By Mary-Elizabeth Meagher
If you were to draw a line from the Arizona State Capitol in downtown Phoenix to the outskirts of Gaza City in the Palestinian Territories, that distance will equal 7,640 miles as the crow flies. So, why does this matter? Why is it relevant? How can these two locations in different hemispheres of the globe possibly intersect with one another?
At first glance, it likely seems that Arizona and Gaza share nothing in common—aside from the extreme heat of an arid climate. But even a cursory look at our state’s foreign investments tells the story of a deeper connection than meets the eye. That connection is Israel.
Since October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed more than 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, The Lancet Journal reports. This number, the publication continues, is believed to be an undercount, but since it is the official estimate, let’s use that as a starting point.
Of these 60,000-plus human lives cut short, 83% of the casualties were civilians. How do we know? A joint examination of the IDF’s military intelligence database by The Guardian and two Israeli-Palestinian news outlets, +972 Magazine and Local Call, uncovered receipts. This makes Israel’s siege in Gaza the fourth most lethal assault on civilians since 1989.
Nearly 60% of these victims were either women, children, or elderly folks over age 65, The Lancet goes on to point out—in other words, society’s most vulnerable. But where does the overlap with Arizona come in? Again, let’s turn our attention to Israel.
Since 2022, economic relations between Arizona and Israel have begun to steadily increase, with the total value of both imports and exports reaching $668 million in one year alone. As a standalone fact, this is not unusual. Financial ties among international entities are baked into macroeconomics, and in many cases, they do offer mutual benefits.
But consider this: According to the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights’ (USCPR) tax dollar tracking system, Arizona contributes $315,053,840 to Israeli weapon arsenals each year. These funds come out of tax payer wallets. Now consider what might be possible if Arizona reallocated that $315,053,840 toward our own local communities. We don’t have to imagine the possibilities because USCPR has done the math to lay it out in concrete terms:
- 896,950 households could receive one year of solar powered electricity.
- 662,922 households could receive one month of free groceries.
- 197,525 households could receive one month of free housing.
- 109,622 children could receive one year of free or low-cost healthcare.
- 8,337 college students could receive cancellations on their student loan debt.
These figures alone are reason for pause, but Israel’s influence in Arizona extends further than the economy. Our politicians have direct ties to Israel as well. Nine out of Arizona’s 11 federal representatives in Congress accept donations from AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobby in the United States. Here’s how much AIPAC has sunk into their campaigns to date:
- Mark Kelly (D): $505,910
- Ruben Gallego (D): $379,872
- Juan Ciscomani (R): $789,114
- David Schweikert (R): $259,027
- Greg Stanton (D): $128,940
- Andy Biggs (R): $46,250
- Yassamin Ansari (D): $34,060
- Paul Gossar (R): $30,475
- Abraham Hamadeh (R): $3,505
Why is this significant? Because when it comes to Israel, most of our representatives are not neutral and impartial—they are bought. In the most recent 2024 election, 389 out of the 469 Congressional races were influenced by AIPAC funding, The Intercept confirms. That’s 80% of all Senate and House seats up for re-election. And this investment paid off. The vast majority of candidates with AIPAC money in their coffers won those races.
AIPAC-backed politicians exist on both sides of the aisle with ideologies across the spectrum, but they all share one crucial, inextricable throughline: Powerful Israeli lobbyists own their votes. At the time of publication, no representative from Arizona has joined the slow but incremental groundswell in both the House and Senate to block sending American weapons to Israel. It’s not hard to see why either. Most of these legislators have been compromised. The financial success of their campaigns relies on AIPAC (and by extension, Israeli) alignment.
Let’s not mince words here. Our elected officials continually vote to send our tax dollars in the form of militarized weapons to an overseas government whose actions meet the International Association of Genocide Scholars’ and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry’s legal criteria for a systematic genocide, as laid out in Article II of the 1948 Geneva Convention.
Compare this finding to the fact that 60% of surveyed Americans no longer support the Israeli siege in Gaza, and we have a political and economic landscape that elevates Israel’s war machine over the will of Arizonans—and Americans at large.
According to the Phoenix-based Palestinian American Community Center, about 8,000 folks of Palestinian origin call this state home. Should they be forced to watch as their legislators make decisions that help continue to shield Israel from accountability in the utter decimation of their ancestral homeland? Should any of us, for that matter? Congress bankrolls the weapons, but our paychecks enable this transaction. It’s smearing blood all over our hands.
Arizona and Gaza do not share proximity, but our mutual Israeli connection is undeniable. For civilians in Gaza, this means ethnic cleansing. For those of us who live and work in Arizona, it means complicity we never asked for. Our communities deserve better. Arizonans from all walks of life deserve better. It’s time for the leaders we elect to prioritize the moral arc of justice—not political or financial gain—both in our neighborhoods and across the globe.
Ways to Take Action:
- Contact your representatives in Congress and implore them to vote, “YES,” on H.R. 3565, the Block the Bombs Act. (For your Senators, urge them to introduce similar legislation in the Senate). Locate your Congressional members here.
- Attend city council meetings, inquire as to whether your local board of commissioners invest in Israeli-backed financial ventures, and encourage them to divest.
- Organize an event to raise awareness and increase activism for Gaza at the grassroots level. Whether you assemble a group of friends to write letters to your elected officials, or you host a fundraiser to support humanitarian work across the Gaza Strip, no action is too small to help sustain momentum for the Palestinian cause.
- Donate to organizations on the frontlines who are advocating for a permanent ceasefire and working to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza. Here are just a few organizations to consider: Standing Together, World Central Kitchen, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Mercy Corps, OxFam International, and Water Is Life.