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Tag: ethnic cleansing

  • Netanyahu’s Diabolical Undeclared War Objectives in Gaza

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    Original article by Jamal Kanj republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    A demonstrator is seen wearing a placard that calls for the arrest of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the rally. Pro-Palestine demonstrators joined the 21st demonstration organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) since October 2023.  (Photo by David Tramontan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    The live-documented ethnic cleansing in Gaza, much like in 1948, alongside the expansion of Jewish-only colonies in the West Bank, underscores the true undeclared objectives in Israel’s ostensible “total victory.”

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel’s war on Gaza will continue until achieving what he terms “total victory.” Instead of critically examining Netanyahu’s vague and open-ended objectives, much of the Western media and many governments frame the onslaught as self-defense, and some even normalize the genocide as a “humane” attempt to “free” Israeli captives.

    At the same time, the same pundits decontextualized the Palestinian right to self-defense by ignoring that the October 7 revolt was a direct response to over two decades of Israel’s imposed “starvation diet” blockade on Gaza. Exactly, as the West turns a blind eye, and continues to enable Israel’s theft of Palestinian-occupied land in the West Bank to benefit Jewish-only colonies.

    Meanwhile, these media outlets downplay or dismiss Israel’s treacherous undeclared war objectives, even to the detriment of Israeli captives and the immense civilian suffering in Gaza.

    For over a year, Netanyahu has prioritized an agenda to reoccupy and to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza rather than engage in negotiations for prisoner’s swap. Especially since the release of Israeli captives would undermine one of Netanyahu’s primary pretexts for pursuing his sinister objectives.

    This is only possible in the wake of Western leaders embracing Netanyahu’s racist perspective, focusing only on the well-being of Israeli captives, while ignoring the over 10,000 Palestinian hostages held in Israeli jails, and the welfare of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. For instance, Joe Biden has expressed recently his concern over Netanyahu potentially delaying action to secure the release of Israeli captives until January 20, 2025, while expressing no sympathy for the suffering of Palestinians in 2024 and beyond.

    With the conspicuous silence or impotence of world bodies, the Israeli captives became a convenient fig leaf under which Netanyahu saw as an opportunity to reoccupy Gaza. It is worth recalling that in 2005, Netanyahu resigned from the Israeli government in protest against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision to “disengage” and remove the Jewish-only colonies from the Gaza strip.

    Immediately following October 7, Netanyahu launched a genocidal war, disregarding the Palestinian Resistance’s proposal for prisoner’s exchange. His decision to pursue war instead of negotiations was motivated by several factors:

    a) Deflect responsibility for the intelligence failure under his watch.
    b) Evade scrutiny of his role in facilitating external funding to Hamas.
    c) Execute a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing to reoccupy Gaza.

    The strategy to ethnically cleanse Gaza was openly advocated by Israel’s racist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who three months following October 7 called for Palestinians to leave Gaza. The scion of an Ukrainian immigrant repeated the century-old European Zionist myth of blooming the desert⎯a narrative that not only ignores historical and geographical realities but also contradicts his own Old Testament that once described Canaan, the land of the Filastin (Palestine), as the “land of milk and honey,” before the ancient Hebrews migrated from their original homes to Palestine.

    Further, and on January 1, 2024, Smotrich’s fellow racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declared in a Knesset speech that Israel should never withdraw from any territory it occupies and explained that the establishment of new Jewish-only colonies in Gaza as “an important thing.” The following day, on January 2, Ben Gvir doubled down, stating that displacing “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians from Gaza would help pave the way for the creation of the new Jewish-only colonies.

    More recently, on Monday, November 25, Smotrich declared to the Yesha Council, an umbrella group representing the Jewish-only colonies in the occupied West Bank, “We can and must conquer the Gaza Strip.” He claimed there is “a unique opportunity” with Donald Trump’s election to halve Gaza’s population—a veiled euphemism for ethnic cleansing. Last Thursday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir echoed similar calls to “reoccupy the Gaza Strip.”

    On the ground inside Gaza, the tools of occupation were more explicit in defining the meaning of Netanyahu’s ostensible mantra: “total victory.” Israeli soldiers posed before an orange banner that read, “Only (Jewish-only) settlement (in Gaza) would be considered victory!” Notably, the orange color harkens back to the banners used by the settler movement in 2005 to protest Sharon’s decision to evacuate the Jewish-only colonies from Gaza.

