Recently, I read an article that said that America should stand in support of Israel. That isn’t acceptable. To start, the United States was built off of personal freedoms. Our original (non-native) settlers arrived in this country to escape the religiously-motivated persecution of their homeland. It should only make sense that the U.S. continue supporting those values of religious freedom today, but by supporting the nation of Israel, we do not do so. To begin, we first must realize that Israel isn’t the bastion of freedom and democracy it makes itself out to be. The nation openly supports Zionism, or Jewish superiority, and time and time again, it uses that convoluted sense of supremacy as a justification for the countless human right abuses its governmental bodies commit. Arab Israelis, who aren’t Jewish, are consistently put at a disadvantage, especially when it comes to political representation. As a matter of fact, the nation of Iran provides greater parliamentary representation to religious and cultural minorities than the nation of Israel itself. Yet we place excessive, unnecessary sanctions on that nation, while Israel’s practice of Zionism is ignored. How is this fair? What about the American morals of justice, religious equality, and personal rights?

Next, one must also address the issue of Israel’s horrendous human rights record. A perfect example of this lack of respect for civil rights can be seen in Israel’s intelligence agency’s actions. Mossad, the agency, has been cited by the UN, Arab League, and neighboring nations for exterminating human targets without a warrant or probable cause. In addition, the Israeli government is known to forcibly displace thousands of Syrians and Palestinian natives from their homeland for the construction of Israeli “settlements.” Examples of this terrifying practice can be seen in the Golan Heights and along the Israeli-Palestine border.

Finally, I want to stress the fact that Israel’s constant transgressions of human rights are going noticed by everyone else in the international community, except for the United States. Recently, the United Nations Security Council voted to condemn Israel’s rights record, and the council voted unanimously to do so. In a General Assembly vote, every single country, except the United States and Israel, decided to condemn, once again, Israel for its record. It is time we put down this misguided relationship, and stand up for the rights, morals and values that we as a country believe in. Therefore, I argue that standing by Israel is not justifiable, and quite immoral.