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Every Friday at 9:30amAbout the Show
Understanding Israel Palestine
This show is inspired by Citizens for Justice in the Middle East, a local group that has advocated for 20 years for a fair and even-handed U.S. foreign policy that recognizes the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis. Our program offers interviews with journalists, scholars, policy experts and activists to offer multiple perspectives, and to clarify the underlying issues that are often obscured by headline news.
Josh Paul worked at the U.S. State Department for 11 years, serving as director in its Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. In this role he was responsible for U.S. defense diplomacy, security assistance, and arms transfers. He discusses why he resigned from the State Department this past fall in protest of continued lethal arms transfers to Israel. While the letter of the law has perhaps been followed regarding these arms transfers, Josh Paul argues that its spirit has not. Congress is failing to perform its oversight role and hold the Biden administration accountable for living up to its obligations. We discussed the pipelines of U.S. weapons being sent to Israel and the laws that are supposed to govern their transfer, namely the Arms Export Control Act, the Leahy Laws, and the Foreign Assistance Act and their circumvention by the Biden Administration. We closed by discussing the larger lessons that the United States should draw from its own experience fighting the Global War on Terror.
