Minneapolis, MN – On October 20 people rallied in the rain to protest the Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act, a proposed bill which would earmark another $1 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel on top of the $3.8 billion already allocated. The protest of over 20 people targeted Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar because the bill is coming to the U.S. Senate. The Anti-War Committee, the initiator of the protest, applauded the nine members of Congress, including Minnesota’s own Ilhan Omar, who voted against this extra $1 billion in funding.

Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid in the world. The U.S. gave $3.8 billion in aid to Israel in 2020, most of it military assistance. That military aid is used to routinely violate Palestinian rights, to enforce illegal borders, to demolish homes and seize land, and to subject Palestinians to a system that international human rights organizations increasingly recognize as apartheid. The Iron Dome is an integral part of this.

Some may not understand the Anti-War Committee’s opposition to the Iron Dome, a supposedly defensive missile system. AWC member Wyatt Miller explains, “The real purpose of the bill is barely hidden: to enable Israel to continue committing atrocities in occupied Palestine with impunity. The legislation justifies sending the $1 billion by stating it is needed for resupplying after Operation Guardian of the Walls, the Israeli Occupation Force’s May 2021 bombing campaign against Gaza that killed 260 Palestinians, including 66 children.”

Miller continued, “Israel’s Iron Dome missile system is not ‘self-defense.’ Its existence enforces the siege of Gaza and protects Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank. The Israeli Occupation Force knows that Palestinian resistance to genocide and ethnic cleansing is inevitable and seeks to soothe Zionist settlers with a sense of security in the lands they stole. The Iron Dome is a part of decades of aggression against Palestine, and the U.S. is complicit thanks to our taxpayer dollars.”

Speakers at the protest included Mnar Adley, the editor of Mint Press News and an outspoken member of the Palestinian community; Lucia Smith from Women Against Military Madness, and Autumn Lake from the Anti-War Committee. The protest was co-sponsored by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Women Against Military Madness.

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