Our most precious Vice President, Ms. Harris, at COP 28 stated, to a somewhat numbed and possibly bored elite world, that “too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”
Had she taken questions, one should have been “How many innocent Palestinians should be killed?” Because I have a feeling a lot of people in Israel have that answer, as do many Evangelical Christians in the United States. Americans like former State Department and National Security advisor Stuart Seldowitz know the right number.
To the Israeli cabinet, no Palestinian is innocent; to use the openly spoken words of Israeli politicians and their loyal American cheerleaders, like Mark Levin, they are all “sub-human.” Reporters in Gaza are specifically targeted, presumably they too are sub-human. Narrative control is so essential in modern war, and it is in no way neglected in the ongoing destruction and Israeli takeover of Gaza.
The famously loquacious Kamala H. – on behalf of some fantasy United States government that has not existed in my lifetime, and possibly has never existed – also said that “…the United States will not permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besieging of Gaza or the redrawing of Gaza’s borders.”
Her fellow second stringer in Washington, NSC Spokesman John Kirby – as the IDF-Hamas truce ended – echoes the disturbing blandness of the American perspective, noting that during the truce, water, food, medicine and “even fuel” had made its way into Gaza, and then launched into the obligatory on and on and on “…I think we’ve all seen the terrible news coming out of Jerusalem: a deadly shooting attack there where at least three people were killed. Hamas has claimed credit. We obviously condemn this terrorist attack, this heinous violence. Just another example of the kind of threat that the Israeli people and the Israeli nation are under by — by Hamas.”
There are two lines of reasoning, and only one of them matters to Washington, the angry opportunistic and profitable Israeli side. The strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must. Everybody wants a good deal here, and if I were Bibi, notwithstanding my personal and political problems, I would be humming the Friendship Song 2023 as I merrily planned and pursued my personal best as an elected official.
This Israeli government war propaganda song – with its video of sweet Israeli children singing patriotically in Hebrew about returning to their “home” in Gaza a year from now, to plow their fields, and remember the sacrifice of their loved ones – has been pulled from Israel’s Government websites, and also from Youtube, for violating its terms of service, maybe for its tone-deaf call for extermination and removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. But it’s worth listening to. Read the lyrics for insight, not just into the rage and contempt felt by many Israelis towards those who refused to sell or leave their land when the Zionists arrived – but also for a clear look at the business end of the current Israeli plan.
As many have observed, the hunt for Hamas and the invasion of Gaza has been on the minds of many in Israel’s government for some time – even if they seemed to forget all about it in the run-up to October 7th. Much as Pearl Harbor and 9-11, like the fire on the USS Maine and creative storytelling in the Gulf of Tonkin, these little politically-facilitated “surprises” – when handled by state-level agenda-setters – can produce real results. There’s money to be made, plans enacted, and opportunities seized.
The exceptionally observant Thierry Meyssan recently made certain points about perceived benefits to Israel of pressing their advantage for at least a year in Gaza, and elsewhere. When you consider the possibility of creative political destruction, in the context of US and Israel policy – you don’t need to know if the tail wags the dog, or the dog wags the tail. You just need to know the dog.
Beyond this, Clauswitzian politics-by-other-means has explanatory value – Gaza, as the Friendship Song says, has lovely beaches and farmland. It also sits atop a regional aquifer that is overdrawn and increasingly polluted, and if there were no Gazan’s, Israel would be able to invest and manage that supply as they wish, without the obvious global criticisms that they somehow deny Gazans water. Gaza has the legal access and rights to large undeveloped gas reserves offshore, something Israel would like to be able to exploit without Gazans to oppose it. Gaza also lies in the most direct path of a fantastical vision of an Israeli-owned and controlled canal to the Red Sea to rival the Suez in both modernity and traffic capacity.
A more perfect chance for Israel to exploit this trifecta of natural resources and geography will not come our lifetimes, and the US not only can’t stop it, it doesn’t want to.
I can’t believe – as no one can believe – the words from the first and second string policy makers in Washington. The weaponry, munitions, and bunker buster bombs we have been pouring into Israel since October 7th say it all. The carrier battle groups in the Med and the Red Sea and the Strait say what needs to be said. This Israel strategy to complete the evisceration of Gaza is happening now, there is no better time, and the US is assisting.
It will prolong Bibi’s tenure, and if he is successful, could earn him a pardon on his past crimes. It sucks the United States back into the Middle East in advance of a Trump or similar America-first Presidency in 2025. If it causes something that looks a little like WWIII, it could ensure a mail-in election, or no elections at all in the US next year. The only thing being passed in the Congress is spending on weapons for export, and the Speaker of the House is an evangelical Christian whose first legislative priority is how he can help Israel. He said it, not me. Criticism of Zionism in action, well shucks, criticism of anything remotely associated with Jewishness, is the newest category of science denialism.
State suppression of free speech has a long history in the United States, but in recent times we have seen it with global warming, COVID lockdowns and mandates, and gender, sexuality and race. There is one government-approved way to speak of these things, one way to be a good citizen, and all else meant you were – well, sub-human. Today, suggesting there could be alternatives to the forced relocation of over 2 million people, the permanent destruction of their cities, and denial of food, water, electricity and medicine is verboten. If you do this, or if someone interprets what you said or did as meaning that this is what you think – you will be forced to apologize publicly and promise to never do it again. You will be de-platformed, demonetized, demonized, and de-humanized. We are certainly seeing this done to public figures and Hollywood actors, I guess to show the rest of us how it’s going to go down. The State expects your silence, and it leverages modern media and technology to silence you. Ron Paul knows!
Some people are just useless eaters, never moreso than when you are trying to take their land for yourself. Merry Christmas, Israel! Well played! Best of luck!
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