The Deadly Weapons We Sell to Saudi Arabia

And the Israel advocates who shut down a Queens event on Palestine.

You haven’t heard from me for a bit because I was busy wrapping up my latest for In These Times magazine. I’ve got the cover story for this month’s issue.

TLDR: Under President Barack Obama’s administration and, now, President Donald Trump’s, the United States has put its military might behind the Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen, waging a war without congressional authorization. That war has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, destroyed or damaged more than half of Yemen’s health facilities, killed more than 8,350 civilians, injured another 9,500 civilians, displaced 3.3 million people, and created a humanitarian disaster that threatens the lives of millions as cholera and famine spread through the country.

U.S. arms merchants, however, have grown rich. In the past decade, Boeing has made $21 billion from deals with Saudi Arabia, while Lockheed Martin took in $7.2 billion. Those weapons are now being used to kill Yemeni civilians. See the infographic above for more details on the specific companies getting rich off the Saudis.

Key quote: “Most of the weapons that we have found and been able to identify in strikes that appear unlawful have been U.S. weapons. Factories have been hit. Farmlands have been hit with cluster bombs. Not only have they killed civilians, but they have also destroyed livelihoods and contributed to a dire humanitarian situation.”—Priyanka Motaparthy, Human Rights Watch researcher.

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And if that wasn’t enough of my work for you, here’s another piece published last week for Jewish Currents on how a small group of pro-Israel activists pressured a church in Queens to shut down an event on Palestine. Similar stories of censorship have played out with alarming regularity in recent years, fueled by pro-Israel advocates who conflate criticism of the Jewish state with antisemitism.