US Continues to Veto Ceasefire for Gaza

Rally in Des Moines Iowa; Credit: Jan Corderman

by Odile Hugonot Haber and Jan Corderman
Middle East Peace and Justice Action Committee

March 2024

On February 20 the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza for the third time since the start of the war. The US once again stands alone in the fifteen member Council, making it complicit in extending the suffering of Palestinian citizens. (Click on this link for more information from Doctors Without Borders) 

In addition:

• On Feb 22, Al Jazeera reported that at least 29,410 Palestinians have been killed and 69,465 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 attacks stands at 1,139. 
• The International Court of Justice’s hearings on the legality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine concluded Day Four on Feb 21.
• The UN Commissioner for UNRWA appealed to the General Assembly asking for assistance stating: “In just over four months in Gaza there have been more children, more journalists, more medical personnel, and more UN staff killed than anywhere in the world during a conflict.”   
• The Israeli’s military forces are now preparing for more attacks on Rafah. For more than a week, Israel has intensified its aerial attacks on Rafah, stating but never providing documentation that this city is the last refuge of Hamas militants who have been driven out of the rest of Gaza. An estimated 1.5 million refugees are now refugees in the area after being driven from communities in the north at Israel’s instruction. 

So why is the US so cold hearted, standing against the rest of the world on this matter? What is happening? Are we not the country that claims the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Cutting off food, water and electricity is a war crime. Why is the government supporting this massacre, this genocide? 

The US could be playing a constructive role. Instead, our policy has been to support Israel no matter what and to supply weapons with no questions asked. Consider the dollars our Government gives to Israel, to the tune of approximately $3.8 billion per year, even before the war started. From 1946 to 2022, the US provided Israel $150 billion in bilateral assistance. Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid. In addition, a bill that was voted down in the House of Representatives on February 7 proposed sending Israel $17.6 billion as part of a $95 billion foreign aid package. The bill was passed by the Senate on February 13, with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) voting against advancing the bill once more to the House, stating on the Senate floor that he would not advance Israel’s genocidal military and starvation campaign in Gaza. It is unclear if the House will vote on the same package again.

The American Friend Service Committee (AFSC) wrote an article on the topic which tells us which companies in the US profited the most to the war in Gaza. Go check the full list of corporations here.

We’re left to demand that our Government stop putting the arms industry and Israel’s military machine over human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip  This is a massive human rights crisis and a human-made humanitarian disaster. We are the voice of human rights. This is why both the Middle East Peace & Justice Action Committee and the DISARM/End Wars Committee are asking our members to continue doing everything you and your Branch are doing!  It’s also time to consider divesting from the War Machine by:  

1. Look at your retirement funds and make sure you are not invested in any weapons corporations, 
2. Pass a resolution at your city council to make them divest
3. Do not “bank on the bomb” by using banks that are investing in armament or nuclear weapons
4. Spread the word using ICAN’s great materials:
   • their campaign kit has everything you need to post on social media
   • to reach out to your own financial institution and ask them why they’re still investing in these prohibited weapons, here also is a script you can use. 
5. We’re also sharing Disarm’s guide, on reducing US military spending and moving the money to human needs can be found on the WILPF US Website:  https://wilpfus.org/our-work/disarmend-wars. You can find many other helpful guides there as well.

Here are some guides that are pending: 

Guide #5  "Your Tax Dollars at Work in the Middle East" - This is a guide to U.S. military expenditures in the Middle East region. Learn what these dollars could accomplish if redirected toward constructive rather than destructive purposes and how you can work to accomplish this goal of moving the money.

Guide #6  "Community Organizing for Branches" - General advice on the kinds of action WILPFers could do for the Call for Peace campaign.

Guide #7 "U.S. Military Spending Ruins the Environment" - Move the money from the bloated military budget to actions that help combat climate change and environmental degradation.

Guide #8 "National Military Spending and Your Town" - This guide explains how to find out the dollar amount collected from your community's tax payers that is going into the US military and what it could have been otherwise spent on, and how to share this information in your town.

Guide #9 "Moving money out of the military budget into programs to benefit poor people" - Uses the Moral Budget of the Poor People's Campaign and their Jubilee Policy Platform to show how to move billions of dollars from the military budget into programs benefiting the poor.

Guide #10 "How to get your local banks or city pension plan to divest from weapons companies" - Explains how to find out what companies your city's employees' pension plan invests in even if they use mutual funds, identify those companies that make nuclear weapons or other armaments, and work to get the pension plan to divest from those companies.