The Holocaust was undoubtedly one of the great atrocities of humanity. There will never be so profound a difference between anyone to warrant the discrimination of an entire people.

But abomination of the past does not justify oppression of the present.

The inequity between Palestine and Israel is undeniable. Beyond question or doubt, it is a grave injustice. But so often, criticism of Israel is immediately deemed an attack on Judaism and discontinued. Discussions of fact become outspoken by guilt.

Calling someone anti-Semitic is easier than listening about the inhumane conditions Palestinians are forced to endure.

Noting that Israel is an unjust state has nothing to do with hating Jewish people.

Zionism is the Jewish political movement to re-establish a homeland for Jews in Israel. It seeks to unify Jews and preserve Jewish culture. As such, Zionism only strives at the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Standing against Israel is not discrimination against Jews. It is standing against discrimination against Palestinians. Respect for humanity is not mutually exclusive.

Israel was deemed a state to essentially make reparations after World War II.

Palestine’s occupation is religiously justified. God promised Jacob, father of all Jews, a land for his children. It happened to be Palestine.

They are virtually using a book they wrote to legitimize their actions. How is this even remotely reasonable?

“Judaism is a religion that has tried to establish itself as a nationality,” said Eddie Merlo, senior history major. “Now the Palestinians are constantly losing land to Jews, as they refuse to stop settlement expansion.”

But last week, after months of refusing the United Nations and the Obama administration’s calls to freeze just West Bank settlement expansions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally announced a 10-month pause on growth in the West Bank.

In East Jerusalem, in order to clear the way for more Jews-only settlements, Israeli authorities have been evicting and demolishing Palestinian homes, on grounds that they were built without proper permits.

Israel did not agree to stop expanding in East Jerusalem, leaving an estimated 60,000 Palestinians at risk, according to the UN.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the permits are very difficult for Palestinians to obtain. They are forced to build “illegally” to stay within the city, or else risk losing their Jerusalem identity cards, the documentation required by Israelis to access and live in the city.

Amnesty International has also found that Israel is rationing water access for the Palestinians.

“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank, while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories, in an October report.

Is it not enough that Israel restricts access to occupied Palestine? Rationing water blatantly denies an entire people a basic human need. As many as 200,000 Palestinians are forced to live in rural communities without running water, the report details. Yet Amnesty International found that the Israeli army often prohibits these people from even collecting rain water.

This is not a mere denial of a human necessity, but an active effort of deprivation.

America has budgeted nearly $3 billion for Israel in unrestricted military aid for next year, as we have for more than 20 years. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military and economic aid, yet is in no way held accountable to report how our money is being used.

Why are we giving roughly one-fifth of our foreign aid budget to a fascist state?

Our money should not be supporting a country with such blatant disregard for the welfare of another people.

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