Article Review: On Human Rights Day, Stop the Blank Check to Israel

Chapter three of Eyal Press’ Beautiful Souls follows Avner Wishnitzer, an Israeli combat soldier serving in the occupied territories during the Second Intifada. In the 6-Day War of 1967, Israel captured the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and has since kept the land under an Israeli military occupation. In 1987 to 1991, a Palestinian uprising involving resistance and civil disobedience, known as the First Intifada, occurred in the occupied territories. Consequently, Israel deployed many soldiers into the occupied territories, and an estimated 1,674 people were killed in total. The Second Intifada, a much more violent Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories, transpired from 2000 until 2005. In response, Israel enacted Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale military operation, in 2002 to stop the terrorist attacks and suicide bombings of the Second Intifada. An approximate 4,426 people were killed in the Second Intifada. Avner Wishnitzer’s public refusal to serve in the occupied territories was worth getting kicked out of Sayeret Matkal and being disgraced by Israeli society because it made people question the occupation and the treatment towards Palestinians. Even if Avner had been my father, I would have condoned his choices because I could create my own reputation in the military. Additionally, the current controversy over the Israeli occupation legitimizes his stance and actions for many Israeli citizens.

To begin with handing out money is always a problem, it becomes even more of an issue when we don't have the money to give! For instance with the Chinese in 2012 we gave $28.3 million to china’s foreign aid. If we seriously are in debt to them about 1.3 Trillion dollars why would we need to give them financial aid? Its ridiculous to be in debt to them such a large amount of money and yet give them financial aid is simply ludicrous. To change this how about we start loaning money to china and stop buying into their loans, this would not only eventually cut our debt exponentially but it would also start to Increase the money we make as a nation.

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of property (happiness)” is a familiar phrase known from the United States’ Declaration of Independence. It says that we believe these are the three inalienable rights of all human beings and that it is the government’s job to protect these absolute privileges. Extensive advocation of these inalienable rights of man date back to the time of John Locke, over 300 years ago. In Emile Habiby’s novel, The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist, we meet Saeed, a Palestinian who becomes a citizen of Israel. Through his stories we are shown the inequality Arabs in Israel face and how the ‘inalienable’ rights we take for granted are being withheld from Israeli Arabs.

The U.S. Federal Government is already very irresponsible with the nation’s funds. The United States National Debt Clock is just under $17.5 trillion and counting with each passing second. Cash flow is fluid, not a one-way-valve. Funds must come in at the same rate, or faster, than it goes out in order to obtain cash flow. The Federal Government currently has enough difficulties paying out Social-Security Benefits, which has already been paid by every U.S. Taxpayer. According to Cusumano, free online classes through MIT cost $60 million in 2012 and “(…) Open Courseware [has] an annual budget

Like many Israelis, she had her mind changed by the Palestinians repeatedly rejecting Israel’s peace offers and by their use of brutal terrorism. She writes that she noticed, what she had previously regarded as legitimate criticism of Israeli policies was in fact something different, it was an ideology disturbing in its intention and content. She concluded that this criticism wasn’t about a two-state solution at all, but it ‘only very thinly masks a deep and visceral hatred for the state and its people that cannot be explained by mere criticism for the policies of some of its elected governments.’

In the beginning, the State of Israel’s contributions to world development was considered great; however due to social and political factors that ended in war the current aid is only a fraction of what it used to be.

Since World War II, the United States foreign policy has metastasised to a global level. The United States has taken the position as the global police. We have done countless interventions to “better” the good of the world and its people. Yet, it seems we have forgotten about Americans themselves, who have to deal with the enormous costs of these interventions. When a tyrannous dictator takes control of a country in some far flung part of the world, the United States steps in. We use American soldiers and taxpayers dollars to oust the dictator. Then when a vacuum is created we go back and fight the terrorist group which has taken over. This has happened too many times. It shows the weakness of our foreign policy system. The cost of our military, foreign interventions, and aid has gotten out of control for a country with looming debt problems. As of 2015, military spending has taken up fifty four percent of our discretionary spending, coming out to a total of $598.5 billion dollars (Nationalpriorities.org). Additionally, $195 billion is going outside the United States to fund foreign bases and aid (Politico.com). United

Many people view the United States as a country of opportunity in which you can live happily and be presented the opportunity to achieve any goals that you may have, regardless of your class or financial status. This idea is helped made possible by our government. But our government might not be able to provide as much help to that dream if we keep going deeper into debt. In my opinion we need to fund all of these assistance programs less in America so the rest of us can grow and force other to take responsibility and grow up

It has become common to dismiss that there ever will be a United States with a national surplus. Imagine a United States that can fund every government program such as Medicare, Social Security and Welfare. A U.S. with an ample amount of money and capital so that it can add to a defense budget and raise the salaries of every military member. It is often said that America is past redemption because the current reality of America is that there is a national debt crisis that is in the trillion and is growing each second we do not solve the problem. While they rarely admit as much, American citizens often take for granted the government programs that many of them rely on to survive. The consequence that America’s

Everyday problems are occurring in the middle east. Millions of refugees are being displaced and ISIS is gaining land. Many Americans do not care about these conflicts but we should if we are the cause of them.America grants Israel more foreign aid than any other country mostly in arms and weapons. The foreign aid America gives to Israel is clearly unlawful and inhumane. The United States should stop this program immediately because it goes against many government policies preventing the formation of militaristic countries and giving arms to Israel will help them commit more human rights violations against the Palestinians that the United Nations already

Debt.” 21). In other words, at least one-fifth of tax money did not bring US citizens any benefits. Besides, less capital is available for the federal government to invest in the

Since the Independence of Israel in 1948, there has been a greater tension between the Israelis and the Palestinian community. It is very important to know that both have been living Israel before it was considered an independent state. Not only Palestinians have been in conflict with the Israelis but also Arabs and Muslims. They might not have the same issues with Israel as the Palestinians do, but they both dislike Israelis for different reasons. Palestinians issue has been over property ownership while the Arabs and Muslims community has been over religious reasons. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that Israel belongs to

I was interested to read this research article because I know very little about Israel and the conflicts that are happening over there. I had no idea that there were so many different groups of people connected to Palestine who feel tension and rejection.

Previously, I perceived our opponents to be the “bad guys” and the United States to be the heroes that were helping people around the world. While this may be true in some applications, I’m no longer naïve to the fact that the U.S. isn’t handing out millions of dollars in economic interest simply because it’s the right thing to do. Rather, I believe that most military conflicts the U.S. has engaged in over the last century, as well as the current battles in Syria and throughout the Middle East, stem principally from economic motivations. While I’m undecided in the political debate that exists between political parties over the term imperialism itself, I’ve become keenly aware of how much of our country’s foreign policy is driven by the economic needs of its citizens. The profound change I’ve experienced is in remaining mindful as to the influence on foreign policy that receptive markets and favorable political conditions in countries throughout the world has.

With the founding of the Bretton Woods agreement at the conclusion of World War II, the United States (US) has participated in development at a substantial level. During the Cold War, it was in the best interest of the US to give aid to countries that could potentially be swayed to join or ally with the Soviet Union. Once the wall came down and the Soviet Union imploded, the US cut back on investments in aid and development. This reduction in aid lasted until the attacks on September 11th, which brought home the realization that unstable countries create an environment in which non-state actors and terrorists thrive. Again, the US employed the use of development as a tool; this time development was aimed at combating radical