International Socialists

The US has always been Israel's most consistent supporter. Over the decades, the US has given more than US$80 billion in aid to Israel, and it has also vetoed 29 United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning Israel for its illegal settlements and other violations of international law.

 

In 1951, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz declared:

 

Israel is to become the watchdog. [I]f for any reasons the Western powers should sometimes prefer to close their eyes, Israel could be relied upon to punish one or several neighbouring states whose discourtesy to the West went beyond the bounds of the permissible.

 

Thanks to the US, Israel is the fifth largest armed power in the world, and the only power in the region with nuclear weapons. All told, US military aid "represents about 26 percent of the Israeli defence budget and is crucial to Israel's multi-year defence modernisation plan." As the State Department explains, the US has "a significant interest in [an] economically and militarily strong Israel."

 

Israel gets billions more in loan guarantees, export credits and other assistance. All this support is essential to Israel's ability to build settlements, pay for soldiers and purchase the weapons that it uses to murder Palestinians.

 

The US sometimes makes mildly critical statements about Israel's grosser violations. For example, various US administrations have described the settlements as "illegal," "provocations" and "obstacles to peace" - all of which is true. Yet US funds keep pouring in.

 

The US even felt obliged to vote for a recent UN resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Territories. But Israel has ignored similar UN resolutions with impunity ever since the 1967 war, and will no doubt continue to do so. If the US were serious, it would cut off the funds that allow Israel to conduct its genocidal campaign.

 

America's unwavering support for Israel is one reason why calling for United Nations intervention is futile. When Saddam Hussein ignored a UN call to leave Kuwait in 1990, the full military might of the West, led by the US, descended on Iraq and devastated the country - indeed, sanctions and bombings continue to this day. Israel, however, can be sure that no such fate will befall it.

 

Bush is preparing for a war against Iraq - ostensibly because Saddam Hussein's regime is developing "weapons of mass destruction." Yet the US lavishes billions on Israel in violation of a US law banning military assistance to governments that refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and allow inspection of its nuclear facilities - which Israel refuses to do.

 

United Nations interventions in recent years - in the Gulf, Rwanda, Somalia, Bosnia and East Timor - provide ample evidence that the UN is a tool for the great powers, and especially the US, to continue their domination of the world.