As opposition to Israel’s Gaza war intensifies, so too has the attention on Boeing’s longstanding connection with Israel and the Israeli armed services’ use of Boeing weapons.

On campuses across the U.S., including this week’s encampment at the University of Washington, and outside Boeing’s Virginia headquarters, protesters have assailed Boeing for its involvement in the Israel-Hamas war. Students have called for their universities to cut ties with the aviation giant, demands that last week saw Portland State University administrators agree to temporarily stop accepting Boeing money, one of 13 demands made by students there.

Following an Oct. 7 attack on Israel during which Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took scores of hostages, Israel launched an extensive air and ground war on Gaza that so far has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, according to Gazan health officials. Women and children account for around two thirds of those killed in Gaza.

President Joe Biden signed a$95 billion war aid measure in late April that included assistance for Israel, Ukraine and other conflict areas. The legislation included $26 billion in aid for Israel and about $1 billion for humanitarian relief for Palestinians in Gaza.

In a statement, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat who voted against the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, said she believed there was a “moral imperative” to find another path.

“Most Americans do not want our government to write a blank check to further Prime Minister Netanyahu’s war in Gaza,” the Seattle Democrat said in a joint statement with 18 other lawmakers. “The United States needs to help Israel find a path to win the peace.”

While the exact extent to which Boeing has armed Israel remains murky, Boeing remains a major supplier to the Israel Defense Forces.

The Boeing-Israel relationship goes back decades, since the founding of Israel, and the connection is worth billions of dollars in commercial aviation and defense.

Israel has received more military aid from the U.S. than any other country since World War II, and Boeing has had a role since 1948, when, according to the company, the Israeli Air Force flew Boeing’s B-17 Flying Fortress. Israel’s national airline, El Al, operates an all-Boeing fleet, and the company has an office in Tel Aviv.

Over the past decade, thousands of weapons systems and munitions manufactured by Boeing, including aircraft and bombs, have been transferred from the U.S. to Israel, according to an analysis of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Arms Transfers Database.

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