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Infographic: What you need to know about Israel’s military

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Al Jazeera June 3, 2021, quotes Stephen Zunes:
Regarding the spike in US military aid in 2003, Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at San Francisco University, noted that the increase “was part of an overall increase in US arms transfers to the Middle East and US military spending” in the wake of the 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on the US, the US-led war in Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq.
  “US aid to Israel has always been primarily in relation to how Israel could assist in advancing perceived US strategic objectives, not about Israeli security needs,” he told Al Jazeera.
With respect to the surge in US military aid in 2000, Zunes noted that the US had agreed in the 1998 Wye River Memorandum to boost aid to Israel “in return for [relatively minor] Israeli concessions in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks”.
  “Since budgets are put forward the year prior, this was the first budget subsequent to that meeting and was therefore probably a result of that,” he said.
Israel is the most significant recipient of total US foreign military financing (FMF) – a programme that provides grants and loans to US allies to acquire “US defense equipment, services and training”. During the past two decades, 55 percent of all US FMF was dedicated to Israel, more than the rest of the world combined, according to Security Assistance Monitor, part of the Center for International Policy, a Washington DC-based think-tank.

From Aleppo to Gaza: A Handy Guide for Defending War Crimes

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Foreign Policy In Focus May 26, 2021: The U.S. strident defense of Israel’s recent military onslaught on the Gaza Strip… sounds remarkably similar to that to defend the Assad regime in Syria during their bloody attacks on Aleppo, Idlib, and other rebel-held areas… here’s a summary — based on real articles, interviews, and statements — in which apologists for war crimes can insert the appropriate words at the appropriate spot, depending on which government’s atrocities they are defending…

125 Democrats Say Military Aid to Israel Shouldn’t Depend on Human Rights Record

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Truthout, May 3, 2021, by Stephen Zunes [ source]
In an apparent response to growing calls for making US aid to the Netanyahu government conditional on Israeli adherence to human rights law, 330 members of the US House of Representatives signed a letter late last month insisting that the $3.8 billion in annual military aid the United States provides Israel remain unconditional.

Sudan’s 2019 Revolution The Power of Civil Resistance

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Stephen Zunes’ April 2021 report* reviews the chronology of the resistance struggle in Sudan, the critical role of nonviolent discipline, other factors contributing to the movement’s success, and the current political situation. It seeks to explain how the movement was able to succeed despite enormous odds against it, and what lessons could be learned by those facing similarly difficult circumstances. Given the serious challenges facing the new civilian-led government, there is a real possibility that—as was the case following successful pro-democracy struggles decades earlier—the military could again seize power. However, there are also reasons for hope… Download the PDF here or at *The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC).

If Biden Wants to Protect Troops, He Should Bring Them Home — Not Bomb Syria

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Truthout, March 2, 2021, by Stephen Zunes [source]
The US has bombed Syria more than 20,000 times over the past eight years, so last week’s attack on a border post in northeastern Syria, which killed 22 militiamen and apparently no civilians, may not seem surprising to some… it is nevertheless disappointing that President Biden appears determined to continue the failed policies of his predecessors… Some members of Congress challenged Biden’s authority to order such an attack, which contravenes both international law and the US Constitution.

Will Biden Admin Reverse Trump’s “Dangerous” Recognition of Morocco’s Occupation of Western Sahara?

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DemocracyNow! Feb. 5, 2021, full transcript and video
President Donald Trump broke with decades of U.S. foreign policy in the waning days of his administration and recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a territory the country has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. U.S. recognition came as Morocco agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the fourth Arab nation to do so in recent months as part of a regional push by the Trump administration to strengthen Israel without addressing the Palestinian conflict. Now the Biden administration must weigh whether to reverse Trump’s decision…. “The United Nations Charter is very clear expansion of territory by military force is illegitimate.”
See Zunes’s website and book Western Sahara.

One of the Democrats’ Biggest Hawks Is Now Senate Foreign Relations Chair

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Truthout, Jan.26, 2021 [source]
Democrats have named Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee… Menendez has opposed the Iran nuclear agreement, repeatedly attacked the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, supported unconditional military aid to governments that have used the weapons in the commission of war crimes…