    To this end, and starting October 1st, Israel initiated a new phase of targeted genocide by starvation, blocking food aid trucks from entering northern Gaza, particularly the towns of Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and camp Jabalia. And where trucks were allowed in, food aid was swapped with sand bags. Starvation has become so widespread in these areas, women and children are forced to scavenge through mounds of trash for food.

    On November 29, Ajith Sunghay, head of the U.N. Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, stated after visiting Gaza that the “U.N. had been unable to deliver any aid to northern Gaza” due to “repeated impediments or outright rejections of humanitarian convoys by the Israeli authorities.”

    Regarding the genocide by terror, U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk reported that residents of northern Gaza are subjected to “non-stop” bombing. Simultaneously, hundreds of thousands have been ordered to evacuate, likely to make way for new Jewish-only settlements.

    As part of the forced depopulation of Gaza’s northern region—the most fertile land in the strip—Israel is constructing a topographic barrier to isolate this area from the rest of Gaza. Beginning in early October, Israel carried out extensive controlled explosions, demolishing multi-story buildings to clear a path for a 5.6-mile road cutting across the strip. This road divides Gaza City from the northern towns of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has characterized this widespread forced displacement as part of an official government policy amounting to “crimes against humanity.”

    On November 30, former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon confirmed HRW findings, stating that Netanyahu and “far-right” (racist) elements are waging a war of “occupation, annexation, and ethnic cleansing.” He added, “There is no Beit Lahia, there is no Beit Hanoun.”

    The live-documented ethnic cleansing in Gaza, much like in 1948, alongside the expansion of Jewish-only colonies in the West Bank, underscores the true undeclared objectives in Israel’s ostensible “total victory.” In this contest, Netanyahu’s deliberate undermining of U.S.-led negotiations for prisoner’s swap exemplifies his quintessential diabolical persona: exploiting the predicament of his own Israeli captives to further his cynical undeclared agenda of slaughtering the “Amalek,” and ethnically cleansing Gaza to pave the way for new Jewish-only colonies.

    Original article by Jamal Kanj republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
    Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide and the UK government and military's active participation in genocide.
    Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.

  • Biden supports genocide in Gaza because he agrees with it

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    Zionist president Joe Biden. 27 July 2021 image by Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz. Original public domain image from Flickr
    Zionist president Joe Biden. 27 July 2021 image by Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz. Original public domain image from Flickr

    by Adam Johnson, The Real News Network
    December 2, 2024

    In his final weeks as president of the United States, Joe Biden is using whatever remaining time and capital he has to continue his lockstep support for Israel as it continues violating the so-called ceasefire in Lebanon, as it further immiserates, starves, and destroys what remains in Gaza, and as it codifies the ethnic cleansing and permanent settlement of Northern Gaza. In a 24-hour period two weeks ago, The Times of Israel reported that the Biden White House aggressively lobbied “Democrats to reject [the] progressive push to block arms transfers to Israel” (which most ultimately did). And Biden’s UN ambassador, Robert Wood, vetoed yet another UN resolution calling for an immediate, lasting ceasefire in Gaza and a return of all Israeli hostages.  

    This fact is at odds with a broader excuse-making media regime that assured readers over the past few months that Biden was only backing Israel’s genocide in Gaza because he was compelled to by mysterious outside forces: a bearhug “change things from the inside” strategy, electoral considerations in the lead-up to Nov. 5, the Israel lobby, or a broader assumption he is simply too helpless to do anything. Once Biden was no longer constrained by these factors, it was assumed, the White House would finally make some effort to rein in Israel. But the election came and went and Biden’s support for Israel has only intensified, capping off with a scathing admonishment and delegitimization of the International Criminal Court, which finally issued an arrest warrant last month for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

    Recently in The Nation, I detailed how this elaborate excuse-making regime emerged over the last year, and how US media helped shape, promote, and disseminate this regime to the broader public. The three major media tropes are as follows:

