Arizona’s Financial Complicity in Israel’s Blockade on Gaza: What to Know and How to Take Action
by Mary-Elizabeth Meagher, written exclusively for Mesa Valley Indivisible
maryelizabethmeagher.substack.com
On October 10, 2025, the United States announced a 20-point ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Within the nearly 10 months since that so-called ceasefire initially went into effect, Israel has violated the terms almost 4,380 times, Gaza’s Government Media Office reports. According to recent estimates, these violations killed more than 1,285 Palestinian civilians, while injuring over 4,255 others.
According to The Lancet Global Health Journal, the official death toll across the Gaza Strip since October 2023 exceeds 75,000. Elderly folks, women, and children account for 56% of those fatalities, the research continues. Meanwhile, the United Nations’ Office for Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) estimates that almost all of Gaza’s 2.1 million residents are currently living in displacement zones without reliable access to nutritious food, clean water, medical care, electricity, shelter, education, and income.
Children are especially vulnerable to this extreme, relentless chokehold. UNICEF data reveals that at least 64,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza, and another 56,000 have lost one or both of their parents. There is no scale on which to quantify the lasting impact of so much trauma. These innocents pose zero threat to Israeli security.
The situation on the ground is absolutely dire for Palestinians across this besieged enclave. In fact, the life expectancy for an average person in Gaza is 30 years lower than pre-genocide life expectancy rates. Let’s pause here briefly and talk about the term, “genocide.” Western media often treats this word as controversial, but the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry have both ruled that Israeli attacks in Gaza meet Article II of the Geneva Convention’s legal criteria for genocide.
So we refer to this human rights atrocity as a genocide because there is no other description for it. We won’t avoid using a word that makes certain mainstream outlets uncomfortable. We are committed to reporting the harsh truths about injustice, which includes uncovering our nation’s own complicity. Now here’s the part many Americans do not know: U.S. taxes finance Israel’s continual blockade of the entire Gaza Strip. Arizona is no exception.
Let’s use Mesa as an illustration. Those of us who call Mesa home are 7,460 miles from Gaza City, but our local government earmarks $38,581,317 of our tax dollars for weapons sent to the Israeli military. Below is a quick snapshot of how these funds can benefit our own communities if they were invested in local resources instead of being funnelled into Israel:
Source: NotMyTaxDollars.org
Allow those figures to sink in for a moment. Elected officials transfer our money overseas to a regime that kills civilians on a near daily basis—including at least five in airstrikes as recent as August 31, 2026. If lawmakers were to halt this precedent, the math speaks for itself: We as a community could have access to more affordable homes, education, groceries, healthcare, and utilities. As it currently stands, however, we fund the slaughter of thousands.
Consider that 10 out of Arizona’s 11 federal representatives in Congress take donations from AIPAC, the most influential pro-Israel lobby across the U.S. This means the vast majority of lawmakers we elected ran on campaigns financed by a political action committee (PAC) that serves Israel’s interests. Translation: AIPAC controls their Congressional votes. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D, AZ–07) is the only Arizona legislator who rejects all AIPAC donations. Here’s how much the other 10 have accepted from the Israel lobby during their careers:
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R, AZ–06): $1,224,703
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D, AZ–03): $1,161,274
Sen. Mark Kelly (D): $554,054
Rep. Greg Stanton (D, AZ–04): $321,822
Rep. David Schweikert (R, AZ–01): $206,443
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D): $141,670
Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R, AZ–08): $53,638
Rep. Andy Biggs (R, AZ–05): $39,184
Rep. Paul Gosar (R, AZ–09): $18,250
Rep. Eli Crane (R, AZ–02): $500
It might surprise you to see the names of certain Democrats on this list. But the stark reality is that enabling Israel to murder with impunity has created a bipartisan human rights catastrophe over these last three years. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are smearing blood on our hands, but we’re under no obligation to surrender to this status quo.
As constituents, we are not powerless—we can take action to hold our government accountable for their role in Israel’s unconscionable genocide, which we never signed off on. Here are a few meaningful ways to seek justice in Gaza beyond the farce of a so-called ceasefire:
Contact your representatives in Congress and implore them to vote, “YES,” on H.R. 3565, the Block the Bombs Act. You will be given an email script when you visit this link. (For senators, urge them to introduce a similar companion legislation in the Senate). Locate your Congressional members here.
Contact both your senators and representatives in Congress and implore them to dismantle Section 224 of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, which would integrate U.S. and Israeli weapons research, production, technology, and military operations. This merger will be a disaster if it passes, so ask them to vote, “NO” on it. You will be given an email script when you visit this link.
Attend city council meetings, inquire if the local board of commissioners invests in Israeli-backed financial ventures, and urge them to divest from these enterprises. You can submit a public comment to the Mesa City Council here.
Organize an event to bolster awareness and activism for Gaza. Whether you enlist some friends to write letters to elected officials, or you host a fundraiser to sustain humanitarian work across the Gaza Strip, no grassroots initiative is too small to help build momentum for Palestinian liberation.
Donate to organizations on the frontlines who are advocating for a real, permanent ceasefire and working to provide humanitarian relief in Gaza. These are just a few organizations to consider: Standing Together, World Central Kitchen, Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, Mercy Corps, OxFam International, Water Is Life, and U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
