimes against humanity against Palestinian people, including crimes of apartheid and crimes of persecution. This report was published shortly after the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor opened a formal investigation into the situation in Israel and Palestine. The report details the myriad of ways in which Israeli law explicitly discriminates against and targets Palestinians. These laws include, but are not limited to, restrictions on movement and residency rights, limitations on voting rights, property confiscation and land annexation, artificial segregation, family separation, and barred access to critical resources such as water and electricity. Israeli residency laws, for example, have established a “two tiered-citizenship structure” that situates Palestinians as second-class citizens in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
Freedom of movement, in particular, is one of the most noteworthy issues in the occupation. The blockade of the Gaza Strip, Israeli settlements, checkpoints, and the Apartheid Wall (already deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice) all prevent Palestinians from moving freely — constituting an intentional systematic denial of basic human rights. While the Israeli government claims to impose such laws in the name of its security, Human Rights Watch rightfully argues that any security concerns Israel may legitimately have in no way authorize mass human rights violations. Human Rights Watch’s report and other reports by organizations like Amnesty International and B’Tselem make it abundantly clear that Israel’s government and military are actively committing the crimes of apartheid and persecution — and the United States is complicit in these crimes.
Then, the war on Gaza made IT even worse…
During the war, dozens of supposedly progressive Members of Congress voted to send billions of dollars in unrestricted military aid to Israel — aid that would be used to bomb civilian homes and infrastructure and kill tens of thousands of people while displacing millions more.
Congress’ Role
Senate Democratic Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, at an AIPAC Conference in 2017.
The primary way that Congress aids Israel is through a string of unconditional aid. Since the end of World War II, the United States has provided more foreign aid to Israel than any other allies or neighboring countries. A significant rise in aid began in 1971 and continued to 2007, shifting from helping the Israeli economy to enabling Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
According to the Congressional Research Service, in the fiscal year of 2020, more than half of the US foreign military aid was given to Israel, which Israel’s military uses to purchase American arms. This large sum of money is given to them because of a 2016 memorandum committing the US to provide nearly $4 billion to Israel a year, including $500 million for missile defense.
Pro-Israel lobbyists understand the power that this money and memorandum give the State of Israel, so they will do anything to maintain this power, including spending large sums of money in American congressional elections. Pro-Isreal PACs spent more than $22 million on lobbying and campaign contributions during the 2018 election cycle and even more in subsequent years. Groups like AIPAC and DMFI — organizations that want to perpetuate apartheid and Benjamin Netanyahu’s despotic rule — have ramped up their spending like you wouldn’t believe.