Rachel Tapia

May 20, 2025

ENG 21002

Reema Rao

Literature Review

Abstract

This essay delves into the consequences the United States of America faces due to its political relationship with Israel. This essay focuses on how the use of American financial aid is used in war, and the effect it has on the United States’ code of ethics, global diplomacy, and domestic politics. Using scholarly articles, the review discusses its findings to reinforce the idea that Israel’s actions during the war against Hamas have been unjustifiable and disreputable not only to itself but to its ally. It is argued that Israel could be justified in its actions and deserves to be supported in light of its history.

Israel’s Consequential Relationship to the United States

Israel’s political and financial dependence on the United States has led to negative consequences for the U.S.; this relationship has damaged its global reputation and contributed to the erosion of ethical principles. This is a relationship in which many American citizens deny wanting to contribute towards, a relationship that only promotes Israel’s militaristic ambitions to decimate their enemies. At what point does a war consisting of two foreign states across the other side of the world, where tragedies and careless deaths blow forth into history, become another failure of the United States? The means to eliminate threats to the Israeli state are unjustifiable considering the humanitarian crimes committed in the name of justice, a kind of justice in which the United States unhesitantly defends. The resources expended at the whims of Israel directly and indirectly, morally and reputationally damage U.S. interests. The question of whether U.S. support of Israel is justified depends on our ethical understanding of what this relationship contributes to the U.S. as well as the world. 

It is ethically wrong for Israel to depend on the U.S because it uses this assistance to indiscriminately kill innocent civilians. The article Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential advocates that the war in Gaza should be put at a ceasefire because there is a humanitarian crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and has destroyed Gazan society. The authors of this article reveal that there is an unnecessary number of deaths encouraged and executed by Israel, and a large portion of the counted deaths are innocent civilian casualties. To amplify this claim, the authors suggest that indirect deaths due to the war could be assumed to be 4 times the amount of currently counted deaths. Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential claims, “Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death to the 37 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.”.(Khatib et al., 2024) The indirect deaths of this war arise from the destruction of vital life-supporting infrastructure such as hospitals and shelters. This problematizes the war in Gaza to a new level, exerting accountability on the state for the purposeful destruction of the foundation of Gaza’s society. Because even when the war ends, thousands of people will continue to die when deprived of health care, shelter, food, and water. Furthermore, the authors stress that the purpose of this document is to urge an immediate ceasefire and to preserve evidence related to allegations of genocide. “At the same time, there is a need to record the scale and nature of suffering in this conflict. Documenting the true scale is crucial for ensuring historical accountability and acknowledging the full cost of the war. It is also a legal requirement.”.(Khatib et al., 2024) The overall purpose of this article is to open up a discussion about the aftereffects of the war, which cause an overwhelming humanitarian crisis that will currently affect hundreds of thousands of people, but will inevitably affect future generations of Palestinians to be impacted too. The authors take a politically neutral stance, but it is clear that through the counted number of deaths, their true goal is to persuade either government officials or the public to support a ceasefire. This article, which only shows the documented number of deaths, illustrates why any support of this war devastates an entire population of humans and should not be supported. Unrelatedly, this article is a prime example of why U.S. support for Israel is ethically wrong; a ceasefire and a prevention of future conflict is only possible if support for Israel is extinguished and if the U.S promotes a ceasefire. 

The Israeli-Hamas war has tarnished the United States’ diplomatic power in the Middle East due to political controversy. Death and injustice are no strangers to the occupancy of American power, and Israel’s breach of international humanitarian law has riled up countless countries against it. An article called The War in Gaza, the Decline of US Leadership and the Emergence of a Networked Regional Order summarizes that the U.S. led government order in the middle east is fading because a group named the ‘Axis of Resistance’ led by Iran has formed a network of armed groups or non-state actors within countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen that exploit anti-Israel sentiment.  (Krieg, A.,2024) The author of this article reframes the war in Gaza as an excuse for groups such as Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and armed militias in Iraq to attack current regimes in power. Resulting in the emergence of spontaneous powers in the Middle East that are completely out of the control of the U.S. influences and regional governments. The U.S. relationship to Israel, which supports the war against Hamas, neglects the public opinion of people in neighboring countries and leads to increasing conflict and disagreement. (Krieg, A.,2024) U.S. support of the war has shifted the support of American leadership; no longer do countries in the Middle East desire to remain complicit in the injustice committed by Israel. As long as the U.S. continues to support Israel, countries in the Middle East will further disengage from U.S. leadership.

