Israel couldn’t do this alone.
Photo by mohammed al bardawil on Unsplash
Last Wednesday, the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that would have called for a ceasefire in the conflict in Gaza to allow humanitarian aid and hostage releases. There were no other No votes, only the US veto.
Think about that — while thousands of civilians are being slaughtered, the U.S. vetoed peace, the reason the UN was founded. This is not just Israel’s genocide; the US is equally responsible.
Or more so. Starting now and looking backward, the US has sent two aircraft carrier strike forces to the Eastern Mediterranean and Persian Gulf. They’re sending troops, not to intervene to stop the slaughter, but to deter other Mideast countries from taking Palestinians’ side. They proposed their own resolution in the UNSC, but theirs was directed against Iran, for Iran’s support of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Before that, the US has armed Israel for decades, in ever-increasing amounts. According to Wikipedia, in 1999, the US committed to provide Israel with at least US $2.67 billion in military aid annually, for the following ten years; in 2009, the annual amount was raised to US $3 billion; and in 2019, the amount was raised again, now standing at a minimum of $3.8 billion in weapons every year.
There are also periodic supplemental aid packages, such as the $14.3 billion that President Biden recently requested for the current massacre.
The U.S. and Israel hold military exercises together, and the only foreign military installations on Israeli soil are US bases. Israel typically gets the most advanced US weapons, while other countries in the region are sold older ones.
Their militaries cooperate directly in other ways. During Israel’s 2006 Lebanon War, the United States provided a major resupply of jet fuel and precision-guided munition to replenish depleted Israeli stocks.
This is the core of Israel’s influence on US policy — their trillion dollar alliance with the military industrial complex (MIC.) Their arrangement can be summed up as: the US provides the weapons, and Israel provides the wars. Giant military corporations get rich, while millions of people suffer.
The US has since 1948 protected Israel diplomatically, having used its UNSC veto power 53 times against resolutions condemning Israel, out of a total of 83 times in which its veto has ever been used.
Going back to Israel’s founding, the.UK and US helped establish Israel as a bulwark against both Arab nationalism and Soviet power, although many leaders in both countries disagreed, wanting a more balanced approach to the Arab world. It was seen as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” protecting Western access to Middle East oil. The two countries have been getting closer ever since, until they now seem to reflexively support each other.
Genocide is the right word
Some might argue that ‘genocide’ is too strong a term for what is happening to the Palestinians. After all, the number of dead is currently in the thousands, not the millions who died at Nazi hands. But Israeli officials and their supporters in the streets have been very clear what their intentions are. They want the Palestinians gone, either into the desert or the grave.
They’ve been using genocidal language such as calling Palestinians animals and subhuman. Here’s a video of pro-Israeli demonstrators in NYC last week calling for the killing of all Palestinians.
Pro-Israel people are calling the current military operation “Nakba 2.0” after the original Nakba — Arabic for ‘catastrophe’ — the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from the newly created state of Israel.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog made it clear that all Palestinians are targets. “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible, [for the October 7 attacks]” he said. “There are no civilians in Gaza.” Ariel Kallner, part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, called on Twitter for “a Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48.”
To rev up its troops for the Gaza invasion, the IDF ‘mobilized’ a 95 year old veteran named Ezra Yachin, who participated in the first Nakba, to say things like “Be triumphant. Finish them off and don’t leave anyone behind. Erase them, their families, mothers and children. These animals can no longer live.” The IDF must have approved, since they taped him saying it.
“Every Jew with a weapon should go out and kill them,” he said. “If you have an Arab neighbor, don’t wait, go to his home and shoot him.” Some Israelis in the West Bank have started doing what he says.
PM Netanyahu was more statesmanlike but no less racist, saying “This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle.” A couple days later, President Biden flew out to embrace Netanyahu, causing every other regional leader to cancel their meetings with him.
The real genocide isn’t in their words but in their actions. Bombing huge apartment buildings and hospitals is horrible, but stopping all import of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel into the Strip will kill far more, without all the bombed out rubble the world can see. Israeli officials publicly demand the Palestinians leave and go to the Sinai desert, where tent cities run by international agencies might help them survive. But even that border crossing is not currently open.
The U.S. supports this mass removal and killing. Why wouldn’t they? It’s the same thing we did to the Natives here and to the slaves kidnapped from their homes in Africa and worked to death in Southern fields. American treatment of Viet Nam (1–3 million killed on all sides,) the Philippines (200,000 killed) and many other enemies has been comparably murderous.
Partners in war crime
Ever since both countries’ founding, they have believed themselves special, somehow above international law. They invade, bomb, and overthrow whoever they want.
Despite their connections, the US had a lukewarm relationship with Israel in the early years. They have grown closer through the MIC connection, and Israel has gained tremendous influence US politics. In 2021, President Donald Trump said Congress had been wholly owned by Israel, and that was a good thing.
Horrible as the current rampage in Gaza is, you really can’t blame Israel without blaming the US. See how fast Biden sent military forces and money to Israel after they started this war. Look at the risks of world war we’re taking by sending troops and warships to a war zone. These actions only make sense from the perspective of the MIC, Israel, and their neoconservative advocates.
The two countries have very similar histories. Now they are partners; the US seeking to dominate the world, while Israel dominates the Middle East. From what is happening in Gaza, we can see where their dominance is taking us, to large-scale slaughter. Criticizing Israel while letting the US off the hook won’t help. Speak out and fight back however you can.
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originally posted at https://aninjusticemag.com/another-american-genocide-80d83938dd17
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