Local Peace Groups to Protest Fundraiser for Israeli Military

A coalition of peace advocacy groups in the Baltimore region will hold a
protest to call attention to a fundraiser for a group closely affiliated
with the Israeli Defense Forces. On May 2nd at 7:30pm at the Beth Tfiloh
Congregation at 3300 Old Court Rd. in Baltimore, the 501c3 organization
Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF) will be hosting a number of
high-ranking Israeli military officers as part of its annual national fund
raising drive.

FIDF describes itself with the motto "Their job is to look after Israel.
Our job is to look after them.", and collects tens of millions of dollars
from US citizens to bring active duty Israeli military officers to
American communities, aiming to continue the historic unquestioning
support of its activities in the Middle East. Last month, the current
Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Gen Gabi
Ashkanazi, spoke at a fundraiser in New York City that raised $20 million
for the FIDF.

Our federal government's financial support for the IDF is about $3billion
a year, coming to about $19 per American tax payer. During an era of
extraordinary economic hardship at home, fundraisers for foreign
militaries such as this one become even more outrageous; multi-million
dollar health spas are built for IDF soldiers with tax-deductible American
donations, while our own soldiers fail to receive basic equipment to
protect their lives in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

This kind of brazen support for Israeli policies - many of which have been
repeatedly condemned by the rest of the world- undermines any chances
towards a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. As Gen.
Petraeus pointed out recently, lack of progress in this conflict endangers
American lives, saying that "America's relationship with Israel is
important, but not as important as the lives of America's soldiers." The
IDF is the same military that goes un-reprimanded for the killing of
American sailors on-board the USS Liberty in 1967.

There is no question that the Israeli military is atleast partly to blame
for the continued violence in that part of the world, and many of its
operations have been characterized as war crimes by international bodies
such as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. In its
role as a major public relations campaign for the Israeli military,
fundraisers such as this one undermine any chances for peace in the Middle
East, subvert efforts towards it by our own government, and in the end
endanger the lives of our own soldiers. Furthermore, that such an event
would take place at a place of worship, flies in the face of interfaith
efforts to bring about an understanding between faiths.

Funds raised from such events should instead be put to use at home, in
providing services for our own soldiers, who are grossly under payed and
often end up in poverty.

Baltimore Palestine Solidarity, Hopkins Students for a Just Peace, and the
Howard County Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation are groups that seek
to educated the local community about the impact American policies have on
the continued illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel.