As the horror in Gaza deepens, anyone trying to follow announced US policy would suffer from whiplash. Faced with an unimaginable human catastrophe, the administration chose not to veto a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Vice President Kamala Harris voiced support for a Ceasefire. But the new clothes couldn’t dress up the old policy.
Last week, the administration preposterously certified that Israel was adhering to international law in order to provide Israel with yet another arms shipment, including 25 more F-35A fighter jets and 1,800- 2000-pound bombs. The administration is denying reality, scorning global opinion, and twisting itself into a pretzel to arm the indefensible.
No bridge can span the gulf between what the president says he supports and what his administration does. The US allowed the ceasefire resolution to pass the Security Council. President Biden has repeatedly warned the Israeli government not to launch their planned offensive against Rafah in the South of Gaza, the last refuge for 1.4 million Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment. An assault, Biden says, would cross his “red line.” The president has called for immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza, even directing the US military to build a temporary pier to allow provisions to come in from the sea. The president has called a two-state solution the only resolution of the crisis. He has warned against the expanding of settler assaults on Palestinians in the West Bank. He has stated that a revitalized Palestinian authority must take charge in Gaza when the war ends.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu scorns all of this. He has rejected the International Court of Justice, which ruled that Israel was on the path toward genocide in Gaza and called on Israel to do more to prevent a famine. He has ignored the growing demonstrations within Israel, which accuse him of sacrificing the Israeli hostages in waging the war. He has stated that the two-state solution is dead. His government has aided and abetted the violent expansion of settler activity in the West Bank. Israeli forces have struck in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. On Sunday, he announced that he had approved the operational plans for the offensive in Rafah, stating that “we will enter the city despite the opposition of US President Biden.” In the Muslim holy celebration of Ramadan, Netanyahu is turning fasting into famine.
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