The Americans are crippling our efforts!! Imperative to read this entire report to get the full picture.
What is happening is no surprise to those of us who are familiar with the American response to Israel’s battle with Hamas. It has happened repeatedly during our operations against Hamas. After some days, or weeks, Israel would be told: “OK, we supported you, but it’s enough, now pull back.”
And so, we expected it, although I confess it came more quickly than I thought it would.
However, this time we are not speaking about an operation in which the intent is just to weaken Hamas (as was the case previous times), we are looking at an existential crisis that requires us to eliminate Hamas in its entirety.
This is, first, because of the unimaginable brutality visited upon our innocent civilians, which necessitates that we create a situation ensuring they will never, ever be able to do anything like this again. This is pure evil and must be destroyed.
Below are two videos describing the horrors inflicted by Hamas, plus a link to some still photos of the massacre. See them and please share them broadly. People must understand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD2JHiY3y6s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsbd_dV8Xf8
And then, because Iran and its proxy Hezbollah are watching, and we must demonstrate full strength to enhance deterrence. Our enemies to the north must be certain of our resolve. If we hesitate, they will see us as weak.
Additionally, I would say there is a third reason to take out Hamas: it is a moral obscenity, an affront to humanity.
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But the unpalatable truth is that the original American show of support for Israel in this battle, with all of the stirring words and bold promises, is in the end qualified in dangerous ways.
In a sense we are caught. We must be grateful for the assistance the US is giving us and express that gratitude in unqualified terms. Hell, we are enormously grateful for the US aircraft carriers and destroyers stationed in the Mediterranean, even if Biden’s concern is preventing a wider conflagration that would ultimately draw in the US and not the safety of Israel. It is wonderful. And for the munitions that have been delivered, and the money that may be forthcoming.
But we will not be fully supported in doing our necessary job in Gaza.
Since Secretary of State Blinken was here, offering strong words of support, he has travelled about, visiting a number of Arab countries: Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. Qatar, I note here, supports Hamas and provides shelter to its leaders.
In the course of press conferences held in the various countries, he made statements similar to this one in Cairo, on October 15 (emphasis added):
“We believe that civilians should not suffer because of the depravity of Hamas. And among other things, that means that they should have food, water, medicine, all the basic essentials that they need. And that’s exactly what we’re working on. Today, water was turned back on for Gaza. We engaged with Israel to make that happen. We’re now focused on making sure that humanitarian assistance can get in, that people can get out of harm’s way within Gaza, and also that some of our own citizens who wish to leave can get out. But this has been very much a part not only of our conversations, but of the actions we’re taking.
“In fact, today President Biden appointed one of our most experienced diplomats, David Satterfield…to lead our humanitarian assistance efforts – special envoy of the President to work with everyone in the region to make sure that Palestinians in harm’s way in Gaza get the assistance they need.”
https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-with-randa-abul-azm-of-al-arabiya/
This is meddling of a serious nature.
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And it is getting worse:
Tomorrow (Wednesday) Biden will be here. The stage was set by Blinken for this brief, most unwelcome visit. Blinken arrived here yesterday (Monday) and met with Netanyahu for more than seven hours at the Kirya (military headquarters in Tel Aviv) last night. At the end of the meeting, at 2:30 AM, Blinken announced that Biden would be coming. He saved that announcement until he was satisfied with the results of the meeting.
The arrival of the president was predicated on agreements by Netanyahu (along with the War Cabinet) regarding relief for the civilians of Gaza: it was agreed that a plan would be set in place for delivering aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip.
It does not take a rocket scientist (and, trust me, Blinken is no rocket scientist!) to understand that Hamas is going to co-opt so-called “humanitarian” relief that the US insists be sent in. There has been a history of this for years.
On Sunday, UNRWA announced that Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip had stolen fuel and medical supplies meant for recipients of its aid (I refuse to call them refugees) from its premises in Gaza City. UNRWA then backtracked on its announcement.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/378603
And so, there goes the Israeli siege on Gaza.
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Caroline Glick has described the situation (emphasis added):
“The implications of this position are devastating for Israel. According to reports, there are ‘hundreds of trucks’ lined up on the border in Egypt to enter the Gaza Strip carrying so-called ‘humanitarian aid.’ These trucks, if permitted to enter, will not be inspected in any significant way. There is no reason to believe they are carrying baby formula and foodstuffs that will be delivered to the needy. There is every reason to believe they are carrying war materiel and jihadist fighters who have arrived to augment Hamas…
“Hamas is Gaza. All the ‘ministries’ in Gaza are Hamas. All hospitals are Hamas. Hamas’s military headquarters is located under Shifa Hospital…
“So whatever and whoever is in the trucks carrying ‘humanitarian aid,’ all of it will be delivered to Hamas and will be distributed to benefit Hamas.
“The idea that it could be otherwise is absurd. And the fact that the Biden administration is arguing this absurdity is an outrage.”
https://www.jns.org/as-biden-turns-against-israel-netanyahu-must-stand-strong/
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What Israel seeks to do in imposing a siege on Gaza is permissible according to international law; it is a not uncommon practice in war.
I want to revisit the issue of international law when I next post, but here will make one point, which has been raised by Avi Bell, professor of law. Glick cites him (emphasis added):
Following 9/11, the UN Security Council passed resolution 1373 under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. Chapter 7 resolutions, unlike other resolutions, are binding on all UN member nations.
“Resolution 1373 stipulates that all UN member nations must ‘Refrain from providing any form of support, active or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts.’
“Any provision of any aid to Gaza, which is completely controlled by Hamas, is of course either ‘active or passive’ assistance to Hamas, and hence illegal.”
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The message from Caroline, and from me, is that Netanyahu absolutely must stay strong in the face of Biden’s demands.
I make one additional observation about the current situation here:
The civilians that the Biden administration says it wants to protect are under the repressive thumb of Hamas. Anything that prolongs that Hamas control does a disservice to the civilians.
We will leave aside here the question of who, by legal definition, is a terrorist and whether “civilians” who passively assist Hamas are truly civilians.
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There is a great deal more to consider when I post next. But there is one additional matter of major importance I want to touch upon here: That matter of American hypocrisy.
The US is making a major issue about the necessity for Israel to attend to the wellbeing of all of Gaza’s civilians. But this is a display of two-faced sanctimony. Let us take a closer look:
“A US air strike killed 47 civilians, including 39 women and children, as they were travelling to a wedding in Afghanistan. The bride was among the dead…
“The US military initially denied any civilians had been killed…
“The nine-member inquiry team appointed by the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to look into the wedding party incident found only civilians had been killed in the attack.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/11/afghanistan.usa
One of the wounded from that attack:
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“2009 was…the most lethal year for Afghan civilians in the American-led war since the fall of the Taliban government in late 2001. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 2,412 civilians were killed by the war in 2009, a jump of 14% over the number that lost their lives in 2008… around a quarter, 596, of the deaths [were attributed] to action by American-led military forces… Airstrikes continued to be the main cause of civilian deaths resulting from US-led military action…
“The deaths of thousands of Afghan civilians caused directly and indirectly by the U.S. and NATO bombing campaigns have been a major underlying focus of protests against the war in Afghanistan since 2001.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_in_the_war_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)#
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“According to Marc W. Herold’s extensive database, Dossier on Civilian Victims of United States’ Aerial Bombing, between 3,100 and 3,600 civilians were directly killed by U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom bombing and U.S. Special Forces attacks between October 7, 2001, and June 3, 2003. This estimate counts only ‘impact deaths’ – deaths that occurred in the immediate aftermath of an explosion or shooting – and does not count deaths that occurred later as a result of injuries sustained, or deaths that occurred as an indirect consequence of the U.S. airstrikes and invasion.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualties_in_the_war_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)
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As a result of the US-coalition actions in Iraq and Syria, according to an Airwars assessment, between 1,725 and 2,367 children and 1,120 and 1,460 women were likely killed.
https://airwars.org/conflict/coalition-in-iraq-and-syria/
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Ostensibly the Biden government is concerned with protecting Gaza’s civilians.
I would suggest that we seek other motivations for its stance. That will not be difficult to do.
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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
