I’m writing this on Day 250 of Israeli’s genocidal assault on Gaza, 40,000 dead, 90,000 injured, 20,000 children orphaned. These are not mere statistics – each one a son, daughter, brother, sister, mother, father, each one a human being, and those who have survived, how much trauma, how many physical and emotional scars borne, endured, and how will they manifest in the days and months and years to come?
250 days – just a few short days after Israel’s operation to free four hostages in Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, and a couple of weeks after President Biden’s presented Israel’s so-called “comprehensive new proposal” for a temporary ceasefire.
Even as I type the sentence above, I cringed at the words I typed.
One, 250 days, more than eight months, try, a continuation of 76 years of Israel’s intentional genocidal slaughter. I’ve said this so many times in the last eight months. This has nothing to do with October 7; it is not Israel’s war against Gaza or the Palestinian people, but it is a war against Palestinian history, tradition, and culture; it is a war against the very idea of Palestine itself, the attempt to wipe the memory of Palestine out of the pages of history … the very definition of genocide. And to quote Sam Bahour and so many others around the world, everyone knows, “this is a US war.” Weapons, billions of additional dollars since October 7, UN vetoes, and more.
Two, President Biden presented the proposal as Israel’s. Then why his urging that Israel accept it? The charade was to provide Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu cover with his own right wing, with the Israeli people.
Three, President Biden’s proposal was very much like the one Hamas had accepted a month before, but that Israel had rejected. This means that the four hostages that Israel rescued last weekend would have been back in their homes a month ago had Israel accepted the proposal that Hamas had already accepted. No, Israel wanted the fighting to continue, they had more “grass to mow,” more destruction, more carnage, another 274 Gazans killed (and three other Israeli hostages, too), all which could have been avoided a month ago. And to be honest, as Yousef Munayyer has pointed out, “Hamas has been offering an exchange deal for a ceasefire since the early days after October 7, 2023.”
Four, and while we’re at it, while all over the news we hear about Israeli hostages, what about the 10’s of 1000’s of Palestinian hostages held by Israel – Israel and their corporate-owned media lapdog friends call them prisoners – 10’s of 1000’s of Palestinian hostages in Israeli jails today. Language matters.
Five, one can hardly take the Pentagon or State Department seriously when they deny the use of the US “temporary aid pier” in Israel’s rescue of their four hostages. According to Pentagon spokesman, Patrick Ryder, in answering about the Israeli operation and the pier, he replied, “I think it was near, I think it’s incidental.” Uh huh! Sure.
Ahmed Omar, reporting in yesterday’s (June 11) Mondoweiss:
“An intelligence source from within the resistance in Gaza, who spoke to Mondoweiss under conditions of anonymity, says there are mounting signs the U.S. pier could also be used to forcibly displace Palestinians. This would provide an alternative to the original Israeli plan of forcing Palestinians into the Sinai, which was rejected by Egypt early on in the war. ‘The floating pier project is an American solution to the displacement dilemma in Gaza,’ the source said. “’It goes beyond both the Israeli solution of displacing Gazans into Sinai…and the Egyptian suggestion of displacing [Gazans] into the Naqab [desert].’ Instead, the source said, the US pier would be used to facilitate the displacement of Gazans to Cyprus, and then eventually to Lebanon or Europe.”
Six, the US is not the good guy here. From the outset, the Biden administration and the US Congress have not only been complicit but have been active participants in the genocide. Again, this is a US war. Again, Yousef Munayyer:
The question was how much bloodletting and destruction Washington would permit the Israelis to carry out before they were ready to get to that inevitable point. Thus far, the answer is nearly 39,000 dead and eight months of wanton destruction in Gaza, as well as unprecedented pariah status for Israel, arrest warrant applications at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, decisions against Israel at the International Court of Justice, unprecedented protests against Israel around the world, and, perhaps most important, consistently troubling poll numbers for the Biden campaign.
Seven, let us not forget the politically powerful and manipulative role of the Israel Lobby here. We just learned from the Federal Election Commission, thanks to reporting by the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs, that the Israel Lobby is the leading contributor not only to both Republican and Democrat parties, but also to the Black, Hispanic, and Progressive caucuses. Who dares to call them out on their shame supporting genocide in Gaza? The Israel Lobby plans to spend another $100 million on this year’s election, 2:1, Democrats to Republicans.
Last week UNICEF named Gaza the most dangerous place in the world for children adding Israel to its Killing List of Shame, and the leadership of both parties invited Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress. Might it be because just this year, the Israel Lobby gave to Speaker of the House, Republican Mike Johnson, $321,000 and House Minority Leader, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, $780,000? By the way, Indiana’s Jim Banks received $200,000.
It’s good to hear rumblings from Capitol Hill that at least some Democrat members of the Progressive Caucus are signaling that they’ll boycott Netanyahu’s appearance.
We have options in this country – in our ability to speak out on behalf of Gaza and Palestine in our personal conversations; in our ability to protest and rally against Israeli genocide; in our support of NGO’s providing relief and care and humanitarian aid; in our ongoing solidarity with Palestinian organizations, ministries, and others; in who we vote for. There are options.
In speaking with Kairos Palestine’s Rifat Kassis last week – and he said that we could quote him – he said,
“We are at a level, Israel is forcing us versus them. They have pushed us to the end of a peaceful solution. The war will continue or they will ethnically cleanse us. We have no trust in the hypocrisy and complicity of Western governments. We have no trust anymore in the official organs of the United Nations, because of the US veto and lack of enforcement. There is only civil society and the churches, and both of them are limping.”