Say NO to the Iron Dome!
Say No To The Iron Dome
Statement published on October 11, 2021
The Anti-War Committee condemns the passage of H.R. 5323, the Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act, which will send Israel another $1 billion of taxpayer money in military aid. We applaud the nine members of Congress who voted against it, including Minnesota’s Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The real purpose of the bill is barely hidden: to enable Israel to continue committing atrocities in occupied Palestine with impunity. The legislation justifies sending the $1 billion by stating it is needed for resupplying after Operation Guardian of the Walls, the Israeli Occupation Force’s (IOF) May 2021 bombing campaign against Gaza that killed 260 Palestinians, including 66 children.
Israel’s Iron Dome missile system is not “self-defense.” Its existence enforces the siege of Gaza and protects Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank. The IOF knows that Palestinian resistance to genocide and ethnic cleansing is inevitable, and seeks to soothe Zionist settlers with a sense of security in the lands they stole. The Iron Dome is a part of decades of aggression against Palestine, and the US is complicit thanks to our taxpayer dollars.
The additional $1 billion for the Iron Dome comes on top of the $3.8 billion the US already sends Israel every year, including $500 million annually previously provided for the Iron Dome. This massive amount of military aid — by far the most the US sends any country — shows the importance Israel holds for US imperialism. The occupation of Palestine guarantees the US a foothold from which to dominate the Middle East. President Biden himself even said, “If there were not an Israel, we would have to invent one to make sure our interests were preserved.” Meanwhile, for all its talk of “self-defense”, it’s Israel who routinely attacks Palestine and its regional neighbors like Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.
Ending US funding to the Iron Dome would be an important step towards ceasing outright US support for occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, and recognizing the inevitable truth that from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Only then can there be peace. We encourage our followers to demand an end to all US aid to Israel.