Ed Flaherty of Veterans For Peace addressing about 75 people gathered to protest the military action in Venezuela

Our friend and peace activist Ed Flaherty’s letter to the editor was published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette Sunday, July 5.

Israel gets unprecedented privileges in draft defense bill

Congress is preparing to give Israel unprecedented privileges via the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. Section 219 of the draft NDAA directs the secretary of defense to expand integration of the U.S. and Israeli military sectors. If Section 219 becomes law, U.S. and Israeli militaries will be joined at the hip. The measure directs the Department of Defense to appoint a senior “executive agent” to integrate Israeli defense technology directly into sensitive U.S. weapons systems, including artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, autonomous systems and quantum computing.

Nothing like this has ever been done in U.S. history. No other nation has ever been given the access to U.S. military resources that Section 219 proposes to give to Israel. It is an affront to U.S. sovereignty, and is frankly absurd.

The U.S. and Israel are allies, but it has been a contentious relationship, with that contentiousness amplified right now.

There are so many reasons to oppose the draft 2027 NDAA effort (e.g., an over 40% increase in an already bloated, unaudited military budget), but the inclusion of Section 219 is uniquely egregious. Please study this for yourself, and make your opinion known to your employees in D.C. The Armed Services Committees of both the House and Senate have approved the NDAA draft, including Section 219.

The House was expected to begin voting on the NDAA before the Fourth of July. The Senate will be taking a twoweek vacation, so no action there before July 13.

Ed Flaherty

Iowa City