    • Helpless Biden is any report, analysis, or opinion that describes Biden as unable to do anything to stop Israel from committing war crimes or end the war overall. This is typically framed as a “limit” to US power, often accompanied with a picture of Biden looking overwhelmed, sad, or doddering. These are sourced almost entirely by anonymous Biden aides and Biden allies in the think-tank world. 
    • Fuming/Deeply Concerned Biden is any report, analysis, or opinion that paints Biden as secretly upset, outraged, or privately sad or anguished about civilian casualties. These articles are also sourced almost entirely by anonymous Biden aides and Biden allies in the think-tank world. 
    • Third Partying is a variation of an anti-labor propaganda concept whereby corporations treat unions as somehow separate from workers and worker democracy in order to portray unions as an outside “third party.” Just the same, media reports consistently paint the United States as separate from the conflict, despite the United States being the major patron of one side, deploying troops and military hardware, assisting in military operations, providing intel, and protecting Israel at the United Nations. US media consistently frames the United States as a neutral party—even a humanitarian force—always looking (but, mysteriously, always failing) to end the conflict. This is typically done through coverage of largely fictitious cease-fire talks, whereby US media conflates efforts for a short-term pause for the purpose of hostage exchanges with “ending the war.”

    To quote the late British theorist Stafford Beer, “The purpose of a system is what it does.” We can say that Biden supports genocide because, for almost 14 months, this is exactly what he has done. Everything else is window dressing, moral performance, unfalsifiable theory of mind assumptions, and collective partisan delusion. These media genres fed into a broader excuse-making regime that also includes popular assumptions about Biden being held back by electoral considerations and being subject to the undue influence of the Israel Lobby.

    Biden supports genocide because, for almost 14 months, this is exactly what he has done. Everything else is window dressing, moral performance, unfalsifiable theory of mind assumptions, and collective partisan delusion.

    On the issue of electoral considerations, this excuse, even if true, was never morally useful. If “winning elections” justified everything—and surely genocide would be the most extreme example of a policy that ought not be permitted simply because it could “win” an election—then every single bad thing Trump does could be defended along the same lines. Mass deportations are popular. Does this make Trump campaigning on them and carrying them out justified? Of course not. 

    But even accepting the logic of the excuse, it falls apart. Poll after poll shows support for an arms embargo would have helped Harris defeat Trump: The massive reduction in support from Arab and Muslim voters, young voters, and the fact that there were 6.2 million fewer votes overall compared to 2020, clearly indicates that Gaza helped depress turnout. It wasn’t the decisive factor—indeed, no single factor was—but it no doubt was a major contributor in alienating core constituencies and helped doom Harris’ campaign. And we know those running her campaign thought so because her superficial distance from Biden on Gaza was, according to a leaked internal memo prior to Biden dropping out, listed as a major factor in her favor. ”She’s broadly considered to be to Biden’s left on Israel-Palestine, an issue where he has major vulnerabilities,” it read. The day after the election (before the usual scapegoats were settled on), the New York Times reported that campaign officials “conceded that Ms. Harris had paid a price for not breaking from Mr. Biden’s support of Israel in the war in Gaza.” The premise that the general voting public was crying out for more shredded Palestinian toddlers on their social media timeline was always a dubious one. Yes, the public supports Israel in the abstract. But when asked specifically about an arms embargo and ceasefire, the public was—even despite the overwhelming power of bipartisan polarization—opposed to the Biden/Harris policy of unqualified support for Israel’s “war in Gaza.” 

    Another popular excuse, which often veered into antisemitism, was that Biden only backed genocide in Gaza because the Israel lobby forced him to do so. While there is obviously an influential Israel lobby in Washington, its impact is largely relegated to the margins of Congress, having recently been decisive in pushing out Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman. Biden, a self-identified Zionist for decades, with nothing to lose in the 2024 election, early on supported the genocidal logic of Israel’s campaign in Gaza—and likely never thought much about it beyond that. While backing Israel was no doubt helpful to Biden’s rise in politics (and certainly essential to pro-Israel groups spending millions targeting Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 primary), pro-Israel lobby groups had little influence over Biden in his final year in office. Even after he dropped out of his ill-fated re-election bid, even after his replacement lost the election itself, Biden continued and continues to this day to do nothing but arm, protect, and justify Israel’s countless war crimes. This is why there is a whiff of antisemitism to this popular line: If Biden had been Jewish, his ironclad commitment to Zionism would simply be seen as an earnest ideological commitment. But because he’s Catholic, there has to be dark and mysterious forces making him do bad things against his will. 

    But if the past 14 months have shown anything, it’s that Zionism is a colonial ideology that requires no religious or ethnic identity. It is as American as apple pie, and the simplest explanation—that Biden just agrees with Israel’s genocidal campaign and thinks it’s justified—is all there needs to be. No lobby pressure necessary.   

