Today marks 100 days since Israel had set out to make the Gaza Strip, an economically struggling slice of land with two million people crammed inside, uninhabitable. Shells, missiles and white phosphorus rain down on innocent civilians every minute of every day. They tell you to go from Gaza to Khan Yunis and they bomb Khan Yunis. They tell you to go to Rafah and they bomb Rafah. Back and forth the Palestinians of Gaza run around, pursued by killing machines from above no matter where they go. Over 23,000 are dead, 7,000 are missing. 250 are killed a day. That’s one person every six minutes. This is by far the deadliest conflict (if that is even an appropriate term at this point) of the 21st century.
From Rwanda to Bosnia, the international community has failed in its duty to stop genocide. Time and time again, western countries that babble on about their human rights commitments have ignored or aided in war crimes for the sake of their geopolitical interests. So the current abstentions, vetoes and arms sales don’t come without precedent. What makes this particular instance more jarring is the fact that no one can deny what is happening. That’s not to say people were completely ignorant of past genocides, but in the age of information, one can watch massacres on their phones. It takes incessant lying or a bad lobotomy to justify Israel’s genocidal campaign. Even Sugar Daddy Sam has issued mealy mouthed condemnations of the civilian casualties Apartheid Israel has caused. The public is angrier and other western states are slowly moving away from Israel.
But for the American government, defending Israel is a sanctified act (literally, for those with apocalyptic fantasies). Every time a resolution for a ceasefire is proposed, they veto without shame. Even when General Assembly resolutions pass, why would Israel be deterred? The Biden administration happily bankrolls this ethnic cleansing operation! It’s fair to say that the main reason Israel behaves in the manner it does is because of unconditional American backing. In 1958, the South African foreign minister informed the U.S. ambassador that though his country was becoming a pariah state, it didn’t matter as long as the United States stuck with them.* He was correct in his assessment, as the time where apartheid ended in the ‘90s correlates with the end of U.S. backing.
America and Israel have a passionate romance; they bond over their thirst for Arab blood. Israel is not subject to the lobbying restrictions other countries are, and Israel has received a whopping $124 billion from America since its inception, more than any other country since World War II. Historically, their relationship was a two way street. As he details in his book The Holocaust Industry, Professor Norman Finkelstein writes that Israel benefits from the U.S. because of its extensive material support and the legitimization that comes with being an American ally. For the U.S, the benefit lies in the fact that they have a permanent military outpost in the Middle East, a great launching pad of efforts to destabilize the region and exploit its resources. But the global isolation that has followed October 7 raises the question: is supporting Israel detrimental to America?
Starting with domestic considerations, it’s becoming clear that President Biden is jeopardizing his chances at reelection. A new poll has found that American voters are more likely to support a candidate who strongly advocates for a ceasefire. These attitudes are especially pronounced amongst young and non-white voters, demographics that are key to Democratic victories. A separate YouGov poll also noted that while these voters think Biden does too much for Israel, older, whiter and conservative brackets thought he did too little. It’s true that in terms of immediately passing bills favoring Israel in congress, Biden has the majority he needs, but this could very well change as public opinion of Israel continues to sour. Adding on, it’s always good to play to your strengths in an election. Biden clearly is not winning over the evangelical crowd that would die for Israel no matter how many billions he pours out of the state’s coffers. However, a harder stance on Israel would have attracted those demographics that have lower turnout rates in light of the fact that no candidate truly represents them.
It seems that ship has sailed now, for the geniuses in the Pentagon decided that the way to ensure a national conflict doesn’t become regional is by bombing a country 2,000 kilometers away! In the midst of most Arab countries doing next to nothing, the Houthis (“Ansarullah” is what they call themselves) imposed a partial naval blockade on Bab El Mandeb, the strategic curve where the Indian Ocean leads to the Red Sea. They claim to be targeting Israeli ships or ships destined for Israel, but major shipping companies are erring on the side of caution and avoiding this route. Though they have captured ships, no one has died as a result of their actions. Their condition? Simply ending the slaughter in Gaza and allowing aid to enter. To the United States, the blood of civilians flowing through the streets of Gaza is no big deal, but having Amazon products come late is a red line! Rather than put their foot down and pressure Israel to halt its daily massacres, the U.S. and its cronies would rather emerge itself another regional war. Now, if anything would ensure President Biden loses reelection, it would be this. Amidst a cost of living crisis, #46 is already unpopular. Americans do not want to sacrifice their sons to serve corporate interests. Bush Jr has deterred Americans from dying in foreign deserts for the billionaire class. All the Biden administration has proved during his administration is the stereotype that politicians are greedy capitalist pigs who prostitute themselves to big lobbies.
Genocide Joe and Baby Killer Blinken (family friend of the Maxwells) are incurring even bigger losses on the international stage. Whatever reputation America has in the Middle East is utterly destroyed. We know the routine; Blinken crawls his way to Tel Aviv and “urges’’ Israel to reduce civilian casualties, and Netanyahu proceeds to spit in his face by maintaining the intensity of air raids. Never mind the colonialist regime engaging in genocide, Blinken’s “strong words” are reserved for 20 year old insurgents in flip flops and Adidas trackpants. Rather than work to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians, Blinken jetsets and yaps about normalization in Riyadh, a good indication of what American plans are for Palestine in the long term. That’s the real kicker here. All of the governments in the region that are part of the American security umbrella are in a precarious position now. Whether they have aided and abetted or are desperately pushing for a ceasefire, the sheer fact of being allied with enabling America belittles their legitimacy in the eyes of their people. In spite of the fact it occurred 13 years ago, all of the causes of the Arab Spring still exist. The political repression, the unemployment, the inflation and the constant aggression against the Arab people by America and Israel, which is represented more immediately by dictators who bow to their every wish. They aim to humiliate the Arab street, but how many times must we teach them that we refuse to be humiliated?
In countries with a comparatively lower standard of living, there is no doubt that the average joe has nothing to lose. One can expect large anti-government demonstrations in the near future. For the Gulf countries where citizens are well off, it is more likely there would be internal dissent. A large part of the Saud clan would prefer their leader take action over Palestine in place of playing video games with Ronaldo. The point is, the United States has expended billions of dollars and thousands of its citizens’ lives into ensuring it dominates the Middle East. With every passing week of war crimes, Islamism, Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and eventually, Iran, will get more popular. America’s grand scheme is on course to collapse from within. There is also China, which offers lucrative trade deals, promoted the Saudi-Iran deal last year and has a blank slate in the region. They are poised to take advantage of any internal changes. Some would say that American policymakers are aware of their self sabotage, willing to do anything for Israel. Perhaps it is more likely that President Biden, who struggles to form a sentence, is not the man to handle foreign affairs.
*See page 163 of “On Palestine” by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé. Great book!
