Desertpeace

It’s bad enough that Congress passed the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 two weeks ago, spending $165 billion more on our country’s illegal war on and occupation of Iraq well into 2009.

To add insult to injury, after closely reading the bill, we discovered that Congress snuck in a last-minute earmark for $170 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel!

The culprit: Representative David Obey (WI-7), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who has received nearly $225,000 from “pro-Israel” PAC’s and more than $200,000 from the military-industrial complex since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Yes, the same David Obey who can be seen in this video berating peace activists for wanting to cut off funding for the war in Iraq.

Yesterday, the US Campaign sent Rep. Obey a sharply-worded letter protesting his decision to slip this earmark for Israel into an unrelated bill at the last minute, thereby preventing any public scrutiny or debate. To view a copy of the letter, please click here.

So why was this appropriation for military aid for Israel slipped into an unrelated bill at the last minute? Because Congress apparently has decided to delay passing the FY2009 budget until 2009, even though the fiscal year begins on October 1. This means that Congress will have to operate under what is known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government open until it passes the budget.

How does this relate to military aid to Israel? Under a CR, funding is frozen at current levels for all government programs, meaning that Israel would automatically get $2.38 billion in military aid. But President Bush requested $2.55 billion in aid for Israel in FY2009, the first proposed increase under a ten-year Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United States and Israel in 2007 to increase military aid to $30 billion over the next decade.

The additional $170 million was tacked on at the last moment by Rep. Obey so that, in his words, “Israel would not be accidentally short-changed” should Congress operate under a CR (Congressional Record, H5667, June 19).

Short-changed? Hardly. Israel is already the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, which it uses in violation of U.S. laws to prosecute an illegal military occupation and siege of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip.

That is why the US Campaign has taken the lead in organizing a campaign to get the United States to cut off military aid to Israel, rather than increase it. Check out our new Google map displaying the cities and towns all across the country representing the nearly 400 organizations have joined our campaign:

We need you to take action to hold Rep. Obey accountable for his irresponsible action and join with us to continue our campaign to challenge military aid to Israel.