The Democratic National Convention featured a large number of well-known speakers and artistic scenes that all focused on achieving greater hope and unity.
However, this joy is undermined by a Democratic Party cut in relation to Israel’s occupation of Gaza. Some members have urged Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to help a stop to US military assistance to Israel.
On August 20, 2024, Chicago authorities detained at least 72 pro-Palestinian activists despite the convention’s smaller than some had anticipated. These protesters want an Israeli-imposed US arms embargo, which the Democrat Party’s fresh national program does not.
Dov Waxman, a professor of Israeli studies, and Amy Lieberman, the elections director for The Conversation US, spoke with Amy Lieberman to learn more about the corporate drivers behind the US’s connection with Israel and why an arms sanctions is at best a hypothetical possibility.
Do you believe Kamala Harris is likely to support the demands for an Israeli hands restriction?
She did not, in my opinion, agree with those who want an wings sanctions on Israel.
Kamala Harris has always supported Israel’s receiving US military assistance, both as vice chairman and before that as a legislator. This place is typical of most Democratic Party people, as well as most Republicans.
Critics of US military support for Israel frequently refute claims that this assistance is merely a result of local politics and reflects the influence of the pro-Israel lobby, mainly AIPAC. I believe that this viewpoint is irrational and exaggerates the influence of the pro-Israel hall.
It ignores the fact that the US provides that military support for financial and strategic factors. It is a US nationwide attention, not just a favour for Israel, and that’s why it is wide, bipartisan support for continuing this defense aid.
There are other things that are more realistic than an arms embargo, such as restricting military aid, and there is a growing conversation among Democratic lawmakers about it.
What are some examples of domestic American support to Israel that the US provides?
The Israeli government does n’t actually use the money that the US gives to Israel to pay for it. The US spends a large portion of the money that it gives to Israel each year on British arms. That is true, in public, for British military assistance to other countries, such as Ukraine.
Israel purchases British arms from US businesses all over the world. Some American lawmakers are interested in keeping that funding because it eventually flows into their own says and creates local jobs.
Before the Gaza War, how has US support previously been for Israel?
Generally, Israel has received more US international aid than any other state. In overall, the US has provided Israel with over US$ 300 billion, with this number adjusted for inflation.
First, for the first generation after Israel’s formation in 1948, the US provided Israel with only financial support, but, starting in the 1960s during the Kennedy administration, it began providing martial aid as well. Israel is currently the only country that the US provides military aid to.
The US significantly increased its military aid to Israel following Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War of 1967, when Israel demonstrated its resolve to defeat Soviet allies there. Because the US has seen Israel as a valuable ally since then, this relationship changed significantly.
Under the Nixon administration, there was a significant increase in Israeli military aid. This is important because Nixon was not a friendly person to Jews. However, he increased US aid to Israel because of its strategic partnership with the US.
Since then, US military aid has continued to steadily increase over the years, and in the past year it has risen following Hamas ‘ October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel, and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza.
I think the primary reason for this continuous military assistance to Israel, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, is that it serves US national interests.
How does US aid to Israel serve America’s national interests?
The US fights off its common enemies with a militarily strong Israel.
Israel played a role in halting the spread of Soviet influence in the Middle East during the Cold War. For instance, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat defected from a Soviet alliance after Israel defeated Egypt in the wars of 1967 and 1973, establishing a long period of American dominance in the area.
After the Soviet threat receded after the Cold War, Israel’s strategic value to the US diminished. But it rose again following the 9/11 terrorist attacks because of Israel’s long experience in counterterrorism and its vaunted intelligence-gathering capabilities.
Israel has collaborated with the US more recently to combat the region’s growing Iranian influence and halt Iran’s nuclear program. The two allies have differed on tactics, particularly regarding the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, but they both agree that Iran’s growing influence in the region poses the greatest threat to regional stability and wants to stop Iran from possessing nuclear weapons. A militarily strong Israel is seen as necessary for the US to stop Iranian expansionism.
Israel is the only long-standing democracy there, albeit one that, in my opinion, has the most powerful military there. Israel can assist the US in achieving its strategic objectives in the region without the American military having to deploy troops on the ground themselves.
Israel is viewed as a more trustworthy and less problematic ally than Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, the US’s other significant allies in the area.
Ultimately, although Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and its war in Gaza have alienated and angered many Democrats, particularly progressives, most Democratic policymakers, including Harris, still believe that supporting Israel is in the interests of the US. And the United States still thinks that providing Israel with military assistance is the best way to do that.
The real question is whether the US should have greater control over how American weapons can be used.
At the University of California, Los Angeles, Dov Waxman is the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation’s professor of Israeli studies.
The Conversation has republished this article under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.