Israel's Genocide Continues

"We’re being eliminated now." This was tweeted last night by Motasem Dalloul, a Palestinian journalist reporting from Gaza for international news outlets. At the time Dalloul sent this tweet, Israel was in the midst of a wave of over 150 air attacks across Gaza and was expanding ground operations in parts of the Palestinian territory. The reality of life in Gaza these days makes it impossible to tell whether Dalloul was referring to the elimination of journalists or the entire Palestinian population of Gaza. Given Israeli words and actions in recent days, either interpretation could be valid. Israel has been systematically killing journalists. For instance, Hassan Aslih first suffered severe burns when Israel bombed a tent encampment sheltering displaced persons. Aslih was ultimately killed when Israeli jets bombed the burn unit of the Nasser Medical Complex where he was being treated. There was a time when Israel vehemently denied that it attacked hospitals or killed journalists. Now the country proudly takes credit for both. But journalists are far from the only victims of Israel's aggression. Overnight, at least 85 Palestinians were killed by the Israelis. In several cases, entire families were murdered. This has become the daily toll recently and things are likely to get worse.

It has been apparent for some time that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no interest in saving the Israelis still being held by Hamas. Even cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump and de facto Secretary of State Steve Witkoff realized this and gave up on Netanyahu. Instead, leaving the Israeli Prime Minister in the dark, Witkoff negotiated directly with Hamas to free Israeli soldier Edan Alexander who holds U.S. citizenship.

Netanyahu’s reaction was to increase the aggression against Gaza. Earlier this month, the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to occupy Gaza and hold it indefinitely. According to the Israeli newspaper Maariv, Netanyahu recently stated that, "We are demolishing more and more houses, they have nowhere to return to ... The only logical outcome would be the desire of the Gazans to emigrate abroad. Our main problem is finding countries willing to receive them". It is this operation that seems to have started last night.

Israel and the United States have been working on a joint operation to provide food and medical aid to Gaza, which has been suffering from a month-long embargo by Israel. This is causing widespread hunger and several deaths by starvation. Humanitarian organizations have opposed the U.S.-Israel plan. If there had been any doubt that this opposition is correct, Netanyahu surely dispelled it. The Prime Minister said that "receiving the aid would be conditional on the Gazans who receive it not returning to the places from which they arrive at the aid distribution sites." In other words, the U.S. and Israeli-provided aid will be used to induce Palestinians to emigrate. The idea that a country would first starve a population and then offer food only as a means of displacing those being starved is horrific. The fact that the U.S. is not only condoning such an action but participating in it is shameful. It was not so long ago that I would be castigated for describing Israel's actions as "genocide". Is genocide deniable at all these days?

I noted in an earlier blog post that Western media coverage of the conflict in Gaza, especially editorializing, has recently undergone a very notable change in tone. A number of mainstream publications, including several that were previously very supportive of Israel, have not only become strongly critical of Israel's behavior but have started describing it as "genocide" for the first time. So apparent has this shift been that it has actually caused suspicion among some supporters of the Palestinians. For instance, Palestinian political analyst (and my former classmate) Mouin Rabbani recently wrote that, "While it's a welcome development that accurately describes reality, it does raise further questions about the political independence of Western media..." It's possible that repeated video of Palestinians being burnt alive in tents and the emaciated bodies of babies who have starved to death have become impossible to gloss over. 

The reaction by Israel and its supporters has been to increase their censorship efforts and attempt to suppress any criticism of Israel. These efforts, while achieving some success — especially on college and university campuses — are failing. Ben Cohen, a founder of Ben & Jerry's, was arrested for protesting during a Congressional hearing involving Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Cohen shouted that children in Gaza were being starved. In another instance, Logan Rozos, a graduating student at New York University, used his commencement address to condemn Israel's genocide in Gaza and U.S. complicity in it. The university responded by apologizing for Rozos' statement, withholding his diploma, and promising additional punishment. It is increasingly apparent that despite justifications by universities that they are reacting to antisemitism, it is really anti-Israel discourse that they are attempting to suppress. In one particularly absurd example, Harvard University included the activities of a Jewish Israeli scholar as a demonstration of antisemitism. As the professor writes, "This is not a defense of Jewish safety. It is an effort to police Jewish dissent."

Three of the students detained by the Trump administration have now been released while their immigration cases are considered. These arrests have not succeeded in preventing college protests which continue at many campuses. Moreover, the main impact of the arrests has been to elevate previously unknown individuals into positions of prominence. In effect, the government is creating a new generation of very sympathetic proponents of Palestinian rights.

While Israel's violence in Gaza is reaching horrific levels, the reaction of the Trump administration seems to be one of hands-off. Trump and Witkoff freed Alexander, Trump was feted by Gulf countries and may get a free luxury 747, but Trump now seems eager to pick up his toys and come home. He has uttered the occasional platitude about wanting peace in Gaza, but there is no apparent engagement. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported today that "the Americans have lost interest". Regarding the joint U.S.-Israel plan to provide aid, Haaretz reported that "Israel has not yet approved the entry of humanitarian aid via a U.S.-backed relief fund...Even if it does, the aid would be symbolic". The newspaper quoted an Israeli source as saying, "Maybe five trucks here, ten there - nothing meaningful for two million people".

Nobody can deny what Israel is doing to the population of Gaza. Some Israeli apologists continue to argue that all Hamas has to do is release the Israelis that it holds. Not even Netanyahu agrees with them. He has said that even if the Israelis were released, the war would go on. As I wrote above, his intention is to kill and displace as many Gazans as possible and exert Israeli control over those that remain. Those are his own words, and their implementation is happening right before our eyes. I think that, at the very least, all of us need to decide which side of history we want to be on. When our grandchildren ask what we did during the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, do you want to be able to say that you stood with the people of Gaza, or will you say that you supported the murder of tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children?