Washington Lies, Palestinians Die, Tel Aviv Gives Everyone the Finger

Although there is certainly nothing funny about the situation in question, I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the remarks of Robert Wood to the UN Security Council regarding Israel’s recent assassination of two Hamas leaders. After claiming that Washington neither knew in advance or had anything to do with the murders, Wood went on to insist “without a doubt” that Hezbollah was responsible for the deaths of twelve youngsters playing soccer in the occupied Golan Heights a few days earlier. Besides the obvious and more general fact that Israel would not be massacring Palestinians, attacking other countries and calling antiwar protesters Hamas members if it wasn’t receiving over $36,000 a minute from Washington since October 7, 2023 (in addition to the billions already received), it seems extremely unlikely that the Pentagon did not provide intelligence for the assassination operations. Indeed, there was a story in the Washington Post on May 12, 2024 reporting a leak from the White House that said Israel was being provided intelligence on the resistance leaders’ whereabouts in an attempt to prevent a full-scale invasion of Rafah. As the reader knows, that invasion took place, anyhow. To put it more bluntly, Ambassador Woods is just the latest US official willing to lie for Israel in the name of Israel’s defense.

It’s pretty clear now—as if it wasn’t before—that Israel is not genuinely interested in a ceasefire. It’s also pretty clear that Washington is more interested in eliminating the Palestinian resistance than it is in not killing children. In short, Washington’s actions indicate it doesn’t really care what happens to the Palestinians. At this juncture, it seems more than willing to let Israel’s mad dogs of Zionism set the path towards greater death and destruction. Words mean absolutely nothing when uttered by men and women who uncritically repeat the lies of proven liars like Netanyahu. These lies, when combined with a media unwilling to challenge Israel and its goal of a greater Israel illegal, have become truths. Not because they are, but because their repetition has made them so.

Meanwhile, US Senator Lindsey Graham has introduced S.J.Res.107. This is “A joint resolution to authorize the use of military force against the Islamic Republic of Iran if the President determines that the Islamic Republic of Iran is planning or conducts an attack against any former, current, or incoming United States Government official or senior military personnel.” In other words, much like it seems Israel used the unclaimed missile that fell on a soccer field in the Occupied Golan Heights and killed twelve young people as an excuse to attack Beirut and Tehran, Senator Graham wants to use militia attacks on US forces occupying Iraq as an opening for a US attack on Iran. Graham also went on record demanding that the Israeli and/or US military bomb Iran’s oil refineries. I can’t really think of any reason why someone would call for these actions unless they were insane, looking to make some money on soaring oil prices sure to follow such an attack, seeking the end of the world, or all three.

There is no easy way out of the current situation in the region we call the middle east unless and until Israel is brought under control. That will not happen while Washington and other arms suppliers continue to send weapons to Israel. These governments will not do so of their own volition. If we genuinely want them to stop arming genocide they must be pressured like never before. The forces in favor of continuing the genocide may be fewer in number, but because the nature of their strength comes from the profits they make from supporting the occupation and (perhaps more importantly) their locations in the hierarchy of power, they continue to succeed in their decades long battle against the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

The New York Times recently reported that, in response to the threats of retaliation against Israel from Iran, US officials are “seeking to calibrate the American response to send enough of the right types of aircraft as quickly as possible to help defend Israel without appearing to escalate the conflict.” Listen to that statement. In essence, it says the US is escalating the conflict by sending more weaponry, but doesn’t want to appear that it is escalating the conflict. In other words, believe what we tell you, not what you see, The media’s role is to create the illusion that the escalation we can see is not really an escalation; more weapons and killing do not mean a greater war. Of course, that is exactly what the US establishment media has been doing all along—helping Washington and Tel Aviv escalate the conflict by reporting that they aren’t escalating the conflict. Red line after redline is crossed by the Israeli military and the bombs keep on coming. So do the jets, the missiles and the bullets, the intelligence and the money.

And so does the slaughter. If Washington and Tel Aviv have their way, the slaughter could well expand in ways we can only imagine. Lindsey Graham’s resolution to attack Iran and its oil refineries must be stifled. Those who support Israel without reservation should be challenged wherever they go. Israel must be boycotted, divested from and sanctioned. The war profiteers and their bankers cannot be let off the hook. Business as usual should not include accepting the genocide of the Palestinians. The occupation must end.

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