Stop All US Aid to Israel
Bill Astore / Peace and Planet News
(Winter Edition 2024) — I have a modest proposal: Stop all US aid to Israel. Why does Israel need billions and billions in aid, mainly so they can buy US weaponry? If they need it, they can pay for it. And if they’re going to use US weapons to kill massive numbers of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, America shouldn’t sell them the weapons no matter what Israel is willing to pay.
Am I anti-Israel? Anti-semitic? Only if IDF General (and war hero) Matti Peled was.
Here’s what Israeli general Matti Peled had to say about US aid to Israel:
“Until 1974, Israel had not received foreign aid money and we did fine. Receiving free money, money you have not earned and for which you do not have to work, is plain and simply corrupting.” His son, Miko Peled, then added that his father consistently argued “that the weapons the US sold [or gave] to Israel were corrupting the country and were being used to maintain the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians.”
Miko Peled wrote that his dad consistently said “It is bad for Israel, it is morally wrong, and it is illegal” (cited on page 68). Again, was General Matti Peled, IDF war hero, anti-Semitic? A self-hating Jew? Of course not. He was a moral, principled, courageous person who fought against Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. His son Miko continues that fight.
Miko Peled recounted his dad’s position in “The General’s Son: Journey of An Israeli in Palestine,” published in 2012 by Just World Books. I first learned of the Peled family’s activism against Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people in an interview between Miko Peled and Chris Hedges in January of this year. I highly recommend both that interview and Miko Peled’s book.
To view that video, click here.
William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF), has taught at the Air Force Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School. He currently teaches at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. He is regular contributor at Tom Dispatch and writes Bracing Views on substack.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
