In the Progressive International's 15th Briefing of 2024, we look at the continued destruction of Palestine by the powers of the West and the mounting attempts to hold them to account. If you would like to receive our Briefing in your inbox, you can sign up using the form at the bottom of this page.
Two new reports reveal the scale of the United States and its allies’ military support for Israel before and following 7 October 2023 and a decade-long defunding of aid for Palestine. Put simply, the US and its allies defund and destroy Palestine with a policy of arms in, aid out.
On the eve of 7 October 2023, the US gave Israel $59 in military support for every $1 it gave to Palestine in bilateral humanitarian aid. Since 7 October, the US has given Israel over $23 billion in weapons and defunded the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the largest provider of aid and support to Palestinians.
The reports Who’s Arming Israel, produced **by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change in partnership with Action on Armed Violence, and International Aid for Palestine, produced by the Institute for Journalism and Social Change, lay bare the US’ role in the longstanding violence and denial of means of life for Palestinians, particularly those living in the Gaza Strip.
The US arming of Israel is well known. Between 2019 and 2023, the US accounted for around 69% of Israel’s arms imports, with a 10-year deal signed in 2016 supplying Israel with $3.8 billion in US military aid annually. What is less well known is its decade-long defunding — under both Republican and Democrat presidential administrations — of humanitarian aid for the Palestinians.
From 2013-2022, the US cut its bilateral aid flows to Gaza and the West Bank by over 90%. US allies have followed suit: a 74% cut in aid from the UK and a 30% cut from Canada.
Overall in the decade examined, annual aid flows for Palestine from official donors decreased by about 15%. Palestine is the only aid recipient in West Asia that has seen its annual aid flows fall. They would have fallen even further if it wasn’t for increased contributions from some countries, most notably Qatar, which reported more than $1.3 billion in aid for the West Bank and Gaza between 2019-2022 alone.
This dedicated programme of defunding by the US and its allies came at a time of great need, where 80% of Gaza’s population was dependent on international aid, according to the UN. Before the post-7 October onslaught, most of Gaza’s water was “undrinkable” and “slowly poisoning people”, according to rights groups.
Since 7 October, this “arms in, aid out” trend has intensified, despite the colossal scale of need in Gaza and the world’s highest court ruling that Israel could plausibly be committing genocide. In response to unsubstantiated allegations by the Israeli government about UNRWA staff, nine of the agency’s biggest donors representing over half of total funding, including the US and the UK, announced they were suspending or reviewing their financial support.
The flow of military hardware and support to Israel, on the other hand, has ramped up. Since 7 October, US arms deals have exceeded $23 billion, with over 100 undisclosed military sales to Israel approved since.
Germany is now the second-largest arms exporter to Israel. In 2023, Germany licensed €326.5 million in munitions to Israel, a tenfold increase from the previous year. This week, Germany was hauled before the International Court of Justice, accused by Nicaragua of “facilitating the commission of genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. Nicaragua’s lawyers told the world’s highest court that Germany is “pathetic” for supplying aid to Palestinians while providing arms to Israel.
Despite the UK government asserting that it has not supplied lethal aid to Israel since 7 October, UK firms like BAE Systems continue to supply military components for Israeli fighter jets, including F-35s. Online postings by the Israeli army show F-35s in the bombing of targets in Gaza.
Between May 2015 and August 2022, the UK government licenced over £448 million worth of arms to Israel, including for aircraft, missiles and several other lethal military technologies. Following a legal challenge brought by Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organisation, it was revealed there are 28 existing UK licences and 28 further pending applications for military equipment that could be used by the Israeli airforce in Gaza. It is not known who holds these licences.
In early April 2024, more than 600 legal figures wrote to the UK government calling for a halt to arms exports to Israel, imposition of sanctions against those inciting possible genocide and restoration of funding to UNRWA to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Gaza.
On 9 April 2024, the UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, stated that the UK would not suspend arms to Israel after “reviewing the latest legal advice.” Civil servants who oversee arms exports to Israel are reportedly considering a walkout due to concerns about their legal liability.
The arms manufacturers who receive such licences are reporting record earnings, with executives cashing in through personal stock sales.
For instance, BAE Systems reported profits before interest and tax of £2.7 billion for 2023, on sales of £25.3 billion. The early part of 2024 saw a marked increase in the stock prices of companies arming the Israeli military. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, key suppliers to the Israeli Air Force, experienced significant share price increases, with Northrop Grumman shares jumping by 11.43% and Lockheed Martin's by nearly 9% since 7 October.
Who’s Arming Israel identified executives of some of the world’s leading arms manufacturers who are listed as selling weapons to Israel that have recently personally profited from substantial share sales. Top executives from BAE Systems General Dynamics, Rheinmetall and L3Harris Technologies all received millions more in share sales due to stock price increases following 7 October.
While these profits continue, so will the destruction of Palestine and the dispossession of the Palestinian people. That’s why action against Israel’s war machine and its global supply chain is so vital.
Citizens around the world are demanding their governments end arms sales to Israel. According to recent polling, 56% of those in Britain want an arms embargo, only 17% opposed. In the US, figures are similar with 52% supporting and just 27% opposed.
Activists are directly confronting the war machine - and it is working. Palestine Action has already shut down whole facilities and interrupted the activities of Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons company.
By dismantling the war machine, we can invert and transform the arms in, aid out formula: occupation out, liberation in.
Havana Congress on the New International Economic Order
This week, the Progressive International announced the delegates to the 50th Anniversary Congress on the New International Economic Order taking place in Havana, Cuba 28 April - 1 May 2024. Sign up here for more information about the Congress and to see the full list of delegates, including Ernesto Samper, Former President of Colombia, Mourad Ahmia, Executive Secretary of the Group of 77, Mathu Joyini, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN, Cristina Reis, Brazilian Undersecretary for Sustainable Economic Development, Ramón Pichs-Madruga, Vice-Chair of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Andrés Arauz, Former Ecuadorian Central Bank Governor, Gerardo Torres Zelaya, Vice Foreign Minister of Honduras, and many more.
Ecuador invades Mexico’s embassy
On 5 April, Ecuadorian police violently raided the Mexican Embassy in Quito — a flagrant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which affirms the inviolability of diplomatic premises. After breaking into the Mexican Embassy, police arrested former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who had been granted asylum by Mexico. In response, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the severing of diplomatic ties with Ecuador. “This is a flagrant violation of international law and the sovereignty of Mexico,” President López Obrador said.
Workers in Canada Make Amazon Pay
Amazon warehouse workers in Canada have filed for recognition of their union at two facilities in Vancouver. In the US, UK and now Canada, Amazon workers are fighting for their right to organise in a union for better pay and conditions. The movement to #MakeAmazonPay keeps growing stronger.
Art of the Week: Cibelle Cavalli Bastos, a Brazilian Berlin-based artist, creates AI generated artwork with hidden messages that speak of censorship, both on social media and throughout Germany. By generating images that are deliberately designed with embedded AI illusion text the words are able circumvent algorithmic identification.
Cibelle’s Freedom Watermelon’s series were conceived as an AI-generated digital artwork initiative in support of humanitarian efforts in Gaza and towards judiciary costs for those arrested in Berlin for protesting against the atrocities committed against Palestinians.
Cibelle’s limited edition artwork for the Progressive International supports the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) which defends and empowers advocates for Palestinian rights across mainland Europe and the United Kingdom through legal means.
