The fog of war

Israel is right, of course. In the fog of war, sh*t happens. 

Except that, in twenty years of waging war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US never faced credible allegations of genocide for mistakenly killing and intentionally starving people. Whereas, after just three months of waging war in Gaza, Israel found itself in The Hague, accused of genocide.

But they say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, to illustrate the difference, here’s a montage of US soldiers mingling with Afghan children during that war:

No fog obscuring this reality.

Now here’s a montage of Israeli soldiers mingling with Palestinian children in this war:

Enough said/shown?

Outcry against Israel: A cry for humanitarian aid

Last week, Israel faced almost universal condemnation after it mistakenly killed seven foreign aid workers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday Israel mistakenly killed seven people working for the aid charity World Central Kitchen in a Gaza airstrike, and the US and other allies called for explanations amid widespread condemnation.

Israel’s military voiced “sincere sorrow” over the incident, which ratcheted up international pressure for steps to ease the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza nearly six months into Israel’s siege and invasion of the Palestinian enclave.

(Reuters, April 2, 2024)

Hell, it is damning enough that Israeli soldiers have (mistakenly) killed Palestinians while they were waiting in bread lines for proverbial slop to eat. 

But they have (intentionally) shot Palestinians like sitting ducks while they were scavenging for food, which the US and other countries airdropped. And Palestinians were reduced to this scavenging only because Israel is enforcing a de facto blockade on aid to Gaza.

Biden threatens to impose conditions on US aid

President Biden led the chorus of condemnation. For months, he had been whispering to Washington insiders about having a “come-to-Jesus” talk with Netanyahu. But this mistake outraged him so much that he finally had it on Friday. 

Biden reportedly threatened to condition US weapon supplies to Israel. That’s all it took for Netanyahu to modify his inhumane strategy of using food as a weapon of war. Because mere hours later, he convened an emergency meeting of his war cabinet to approve more humanitarian corridors into Gaza. 

Except that Israel has been bombing Gaza indiscriminately for months, killing over 20,000 innocent women and children, displacing millions, and placing millions on the brink of starvation.

Yet Biden did not find any of that outrageous enough to have that come-to-Jesus talk with Netanyahu. Granted, his personal friendship with Chef José Andrés, the founder of World Central Kitchen, probably fueled his outrage. Still, what does that say about his humanity and vaunted empathy?

Everyone in the Middle East believes the US is complicit in everything Israel does. And the US keeps reinforcing this belief by, among other things, sending weapons for Israel to continue its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. 

This war has been a tail-wagging-the-dog tragic farce — with the US letting Israel make it complicit in genocide. 

So here’s to Biden’s epiphany: It’s perfectly kosher to demand humane treatment of Palestinians in a come-to-Jesus talk with Jews.

And, yes, that’s a far cry from Republicans who are praying to have that talk to convert Jews to Christianity.