    Even after he dropped out of his ill-fated re-election bid, even after his replacement lost the election itself, Biden continued and continues to this day to do nothing but arm, protect, and justify Israel’s countless war crimes.

    But these excuse-making regimes aren’t only about providing a moral cover for President Biden. They’re very much about creating—to use a vogue term of the day—a permission structure for liberals to go about the usual work of Professional Politics. They permit compartmentalization, however tenuous. This system, over the past 14 months, has allowed, above all, liberals to enjoy politics. From TikTok memes to MSNBC to the social settings of campaigns and government workers, people develop a parasocial relationship with those in power, especially those leading their own party. Uncle Joe, Joe of the Parks and Rec cameo, Obama’s lovable sidesick, Joe of the AOC selfie, Joe of the “a decent man who has done nothing wrong” fame—surely he can’t back the genocide of Palestinians. This reality is too difficult to face; it offends both our chauvinism and partisan identity which, in key ways, is more essential to people’s sense of self than religion or race. So the incentives to build these excuse-making regimes, to provide thin journalistic legitimacy for them, and to push out into our airwaves and Twitter timelines pat thought memes—“… Biden’s bear-hugging Netanyahu so he can influence him as a friend…,” “… he has to back Israel to win the 2024 election…,” “… It’s the Israel Lobby…,” “… he’s working for a ceasefire…,” “…even if he cut off Israel, it wouldn’t matter…”—is tremendous. 

    It is not only essential to ameliorating cognitive dissonance, it is essential to the basic functioning of civil society and our liberal body politic. So it developed, became a career-maker for many, and largely served its function. But this doesn’t make it any less of a lie. There was never any outside force compelling Biden to back the wholesale destruction of a people, and there was nothing compelling liberals to look the other way. There was nothing forcing progressives, nonprofits, labor unions to endorse Biden, or his equally pro-genocide replacement, without conditioning said endorsement on a change in Gaza policy. These were choices they made. And when it’s all said and done—when the legacy of the Biden administration is invariably written about and debated—the choices we make, more than any hand wringing or “change things from the inside” self-rationalization, are all we have and all we are. 

    This article first appeared on The Real News Network and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

  • Continuing ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ Campaign, Israel Blows Past US Deadline for Gaza Aid

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    Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    One advocate urged action “to prevent further loss of innocent life, the deepening of an extraordinary humanitarian crisis, and the continued erosion of U.S. credibility as an upholder of international humanitarian law.”

    As the deadline set by the Biden administration last month for Israel to step up aid deliveries to Gaza passed on Tuesday, human rights groups demanded that the U.S. stick to its commitment to holding the Israeli government accountable for what one advocate called “a campaign of ethnic cleansing.”

    But the White House’s refusal over the last 13 months to follow U.S. and international law provoked doubt that it would do so.

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on October 13, giving Israel 30 days to allow at least 350 humanitarian aid trucks per day into Gaza, open a fifth crossing into the enclave, and ensure access to northern Gaza for aid groups, among other specific steps outlined in the letter.

    Noncompliance would violate National Security Memorandum 20, which President Joe Biden issued in February to demand credible assurances from Israel that it was acting according to international law, and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits the U.S. from providing military aid to countries that are blocking U.S. humanitarian aid.

    Advocates have said for months that Israel and the U.S. have been violating both statutes, as mounting evidence has shown U.S. weapons have been used in Israeli attacks on civilians and United Nations experts have warned Gaza has descended into famine.

    Louise Wateridge, a senior emergency officer for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said Tuesday that the Biden administration’s warning 30 days ago did not improve conditions in Gaza, with aid entering the enclave “at its lowest level in months.”

    “Thousands and thousands of people have been killed senselessly. They have been killed because there is lack of aid, because the bombs have continued, and because we have not been able to even reach them under the rubble,” Wateridge said at a press briefing in Geneva. “The average for October was 37 trucks a day into the entire Gaza Strip… That is for 2.2 million people… Children are dying. People are dying every day.”

    With the number of daily deliveries since October 13 far below the level stipulated by the Biden administration, Wateridge emphasized that “anything that happens now is already too late.”

    As the deadline passed, Israel appeared eager to put new humanitarian aid efforts on display, with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) posting on social media an image of a convoy delivering what it said were “hundreds of food and water packages to the Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun areas in 6n Gaza.”

    The military also arranged a photo call on Monday where journalists “were invited to film around eight aid truc ks passing into Gaza,” reported Jon Donnison at the BBC. “They were laden with sacks of flour, rice, and toilet paper, among other things.”

