No Title: 43,000 dead

On Wednesday, Nov. 20, the United States was the sole veto on a UN security council resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. On the same day, the United States Senate had over 80 senators, with support from the White House, come together to shoot down resolutions which would restrict certain offensive arms going to Israel. This week has shown to an incredible degree the unity that exists within the current political leadership towards unequivocal support for the unpopular genocide happening right before our eyes in Palestine. For months leading up to the recent presidential election, Americans heard stories of new red lines, President Joe Biden’s increased anger with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other signs of hope that eventually someone would finally do something. Yet the election came and went with the country, and especially Democratic leadership, having shown that there is no red line, there has only ever been political maneuverings to sway angry voters. Now, their real priorities have been shown. Democratic leadership has never cared about genocide and relying on their willingness to end it is clearly nothing but an exercise in futility.  

The first time Biden announced the idea of a “red line” with support for Israel was in March with the announcement of its plans to invade Rafah, a city south of the territory where they had urged Palestinians to flee to. He made clear that offensive weapons would be restricted if they decided to lay siege on the city and that “there’s other ways to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas”. Two months later, Israel did it anyways, striking refugee camps within designated safe zones in Rafah and killing over 100 Palestinians. The U.S responded by pausing only one shipment of 2000 and 500-pound bombs, but ultimately ended up continuing through shipments of 500-pound bombs after only two months. Now Rafah is absolutely uninhabitable, no civilians remain and has been described as a “ghost town.” 

The second time was on Oct. 13, wherein it was announced that Biden sent a letter giving a 30-day deadline to Israel to allow more humanitarian support into Gaza or lose American military support. It had been one year since this onslaught had started and the presidential election, where many Democratic constituents had shown clear issue with the government’s military support for Israel, was less than a month away. It sent a strong message to the world, but especially American voters, that there could be hope, that months of protest might have just made a difference. The problem is that those 30 days would end after the election, meaning that voters would not be able to see whether or not Biden would follow through on this promise or if it would fall through. One day before the deadline arrived, a group of humanitarian organizations published a report outlining Israel’s complete failure to adequately respond to the vast majority of the criteria outlined in the demand letter. A day later, the U.S. government admitted it would not stop any of its support for Israel, according to The Intercept. Through their actions, Democratic leadership essentially admitted this letter was just a gamble to try and win back angry voters without making substantive change.  

What these examples show is a common story of trying to play politics at the expense of human lives. In both cases, the Biden administration knew there was no bite to their bark, but they continued to go forward with these strategies, and these lies will have consequences. These two instances of completely failing to actually back up their public positions show there is no integrity in anything the government says. Israel can do virtually whatever they want because they know the United States will never abandon or even attempt to restrict them in their campaign. In fact, former senior Israeli diplomat Danny Ayalon went on Israeli TV stating their understanding of Biden’s public messaging to be just “trying to assuage all those critics in a way that will allow Israel to continue with the operation.” In essence, he does not actually want the war to end but will regardless say whatever it takes to make people think that he does.  

They also show the American people that there is no accountability in government, that their voices do not matter and Democrats couldn’t care less about what their constituents want. Although CBS polls have shown as far back as June that 61% of Americans and 77% of registered Democratic voters believe the US should not send weapons to Israel, this fundamentally does not matter to this country’s leadership. It would make sense to listen to these polls, especially in an election year, but that has not at all been the case. Instead, the U.S. government would rather continue to give an image of breaking with Netanyahu’s plans, while all the time giving him 100% support.  

43,000 Palestinians are confirmed dead at this point, with reports from The Lancet, one of the world’s foremost medical journals, conservatively estimating the body count to be closer to 186,000 as a result of this war. The U.N. special committee on investigating Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people has found that Israel’s warfare methods are consistent with genocide. The evidence has never been clearer that is not a war, but an attempt to wipe the Palestinian people from the Earth. Our government has shown no signs of changing course in its support for these horrors. It will do whatever it takes, even lying to its own people, to uphold its ability to do that. To end with a question from Palestinian deputy U.N. ambassador, Majed Bamya, “Do they have the right to kill, and the only right we have is to die?” The answer it seems, according to the actions of the U.S. government, is a resounding yes.