20,000 Reasons to Stop All US Military Aid to Israel NOW
So as counter any intentions to reject the content of this blog as being antisemitic, one sided, and / or privileged rhetoric of an uninvolved source …
- I hold dual Israeli / US citizenship. I was born and lived in the US until the age of 20.
- I, as well as my wife and family, live in Israel.
- I live in Kibbutz Urim, on the outskirts of the Gaza Envelope, and my kibbutz was one of the intended targets of Hamas on October 7, 2023.
- I served in the IDF as a paratrooper from the age of 22 – 40.
- I accept responsibility, as an Israeli citizen, for ALL of the actions of the Israeli governments since I became a citizen in 1975 and until today.
- I accept responsibility, as a US citizen, for ALL of the actions taken by the US government since I was 16 years old and able to understand and participate in civil activity regarding the actions of those governments.
- I am writing this blog as a citizen who is responsible, as all citizens are responsible for the acts of their governments, for the actions of both Israel and the United States.
Since October 7, 2023 approximately 55 minors (18 years and younger) have been killed in Israel (40 in the events of October7-8 + 15 in missile attacks since October 9, 2023). [As per official Israeli sources]
Since October 7, 2023 approximately 20,000* minors have been killed as a direct result of Israeli (IDF) military operations (the vast majority of them in Gaza + approximately 250 in Lebanon and 15 – 25 in Syria – as per the Gaza Ministry of Health, the Lebanese Ministry of Health, various UN agencies, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights). [It should be noted that the IDF and other official Israeli authorities have not published any standalone breakdowns or tallies of minor fatalities.]
* The total number of fatalities in Gaza is, as yet, unknown. There are still thousands of missing persons in Gaza, an unknown number of whom are buried under tons of rubble.
Ever since October 7, 2023, the Israeli government and the IDF have used the weapons at their disposal with little, if any, regard to noncombatant injuries. Whether this has happened as a result of outright intentions of retribution (such as the recent call by the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to kill 30-40 people every day in Gaza, explicitly including “those who are not an immediate threat [as] there are people there who are not human beings. They don’t deserve to live …” see Ben Gvir interview) or are “just collateral damage” of “targeted” attacks on militants as reported by CBS News two years ago … see CBS News report), the result is the same – thousands of minors and tens of thousands of noncombatants have died as a direct result of Israeli actions.
One of the most dangerous weapons that are being supplied to Israel by the United States in this respect are one-ton bombs. These bombs, with a lethal radius of 360 meters (1,180 feet), have been used in heavily populated areas in Gaza, as reported by a Harvard FXB Center Study that mapped approximately 600 craters from these bombs in proximity to medical facilities and evacuation zones (see report here) and a New York Times report concerning Israel’s use of one-ton bombs in areas where Israel itself ordered Gaza’s civilians to move to “for safety” (NYT video report, December 21, 2023).
Now, at this moment, the Trump administration has green-lighted the supply of 40,000 more one-ton bombs to Israel (ABC News, September 17, 2026).
But that is, unfortunately, not the whole story behind US military support of Israel.
The same Minister Ben Gvir is proudly responsible for the distribution of thousands of M16 rifles and other US munitions to Jewish settlers in the West Bank, some of whom were formally initiated into local security forces. While these weapons are purportedly for the protection of the Jewish population there, they are also being used by Jewish vigilantes who are attacking Palestinians, destroying their homes and property, pushing them off their land … and in some cases literally murdering them. Many of these pogroms are being carried out under the “watchful” eye of Israeli soldiers … who are there to protect the Jewish attackers, NOT to protect the Palestinians (defacto, even if not under specific orders to do so).
All of this must stop NOW. Israel has proven itself to be a loose gun – shooting, bombing, and killing without regard for civilian casualties and specifically without regard for the killing of the most vulnerable – children and minors.
As an Israeli citizen who will be subject to the results of any sanctions that may be imposed, and as a US citizen who is responsible (as all citizens are responsible for the acts of their governments) for the US supplying Israel with lethal weapons that are directly connected to the death of tens of thousands of noncombatants, I call on the US Congress and my fellow US citizens to stop all military aid to Israel, until such time as it will be ascertained that that aid will not enable or facilitate, intentionally or unintentionally, the death of more noncombatants.
Marc Marcus