    “So, aid is getting into Gaza,” wrote Donnison. “But nowhere near enough.”

    Before Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October 2023, about 500 aid trucks entered the enclave each day.

    A spokesperson for COGAT told the BBC Tuesday that “most aspects [of Blinken’s demands] have been met and those which have not are being discussed.”

    https://twitter.com/comrade_sweezy/status/1856249133385879648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1856249133385879648%7Ctwgr%5Ed80e230c97c6ebc1ead0d60158b1e3cfe99ae4bd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fisrael-aid-deadline

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    U.N. officials said this week that aid workers have been unable to deliver relief even after the Israel Defense Forces gave approval for deliveries in northern Gaza, which has been cut of from virtually all aid for more than a month. Israeli troops on the ground have restricted aid despite the IDF’s approval.

    In southern Gaza, hundreds of trucks containing aid have been sitting on the enclave’s side of the border with Egypt because U.N. workers cannot reach them due to “lawlessness, theft, and Israeli military restrictions,” according to The Associated Press.

    As the deadline passed Tuesday, a coalition of human rights groups including Oxfam, Refugees International, and Save the Children released a scorecard assessing Israel’s progress in complying with the conditions set by Blinken and Austin on October 13.

    They found “outright failure” by Israel to meet 15 out of 19 measures of compliance, and said the IDF has only partially complied with the remaining four.

    Israel has failed to allow 350 aid trucks into Gaza over the last month, said the groups, and has not ended the isolation of northern Gaza or allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to Palestinians detained by Israel, among other requirements set last month.

    “The U.S. government once again laid out basic measures for how the government of Israel must follow international law and allow for aid delivery in Gaza,” said Oxfam America president and CEO Abby Maxman. “Since then, we have seen Israeli forces accelerate their efforts to bombard, depopulate, deprive, and erase the Palestinian population of the North Gaza governorate. We are witnessing a campaign of ethnic cleansing.”

    “Oxfam and partner organizations are unable to provide any support to the remaining civilians in the North Gaza governorate, where people are dying every day,” added Maxman. “jAccess to the rest of Gaza is also severely restricted, with civilians facing starvation and relentless violence. The U.S. must finally make this overdue call to suspend deadly arms sales to Israel or be complicit in the horrific atrocities unfolding before our eyes.”

    Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of CARE, said that with the letter sent to Netanyahu’s government last month, the U.S. “created a critical opportunity to respond to the facts on the ground, and to insist upon accountability to our own laws.”

    “It is imperative to act now to prevent further loss of innocent life, the deepening of an extraordinary humanitarian crisis, and the continued erosion of U.S. credibility as an upholder of international humanitarian law,” said Nunn.

    The analysis, added Refugees International president Jeremy Konyndyk, “demonstrates that the Israeli government is violating its obligations under U.S. and international law to facilitate humanitarian relief for suffering Palestinians in Gaza.”

    “With experts again projecting imminent famine in north Gaza, there is no time to lose,” he added. “The United States must impose immediate restrictions on security cooperation with Israel as required under Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act.”

    Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

  • Israeli bombing raids kill scores across Gaza and Lebanon

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israeli-bombing-raids-kill-scores-across-gaza-and-lebanon

    Rescue workers use excavators to remove the rubble of a destroyed house hit in an Israeli airstrike, as they search for victims in Aalmat village, northern Lebanon, November 10, 2024

    ISRAEL bombed the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza without warning early today, [Sunday, November 10, 2024] killing at least 33 people including 13 children.

    Its bombers killed a further 23 people in the Lebanese village of Aalmat, north of Beirut, a day after a bombing raid over the ancient port of Tyre left at least seven dead, including five siblings, three of whom were deaf and mute. Other Israeli bombing over Lebanon killed a further 31 people on Saturday, according to health officials.

    The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which Israel has banned, said famine is already taking grip in northern Gaza, where Israel’s invading forces continue to deny access to humanitarian aid.

