Senator Susan Collins of Maine has become a loyal advocate for Israel, a position shaped by the $646,758 she has received from AIPAC. This significant financial backing has undeniably influenced her consistent votes in favor of pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian legislation. For instance, she voted to send a staggering $41 billion in unconditional military aid to Israel, providing resources for a military force engaging in what many international observers, including the United Nations, a genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza. According to The Lancet, over 180,000 Gazans are projected to die as a result of this ongoing genocide. Collins’ backing of these policies reveals her complicity in this tragic loss of life, and she is bought out by AIPAC to reinforce this stance in Congress.
In a letter co-written to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Collins demonstrated her impatience with the Biden administration's pace in delivering munitions to Israel. Eight months into Israel's bombardment of Gaza, she questioned why weapons were not being sent more quickly. "We were alarmed when we learned from the media, rather than the Administration, that despite the President’s assertion that his commitment to the security of Israel is ‘ironclad,’ certain shipments of munitions intended for Israel are being withheld from delivery," she wrote. Her stance is clear: expedite military aid to a nation responsible for killing thousands of civilians and destroying Gaza’s infrastructure in the process.
Additionally, Collins has co-sponsored resolutions affirming Israel’s "right to self-defense" and urging global condemnation of Hamas while conveniently ignoring Israel’s indiscriminate use of force on the Palestinian indigenous population that has been occurring since 1948. Her hardline approach extends to cutting U.S. federal funding for UNRWA, the humanitarian organization that provides critical aid to Palestinians. "United States funding for UNRWA should not continue until Congress and the American people have full confidence that UNRWA is not employing individuals who participate in acts of terrorism," Collins stated, disregarding the desperate need for food, water, and medicine in Gaza as the region endures an ongoing siege. This callous approach reveals Collins' commitment to protecting Israel at the expense of innocent Palestinian lives, a stance reinforced by her financial ties to AIPAC.
Related Links
Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential, The Lancet, July 2024
Gaza infrastructure damages estimated at $18.5bn in UN-World Bank report, Al Jazeera News, April 2024
How each US senator voted on the $95 billion foreign aid package, CNN Politics News, April 2024
Collins, Graham Call for Answers as Administration Withholds Israel Assistance, Susan Collins Gov., May 2024
Senate Unanimously Passes Resolution Co-Sponsored by Collins, King in Support of Israel, Susan Collins Gov., October 2023
Senator Collins’ Statement on cutting funding to UNRWA, Susan Collins Gov., January 2024
