In spite of laws restricting the United States from giving military aid to countries that use them for aggressive purposes or to commit human rights violations, the U.S. “continues to give Israel $3.8 billion of our tax dollars every year in military funding.”

More and more Americans are speaking out on this issue, including representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan, and Rashida Tlaib, who yesterday led the introduction of a House resolution opposing the sale of $735 million in American-made weapons to the Israeli government.

For today’s program, guest host Norman Stockwell takes a close look at what Israel’s attacks on Gaza mean for U.S. foreign policy and discusses what Americans can do to defend Palestinian rights with journalist Abby Seitz (calling in from Jerusalem), attorney and human rights activist Huwaida Arraf, and professor and author Rashid Khalidi.

Abby Seitz is an American freelance journalist based in Jerusalem. Her reporting and writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Washington Post and most recently The Progressive.

Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian American activist, lawyer, and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led organization focused on assisting the Palestinian side of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict using non-violent protests.

Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University in New York and co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. He is the author of several books, including Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East (Beacon Press, 2013) and most recently The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine (Metropolitan Books, 2020).

Cover photo: “Protest against Israel & US aid to Israel and for a free Palestine on May 15th, San Francisco CA, 2021” by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash