Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The propaganda put out by the Biden administration would have us believe that the Israeli government, shocked by the horrid October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, is turning Gaza into rubble in a quest to destroy Hamas and prevent the recurrence of such an assault. On December 1, the United Nations conveyed a report that at least 178 Palestinians were killed and 589 wounded in Israeli bombing strikes. All aid trucks were barred entry. Palestinians in Gaza have been under economic siege since 2007 and need 500 trucks a day of aid to avoid starvation.
The UN says that Israeli bombing on Friday had the following results: “four people killed in Rafah refugee camp; at 7:40, seven people killed in Al Maghazi camp, Middle Area; at 9:20, ten people killed in Al Genina area, eastern Rafah; at 11:20, five people killed in Rafah refugee camp; at 12:45, seven people killed in eastern Rafah (fatality numbers included as reported and hours are approximate). All these incidents were to the south of Wadi Gaza.” If you think all those people were Hamas fighters, you’d have another think coming.
“Gaza Guernica 3.1,” by Juan Cole, Digital (Dream and IbisPaint), 2023.
Although Biden hailed the four-day “humanitarian pause,” it did almost nothing for ordinary people in Gaza since the aid allowed in was a fraction of what was needed and Israeli troops shot at people trying to return to the debris of their homes. It was an opportunity to bury the dead in mass graves and to discover the decomposed remains of preemies at now-defunct hospitals closed down by Israeli troops, who forced nurses and physicians to leave behind their charges.
Biden did not tell us, and nor did the sorry excuse for “news” in the US that the “pause” was voted against by the Jewish Power faction in the Israeli cabinet and that the exchange of Hamas hostages for Israeli ones was viscerally opposed by that bloc as well as across the board on the powerful Israeli far right because violent Israeli squatters in the Palestinian West Bank feared the release of “terrorists” who would return to their homes and pose a threat to the invading squatters [h/t BBC Monitoring ]. Since Israel only agreed to release women and minors, those Israeli squatters must be real snowflakes.
Jewish Power leader and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir [h/t BBC Monitoring ] branded the released Palestinians “terrorists,” and attacked Netanyahu for agreeing to their release. Ben Gvir has been convicted of support of a terrorist organization and of racist incitement in the past and his party was on the US State Department terrorism watch list. So I guess, you know, he fancies himself an expert on who is a terrorist.
In fact, most of those released had been detained without charges, trial or habeas corpus, and so were hostages as much as the Israelis held by Hamas. Many of the minors, now teens, had been children when they were kidnapped by the Israeli security forces that brutalize the occupied population. The Israelis grabbed up more Palestinian hostages than they released, showing bad faith. One squatter interviewed on Israeli radio, whose son had been killed by a Palestinian in 2015, said that a message should be sent (presumably to the 2.2 million people in Gaza) that if you kill a Jew, you die.
Despite the heavy diplomacy seeking to convince Netanyahu to extend the pause or even call off the war, including pressure from Spain, Belgium and Ireland, and perhaps even France, the prime minister ordered the bombardment of defenseless civilians to start back up on Friday. Why?
Well, Itamar Ben Gvir demanded a resumption of the slaughter. He said if the pause went on, he would withdraw his bloc from the government and cause it to fall.
Hindustan Times: “Israeli PM Gets Threat From His Own Minister; ‘Don’t Dare To Stop Gaza Attack'”
If the government fell, Israel would go to new elections. Israelis would almost certainly toss out the rogues gallery of terrorists, homophobes, racists, religious zealots, male chauvinists, and genocidal psychopaths that make up the current government, putting in the center-right instead. (Israel no longer has a left to speak of). If Netanyahu loses his hold on the office of prime minister, the corruption cases against him would proceed, and he likely will go to jail.
So Netanyahu abruptly launched the bombing campaign again.
Not to destroy Hamas, since no one thinks a guerrilla group can be wiped out from the air.
Not to ensure Israeli security, since committing genocide has seldom gone well for the perpetrators.
But to . . . stay out of jail and avoid being punished for his years of massive corruption.
So we have a convicted supporter of a terrorist organization as puppeteer for a decadent martinet fearful of ending up behind bars. Thousands more Palestinian children, women and noncombatant men will die for this glorious cause.
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