Bibi to Biden: f*ck you very much.
Barak Ravid, quoting Biden administration sources, claimed that the US would not find Israel had violated US demands for Gaza humanitarian assistance:
🚨🇺🇸🇮🇱Secretary of State Blinken has decided that there will be no change for now to military assistance to Israel following the deadline the U.S. gave Israel regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza and that expires today, two U.S. officials said. The officials said Israel…
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 12, 2024
Anyone with eyes in their head can see that Israel is starving Gaza to death. That it is engaged in wholesale slaughter. That it is engaged in eliminationism. Anyone with an ounce of decency knows that the US is Israel’s helpmeet. That it accessorizes Israeli genocide. So waiting for Blinken to do anything to stop this carnage is a fool’s errand.
He addressed Gaza in press conference today. Here are some excerpts and my response:
On the Middle East and on Gaza, let me be very clear about both the intent and the effect of the letter that Secretary Austin and I sent a month ago to our Israeli counterparts. The intent was to inject a sense of urgency with Israel to take necessary steps to address the dire humanitarian situation of children, women, and men in Gaza. The effect has been that of the 15 steps that we urged action on, Israel has taken action either in implementing or being in the process of implementing 12 of the 15 steps.
In actuality, an international humanitarian aid organization offered its own scorecard. It said that out of 19 conditions critical for a successful aid program, Israel had failed on 15 and only partially addressed four (4). Here is a summary of the failures:
- 350 humanitarian aid trucks daily
- Humanitarian pause in hostilities
- Rescinding evacuation orders
- Implementing World Food Program winter humanitarian infrastructure plan
- Full cooperation between humanitarian aid groups and IDF regarding aid shipments
- Removing IDF arbitrary restrictions on aid trucks
- Removing arbitrary restrictions on aid products
- End forced expulsion of civilians from northern Gaza
- Prevent Israel from expelling UNWRA
- Allow International Red Cross full access to Palestinian detainees
That’s a far more accurate accounting. As for Blinken’s claims in this regard, he offers no evidence to support it. So it must be counted as a sham. More disingenuous nonsense:
…First, make sure that when Israel engages in an operation and people have been evacuated from an area, that once that operation is done it rescind the evacuation order so that people can return…
Blinken knows Israel is implementing the General’s Plan and that the residents of northern Gaza will never be permitted to return. His statement above is a cynical sham.
The challenge there in terms of restoring commercial trucking has been a huge problem of lawlessness and looting inside of Gaza that needs to be addressed and that we’re working on finding a solution to. But right now there are 900 trucks that are inside of Gaza at Karem Shalom that’s backed up. They can’t be distributed because of this looting and because of the criminality.
There is only one cause for looting and criminal gangs stealing the aid: Israel’s deliberate starvation program. End its deliberate refusal to permit aid, allow trucks to enter and distribute food freely and all of that disappears. If you don’t address Israel’s responsibility, you might as well be whistling in the wind.
We’re starting to see, as I said, implementation of most of the steps that we’ve laid out. It will take some time for them to have effect.
A reminder: the original letter did not call for “starting to see implementation of most of the steps.” It laid out specific conditions and demanded that they be met in full. They have not been. Israel is in violation and the letter laid out the consequence for Israeli inaction. Now Blinken refuses to back up his empty words with the action he outlined in his own letter.
The letter, sent three weeks before the election, was likely devised to give cover to Kamala Harris among left wing Democratic voters. She desperately needed to mollify them, given her ardent support for US weapons to Israel. I would argue that the Biden administration never intended for Israel to adhere to its conditions, which helps explain why Israel essentially ignored it.
The Biden administration has been a disaster regarding Gaza. Its pro-genocide policy will go down in US history as one of most shameful betrayals alongside the Native American genocide, slavery and the Japanese internment.
Israel clearly decided when it received the Blinken-Austin letter to defy the US. It made almost no effort to satisfy the demands. In fact, in northern Gaza it executed the General’s Plan to eliminate everyone in Gaza by starving them; and killing anyone remaining whether civilian or fighter. All that happened after the US letter.
NPR reported today (above) that after weeks of total siege in the north with no food entering at all, Israel finally permitted trucks to enter a few days ago. How many trucks? Three. And after they off-loaded their supplies and starving Palestinians came to get it, the IDF fired at them and demanded they leave. That’s how Israel has responded to us: with a middle finger raised high.
This would never have been the Israeli response to such a US demand in the past. Back then, if the US sneezed, Israel got a cold. A US president could demand, and an Israeli prime minister at least make a pretence of taking it seriously. Now we have an Israeli premier who practically taunts us with defiance. And why wouldn’t he?
Biden has been toothless regarding Israeli accountability. He mouths a few words that sound like concern, that request Israel cooperation; which Israel promptly ignores. Then the US president folds his poker hand and says “I’m out”; without even trying. Bibi is a good poker player. He knows how to size up his adversary. He looks for weaknesses. He looks for a “tell.” And Biden’s tells are transparent. He doesn’t even hide them. So Bibi has his number. He knows Biden will fold at the first opportunity. And he exploits that weakness to the hilt.
After Election Day, Bibi knew that he now had carte blanche to do whatever he pleased in Gaza. Come January 20th, he will have the best president Israel Lobby money can buy. He can finish Hamas off, depopulate Gaza, expel thousands of West Bank Palestinians from scores of villages, permit his ministers to ride roughshod over the rule of law. He knows Trump will have his back. That’s all he needs. That’s a green light for genocide.
Trump and son-in-law have publicly endorsed Israeli genocide. Gaza is, for them, a real estate opportunity. They envision beachfront villas for Israeli settlers and investors. Palestinian residents are inconveniences who must be eliminated with a few Caterpillar IDF D-9 bulldozers.
Trump promised before the election that he wanted the war to be over by January 20th. That and the thousands of other promises he’s made aren’t worth a damn. He forgets promises the moment he makes them. Even if he fulfills it and Netanyahu ends the war in Gaza, it will not end Israel’s program to eliminate Palestinians and all hope of a Palestinian state. Bibi will move from Gaza to a larger more comprehensive eliminationist plan. His Judeo-terrorist ministers, Ben Gvir and Smotrich have undoubtedly created one–just as the Heritage Foundation compiled the Project 2025 report to hijack the constitution and American democracy.
Maccabi hooligans in Amsterdam:
“No schools in Gaza because there are no children left” and “Let the IDF win to f**k the Arabs”
Tonight CRISIS in coalition of Geert Wilders … may collapse due to endemic racism and Islamophobic remarks inside council of ministers of PM Schoof. New VVD leader Yesilgöz a main obstacle … favorite of De Telegraaf and Likud lobby CIDI … weekly provocations.