Letter: Military aid to Israel should stop
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Editor,
The U.S. has historically been a huge supporter of Israel, due to a long standing alliance rooted in shared democratic values, security interests in the region and historical ties dating from WWII. Between 1946 and 2024, Israel has received $310 billion in economic and military aid from the U.S., making it the greatest recipient in U.S. history. In 2025 Israel is slated to receive $3.3 billion in foreign military financing and $500 million for missile defense cooperation, according to Congress.gov.
The Israeli-Palestine conflict has seen myriad wrongs and brutalities on both sides over the past decades. But what is unfolding today in Gaza is of a whole new catastrophic dimension, as widespread famine and starvation decimate the population.
Estimates are that nearly 500,000 people are facing famine. A third of the population has not eaten for days. Patty Murray recently voted against sending more weapons to Israel, reversing her previous support. She chastised Netanyahu and Israel’s military strikes and the blocking of aid to the population and lamented the suffering of the civilians in Gaza. Kudos to Patty who put humanitarian considerations above the anticipated loss of significant contributions to her campaign from American Jews.
The split between those supporting Israel and those supporting Gaza is often couched in antisemitism terms. For me, it has nothing to do with antisemitism. I would protest sending my tax dollars to any regime which was a party to causing starvation and suffering for tens of thousands of people.
We must ask ourselves why Israel would be doing something that is condemned by the International Court of Justice and much of the world, regardless of their specious assertion that the aid is helping Hamas. I would suggest that Israel’s ultimate plan is to settle all of Palestine, and eliminating some of the opposition to this plan through starving the population would be a useful strategy.
Let your elected representatives know your views on this subject.
Linda Morris
Langley
