U.S. Support for Israel: It's Time for America to Withdraw Its Unconditional Support

Today, the EU commission announced their data compiled with the help of the U.N. and local activists which shows Israel’s destruction of EU humanitarian aid donations. EU ministers are scheduled to meet in Brussels to discuss the inquiries by the NGOs that Israel has an ongoing campaign to ethnically cleanse occupied territories. 

The data collected by the EU undoubtedly shows that Israel does not have a clear conscience. The U.S. should stop its unconditional support for Israel’s actions and acknowledge that the situation in the Israel-Palestinian conflict is not divided with demons on one side, and angels on the other. There is usually no completely innocent side in a conflict. Everyone makes mistakes.

A couple of months ago, after UNESCO accepted Palestine as a member, the U.S. withdrew its funding to this significant branch of the U.N. Beforehand, the U.S. tried to use its soft-power capabilities and threaten the states voting in the UNESCO council through the withdrawal of funding. At that moment, no one believed that the U.S. would actually go so far as to stop funding cultural activities of the U.N., but that did happen when the majority supported Palestinian membership. 

This case shows that in the U.S.’s defense of Israel, even world cultural heritage -- such as Acropolis in Athens, the coasts of the Seine in Paris, the Coliseum in Rome, the Great Wall of China --  does not matter. The Machiavellian perspective, that the end justifies the means, is forcefully implemented by the U.S. in their relations with Israel.  But the question is, for how long it can this last? What will be the final drop that will spill the glass?

The data compiled by the EU Commission states that 22 water cisterns and 37 agricultural and residential structures funded by the EU were destroyed by Israel. Moreover, Israel has issued demolition and “stop-work” orders against other EU-funded programs, including 14 water cisterns, 34 water sanitation facilities, 8 solar energy schemes, 2 schools, and a medical center.

As stated in the EU Observeron February 13, Israeli bulldozers demolished a restoration project funded by the EU, and flattened an “illegal” Palestinian village, leaving 83 people homeless. The EU Commission estimates that Israel ruined 49 million euro worth of EU funded projects.

According to the Displacement Working Group, a local NGO linked to the UN, Israel demolished 889 Palestinian structures in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank over the a course of a year. They then legalized around 7,500 housing units for Jewish settlers in the same region. Actions like this have been a constant since 1967, after the war with neighboring Arab states. With the resource-gobbling strategy, the number of Palestinians in the region dropped from the previous numbers of 200,000 - 320,000 to today's number of 56,000. At the same time, the Jewish population rose from 1,200 to 310,000.

Some actions have to be taken, and hopes are that high actions will take place after the EU ministerial meeting. However, the EU must not stand alone on this, and the U.S. has to stop covering its eyes and help the EU with the reciprocal measures. Special tariffs and EU visa bans are just some of the options. However, this case must be taken seriously into account and dealt with carefully.  The Jews were segregated in the Second World War and that has left a permanent mark on world history. The suffering that they have gone through because of the ethnic cleansing is enormous and incomprehensible. Israel, the country guided by religious values should know better than to threaten fellow human beings, as they do now.

 ** Disclaimer: I want to make clear that this article does not have any anti-semitic senitment behind it. Moreover, my home country greatly supported the Jewish population during the WWII.

This article is oriented towards unjust and inhuman policies of the Israeli government, and not the Israeli people.