    Israel was forced to deny comments from a commander on the ground, Brigadier Itzik Cohen, last week that no aid would be allowed to enter the north because “there are no residents [ie, non-combatants] left there,” as well as that his declaration “No-one is returning to the northern area. There is no return to the north, and there will not be” reflects a policy of ethnic cleansing in the north — as openly advocated by Israeli ministers including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — saying instead it represented a tactical position based on ongoing fighting.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/israeli-bombing-raids-kill-scores-across-gaza-and-lebanon

  • Israel Bombs Refugee Camps After Inking $5.2 Billion Deal for US F-15 Fighter Jets

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    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Palestinians carry a body pulled from the rubble after an Israeli attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp on November 7, 2024.
     (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    “Despite overwhelming evidence that the Democratic Party’s most devoted constituents wanted to end sales of weapons to Israel, the Biden administration kept sending them.”

    The Israeli military on Thursday bombarded refugee camps in northern and central Gaza hours after inking a $5.2 billion deal with the United States to acquire more than two dozen F-15 fighter jets made by the American aerospace giant Boeing.

    The agreement, part of a broader military aid package approved by the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress earlier this year, was finalized hours after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election to Republican nominee Donald Trump following a campaign in which she resisted calls to support an arms embargo against Israel.

    Though Trump at times tried to posture as a pro-peace candidate during the race, he publicly and privately signaled support for Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon, telling far-right Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a recent call, “Do what you have to do.”

    Israel’s Ministry of Defense called the F-15 deal “a landmark transaction” for fighter jets “equipped with cutting-edge weapons systems.” The ministry said deliveries of the aircraft will begin in 2031.

    “While focusing on immediate needs for advanced weaponry and ammunition at unprecedented levels, we’re simultaneously investing in long-term strategic capabilities,” the ministry said. “This F-15 squadron, alongside the third F-35 squadron procured earlier this year, represents a historic enhancement of our air power and strategic reach—capabilities that proved crucial during the current war.”

    Shortly following the announcement, Israeli forces killed at least 22 people in attacks on the Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza—where Israel is engaged in an active campaign of ethnic cleansing—and on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Palestinian territory.

    Norwegian Refugee Council secretary-general Jan Egeland, who traveled to areas of northern and central Gaza this week, said in a statement Thursday that the “complete destruction” he witnessed there was “worse than anything I could imagine as a long-time aid worker.”

    “What I saw and heard in the north of Gaza was a population pushed beyond breaking point,” said Egeland. “Families torn apart, men and boys detained and separated from their loved ones, and families unable to even bury their dead. Some have gone days without food, drinking water is nowhere to be found. It is scene after scene of absolute despair.”

    “This is in no way a lawful response, a targeted operation of ‘self-defense’ to dismantle armed groups, or warfare consistent with humanitarian law,” he added. “What Israel is doing here, with Western-supplied arms, is rendering a densely populated area uninhabitable for almost two million civilians.”

    https://twitter.com/NRC_Egeland/status/1854475419820384729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1854475419820384729%7Ctwgr%5E786972bfce2ae460a65a50d99cc09bd45682b470%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fisrael-bombs-refugee-camps

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    Israel’s latest deadly attacks on Gaza came after the conclusion of a U.S. election in which Gaza featured prominently, with Palestinian rights advocates warning that continued American support for Israel’s assault would be politically damaging for Democrats—on top of being morally reprehensible and unlawful, given Israel’s obstruction of humanitarian aid and repeated targeting of civilians.

    New York Times writer Peter Beinart argued in a column Thursday that the election’s outcome appeared to show that such concerns were justified.

    “Despite overwhelming evidence that the Democratic Party’s most devoted constituents wanted to end sales of weapons to Israel, the Biden administration kept sending them, even after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel expanded the war into Lebanon,” Beinart wrote. “And not only did Ms. Harris not break with Mr. Biden’s policy, she went out of her way to make voters who care about Palestinian rights feel unwelcome.”

    “There is only one path forward,” Beinart continued. “Although it will require a fierce intraparty brawl, Democrats—who claim to respect human equality and international law—must begin to align their policies on Israel and Palestine with these broader principles. In this new era, in which supporting Palestinian freedom has become central to what it means to be progressive, the Palestinian exception is not just immoral. It’s politically disastrous.”

    Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, co-founders of the Uncommitted National Movement, said in a statement Wednesday that “while there are many factors at play” in Harris’ loss, “one undeniable truth remains: Neglecting the voices of those impacted by war has consequences.”

    “Today, our message is clear: This moment requires more than resilience; it demands decisive action,” said Elabed and Alawieh. “The Biden-Harris administration must put an end to the flow of weapons that fuel this cycle of violence. If they do not, the Democratic Party risks saddling our coalition of voters with the ever-increasing weight of a legacy intertwined with endless war and suffering.”

    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).