Bernie is the leader we need, but don't deserve.
this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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I'm still mad he's basically guaranteed to lose primaries, even when the DNC was publicly exposed for doing exactly that.
If countries gave their billions of dollars a year to humanitarian aid in Gaza instead of Israel's military this conflict would have ended decades ago...
People with nothing to lose, often act like people with nothing to lose.
So give them a basic quality of life they won't throw away.
Not with Hamas in charge. A lot of aid has flowed to Gaza. The problem is that the Hamas leaders take it for themselves or use it for weapons to launch against Israel. Very little actually reaches the Palestinians. Hamas's leaders are billionaires who live in luxury in Qatar while the Palestinians suffer.
I do agree with you in theory, but we need to ensure that aid actually reaches the Palestinian people and isn't just used to make some billionaires in another country even richer.
but we need to ensure that aid ... isn't just used to make some billionaires in another country even richer
For one thing the paultry tens of millions of aid to Gaza/West Bank are audited and mostly goes towards roads and water.
For another, how many billionaires has US aid to Israel created? https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf
To date, the United States has provided Israel $158 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. At present, almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance; from 1971 to 2007, Israel also received significant economic assistance.
In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed their third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid, covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledged to provide—subject to congressional appropriation—$38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel.
There are no audits of the monies Israel collects, and no penalty for even destroying the USS Liberty or stealing nuclear technology.
At the very least US needs to suspend the arms and money because of
Section 502B(a)(2) of the FAA (22 U.S.C. §2304(a)(2)) stipulates that, absent the exercise of certain presidential waivers due to extraordinary circumstances, “no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”
Not with Hamas in charge
If Israel wasn't getting "self defense aid" they likely wouldn't have prevented Gaza from holding elections for the last couple decades...
In the current situation, Israel benefits greatly from Hamas "being in charge" of Gaza, even tho they don't really have any political power.
Like, it's hard to blame Hamas when Israel controls all the infrastructure and borders, and even controls police and what areas ambulances can pass thru.
Neither Hamas nor Israel's current government could exist without the other.
They mainly benefit from being a hotspot in a politically charged region where America has interest.
https://theintercept.com/2023/10/27/secret-military-base-israel-gaza-site-512/
Most of the defense spending we send over as “aid” lines defense contractors pockets and allows the US military to have a much larger presence there.
Defense contractors, and most of the politicians voting to support the “aid” that is sent don’t give a shit about Israel’s cause. They want a strong, profitable position in the Middle East, and putting on a front that they are supporting this “free, democratic” ally is a ploy to increase and expand that profit and funding wherever possible
A lot of that could be fixed by making the aid material support like food, clothing, and medicine instead of money.
Israel blocks out a lot of humanitarian aid.
Holy weasel words, Batman! REALLY working hard to make it sound like Bernie's a clueless hypocrite and Tlaib is an evil liar for her speaking truth to power and him not condemning her for it like all the lickspittles are 🤦
but not specifying how to create a path forward without Hamas, Netanyahu or war.
Unfortunately this is exactly what is actually needed.
Everyone knows what the „international public“ does not want: Civilian deaths
No one seems to know how to actually do it.
Finally you say something positive and productive. I didn't think you had it in you, but I am pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong. Hopefully you can continue this trend into the future.
A true mensch that one.
I appreciate this kind of honesty with the current situation. There are cultural and border differences abound in this world, and things will only get worse once resources become more scarce. Regardless of ideology, people need to work together to survive.