Letter: US Must Enforce the Leahy Laws and End Weapons Shipments to Israel
Scene from the 2014 war in Gaza. Photo: Sharif Sarhan and Flickr.com. Creative Commons
As I go through my day, I stop at times and realize how lucky I am to be in a part of the world that is not in the middle of a war. Not in the middle of so much killing and destruction.
I am very grateful to be here in Amherst. But I do not feel okay about what my government is doing to fund the war in Gaza. The billions of dollars and a never ending stream of weapons, that we pay for as citizens of this country.
The statistic I’ve heard recently is that 50 cents on every dollar taken in federal taxes goes to the military. And that in turn goes to contracts with weapon manufacturers. I’ve also learned that the US has a set of laws called the Leahy Laws that it is violating by providing aid to Israel as it continues to perpetuate human rights violations in Gaza.
If the US followed it’s own laws and stopped shipping weapons to Israel, then when Kamala Harris says she wants to get a cease fire and a deal done for a two state solution, it might not ring so hollow.
So in an effort to get our elected leaders to stop sending Israel military aid (in the forms of money and weapons), I would like to invite anyone interested to click the links below. One is to send letters to your congressional representative and senators asking them to stop all military funding of Israel. And the other is a petition to Kamala Harris asking her to stop sending bombs and weapons to Israel.
https://act.uscpr.org/a/endmilitaryfunding
Arlie Gould
Arlie Gould is a resident of Amherst.
Although Harris is definitely the lesser of two evils, I just cannot bring myself to vote for a party that continues to unconditionally fund the war in Gaza. I know it will be “throwing away my vote,” but I am voting for a third party in November.