GAZA (Dispatches) – Palestinian resistance groups, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, have denounced the U.S. House’s approval of funding for the Zionist regime’s Iron Dome system in spite of the regime’s continued aggression against Palestinians.
In a statement, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanoa said the U.S. House’s approval of $1 billion in new funding for the occupying regime’s Iron Dome system highlights the United States’ bias in favor of the regime and against the Palestinian people.
“By providing such financial assistance, the U.S. becomes a partner of the Israeli occupation and kills the Palestinian people’s aspirations for freedom and independence,” he said.
The spokesman noted that the continued U.S. support to equip the Zionist regime with high-tech weapons will never legitimize its occupation of Palestine.
“Finally, we call on the Palestinian Authority not to count on the U.S. administration and take serious positions against the U.S. bias towards the Israeli occupation,” he added.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab said the U.S. House’s decision demonstrates Washington’s support for the Zionist regime and is a defeat for those who looked forward to real change in the U.S. government’s policy on the Palestinian issue.
“What the United States is doing is against the principles of justice,” Shehab told the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to give $1 billion to the Zionist regime for its so-called Iron Dome missile system.
Critics of the measure accused it of militarily funding a regime engaged in human rights abuses and failing to address the safety of Palestinians.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC, has been heavily criticized on social media after voting “present” in the House bill to approve the funding.
Ocasio-Cortez had been expected to reject the bill, having earlier this month submitted an amendment to the annual military spending bill in which she sought to block the sale of $735m worth of munitions to the regime.
She released a four-page statement on Friday but offered no explanation as to why she switched her No vote to “present”.
The New York congresswoman’s decision to vote “present” brought about accusations of political calculation and cowardice.
“Voting ‘present’ on the Iron Dome issue is an act of political cowardice,” said activist and TV personality Marc Lamont Hill.
Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, argued in an article that while the Iron Dome may have saved Zionists, it may actually have done the opposite of saving Palestinian lives or minimizing the scale of destruction on the Palestinian side.
“One of the standard arguments advanced in recent days is that Iron Dome is crucial not only for saving Israeli lives but is equally important (perhaps even more so) for saving Palestinian lives. This claim has been echoed by numerous American and Israeli analysts and even Members of Congress, and seems to have been accepted by a number of journalists as well,” he wrote.
However, referring to the available data, particularly casualty figures from previous conflicts, Elgindy maintained that “while Iron Dome may have saved Israeli lives, there is no evidence that it has done anything to save Palestinian lives or minimize the scale of destruction on the Palestinian side — and it may actually have done the opposite.”