A Letter from 37 Members of the Iowa Chapter of Veterans for Peace

Israel’s war on Gaza is well into its tenth month. It’s no longer new news, summer has brought a sharp decline in university demonstrations, and we are in danger of accepting as normal this hellish calamity. Civilians are being detained, displaced, and killed every day, with the death count over 38,000. Millions are threatened with starvation. Entire communities are being wiped off the face of the earth. 

 Universities, schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, and homes have been destroyed. Over 80% of Gazans have been internally displaced, and most of those more than once. With over two million people, the Gaza strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Iowa’s population is 3.2 million in an area that is 400 times as big as Gaza. Words and statistics cannot convey the ongoing horror.

So what does that have to do with us, with the U.S.? Many of the bombs and shells and the planes and drones that deliver them are gifts from the U.S. to Israel. Since March, we have given Israel its annual gift of $3.8 billion for military use. In April, we gave another $12 Billion for weapons and ammo. This was all paid for by the U.S. taxpayers. Or, more concisely, it is just added to our national debt, so our children and grandchildren will be paying for the devices that kill Palestinian children today.

Mainstream media reports are often one-sided, with carefully selected soundbites and dramatic images. There is seldom any in-depth analysis or follow-up or historical perspective. False equivalence and innuendo have become the norm. Netanyahu is not Israel. Israel is not the embodiment of the Jewish religion. It is the home of Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and atheists. Criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country must not be regarded as antisemitic. Pro-Palestinian protesters and writers are not antisemitic solely by virtue of criticizing the actions of Israel. The charge of antisemitism is being used to quash free speech, and can have the ironic effect of dulling the outrage that must be directed at antisemitism.

Veterans are very familiar with the dictum that truth is the first casualty of war. It is our responsibility as citizens to seek out the truth, as unpleasant as it may be. Veterans For Peace decries the intentional killing of civilians, whether by Hamas, the Israeli military, or Israeli settlers.

From Washington we hear “We stand with Israel,” as if that is all the justification and explanation needed in a complex situation. Blind loyalty and slogans do not lead to good foreign policy–it too often leads to atrocities like we are seeing now. Our government seems to be in a quandary. It criticizes and cajoles Israel, it calls for more humanitarian aid (witness the ill-conceived and ill-fated “pier”), it hopes there will be fewer civilians killed. But, it never takes those steps which are necessary for this calamity to end – that is, cease all deliveries of arms to Israel and declare it will no longer give diplomatic cover to Israel’s war. Such steps would bring biting criticism in some quarters, but it is now time to set political calculations aside and just do The Right Thing. Even after nine months, doing the right thing may be good politics and can be a step forward for the U.S. standing in the world.

The killing must end. All hostages and prisoners must be released, and humanitarian aid must be unimpeded. Only then can the grievances of the Palestinian people and the security of Israelis and Palestinians be addressed. What we must do seems clear. We must do the right thing. We must become truly informed and then use our focused outrage to tell our leaders that the U.S. must halt its complicity in this horror and use its leverage to stop it. A place to start is to go to whitehouse.gov, scroll to the bottom where it says “contact,” and send your message to President Biden.