Pleasant Politics

A fundamental part of “what to know” about these crimes is egregiously missing from the Times report – the role of the United States:

• $18 billion in military aid to Israel in the first year of the genocidal war on the people of Gaza, surely the most generous provision of military support ever from one state to another for the purposes of ethnic cleansing.

• The sending of 100 US military personnel to Israel to operate an advanced missile defense system there.

• The sending of massive US naval and air forces to the region to protect Israel from regional retaliation for its genocidal war.

• The Biden administration/US Empire blowing though “red lines” beyond which its spokespersons said it would not continue support for the war: Israel’s assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah in May of 2024 (US support continued) and Israel’s blocking of humanitarian assistance to the people of northern Gaza (Biden dropped that “red line” in December of 2024).

• The US Empire blowing off the “Leahy law” – US legislation that says the US can provide “no aid to foreign forces facing ‘credible’ accusations of human rights violations.” (Israel’s US-backed human rights crimes have been so credible that at least a dozen US government officials and personnel have resigned their positions in protest and Israel’s president and top military commander have received indictments and arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court!)

• The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) preventing its staff from reporting on maternal and child mortality in Gaza since the war began