Negative public sentiment of Israel after committing genocide has domestically caused American citizens to resist and protest their leadership. The genocide against the people of Palestine has been openly criticized for violating international law and breaching human rights, and has led to public controversy. The article Aid to Israel in Four Charts written by authors Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow, outlines four statistics that demonstrate the ways the U.S. government assists Israel militarily and financially, and the public scrutiny of this assistance. The authors illustrate that Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. aid through several charts depicting economic aid and military aid. Only being second to Saudi Arabia in being the top recipient of arms sales from the U.S.. (Masters J., Merrow W.,2024) Through this display of statistics, the authors contrast the U.S. aid given to Israel with the political controversy against Israel for the ethical misuse of American arms. In the section, ‘Why is there growing public scrutiny of U.S. aid to Israel?’ The authors identify that U.S leaders and activist groups in the U.S. share growing concerns over Israel’s assault on Gaza’s territory and its obstruction to humanitarian aid. (Masters J., Merrow W.,2024) Demonstrating how public sentiment over the United States supporting the war is shifting against Israel’s favor. Furthermore, the article asserts, “…pro-Israel sentiment among some groups in the United States and many other countries has weakened as Israel’s campaign against Hamas has also killed thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and has exacerbated a humanitarian crisis that is spiraling toward famine.” (Masters J., Merrow W.,2024) Through this statement, the authors ridicule the unnecessary assistance from the U.S by highlighting the growing disapproval of Israel’s misuse of American weapons. In another article called Crowd Counting Consortium: An Empirical Overview of Recent Pro-Palestine Protests at U.S. Schools, the author Jay Ulfelder investigates the number of ‘Free Palestine’ protests going on within U.S schools and the political arrests resulting from these protests. Ulfelder distinguishes the different reasons students protest, naming causes such as ending genocide in Gaza, calling for Palestinian liberation, and for schools to divest from financial ties to Israel and weapons manufacturers. (Ulfelder, J.,2024) Accordingly, all of these reasons have caused 3,700 protest days at U.S. schools since October 7th, with 3,645 arrests resulting. (Ulfelder, J.,2024) The author’s purpose for this article is to document the advocacy of student resistance against U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas. Both of these articles propose a bigger picture to the relationship between the U.S and Israel, on one hand, Aid to Israel in Four Charts discusses mainly the direct military ties between the U.S and Israel and touches lightly on the subject of political controversy. While Crowd Counting Consortium only focuses on American protests and controversy concerning the war, while neglecting information on the political ties between Israel and the U.S.. Together, these articles deconstruct the cause-and-effect relationship between the U.S. relationship to Israel and the domestic protests and resistance of governmental institutions. Showing that negative public sentiment toward Israel’s actions has directly become a problem for the U.S..

On another note, Israel has the right to use the United States military aid to defend its right to exist, especially after numerous times in history when the Jewish population was persecuted and targeted. The Holocaust Encyclopedia, a website meant to inform people of the history of the holocaust, claims that after the holocaust, Jewish people from Europe desired a homeland where they would no longer be a minority group. Their hopes were realized when Israel was established as a state in 1948. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,2025) The encyclopedia article shows the history of Jewish people who were displaced multiple times after World War 2, their homes were either destroyed or they were unable to enter countries due to travel restrictions. The Jewish people who were unable to find homes were sent to refugee camps across Europe. When they wanted to go back home, many times they faced racism and rejection from being able to stay there. This led to the desire for them to move to Mandatory Palestine and create a home for themselves.(United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,2025) The authors of this article reframe the history of Israel from the perspective of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who desperately needed a home for themselves and their families. Through this lens, the audience can recognize just how important the sovereignty of Israel is to the millions of people who live there today. The influence of the U.S. has been with Israel since day one when President Truman recognized Israel as a state, and through this article, it can be inferred that the U.S’. recognition of this state cemented its inalienable right to exist. Marking Israel’s relationship to the United States, one that defends the rights and homes of Jewish people against invaders who wish to destroy that peace. 

Reviewing these literary articles has shed light on the political consequences of the relationship between the U.S. and Israel. Specifically, how assistance from the U.S. has impacted the Israel-Hamas war, causing repercussions for U.S. power, stability, ethics, and reputation. 

To start off, the direct deaths resulting from the Israel-Hamas war have caused a humanitarian crisis that has irreparably damaged the lives of thousands of Palestinians. The United States is accountable for this humanitarian crisis due to its political and financial ties to Israel. Secondly, the insurgency of non-state actors or militias that have congregated against Israel have caused the U.S. to lose control and stability of the middle east. Thirdly, the disagreement and controversy about the United States support of the Israel-Hamas war has led to thousands of protests in the United States, causing arrests and political resistance.These three problems are a few of the many issues brought to life through this relationship. As a way forward, researchers should add more ethical concerns when it comes to these research findings and statistics. Many research articles seem afraid of presenting their own opinions about the Israel-Hamas war and instead use statistics to let the reader figure out what they truly feel. These politically neutral articles ignore logical ethical concerns and seem to only present facts; they help get unbiased information, but they completely lack character. 

Reference List

Khatib, R. et al., (2024). Counting the dead in Gaza: Difficult but essential. The Lancet, 404(10449), 237–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01169-3

Krieg, A. (2024). The war in Gaza, the decline of US leadership and the emergence of a networked regional order. Mediterranean Politics, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2024.2358618

Masters, J., & Merrow, W. (2024). U.S. aid to Israel in four charts. Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Introduction to the Holocaust. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/postwar-refugee-crisis-and-the-establishment-of-the-state-of-israelUlfelder, J. (2024). Crowd counting consortium: An empirical overview of recent                   Pro-Palestine protests at U.S. schools. Ash Center. https://ash.harvard .edu/articles/crowd-counting-blog-an-empirical-overview-of-recent-pro-palestine-protests-at-u-s-schools/