The day before Thanksgiving, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it is awarding Motorola Israel with $900,000 for a joint energy management system with SmartSynch Inc. This contract is intended to develop energy saving technologies, but amounts to subsidizing Israel’s settlement industry.

Aside from energy management systems, Motorola Israel also provides “virtual fences” to dozens of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank and has a $100 million contract as the exclusive provider of encrypted mobile phone technology to the Israeli military. These “virtual fences” allow settlements to continue annexing Palestinian land and the communications equipment that Motorola supplies to the Israeli military supports the system of over 600 checkpoints in Palestinian territory.

Tell the Department of Energy that they should be investing in our environment, not Israel’s occupation.