It is quite remarkable witnessing the corporate media’s coverage of the latest orchestrated cycle of violence in Israel. Was this really a surprise or an intelligence failure? The same questions were raised after 9/11 and are yet to be addressed. I say orchestrated because the attack by Hamas upon Israel—which I must emphasize was in response to decades of illegal occupation of Palestinian territory in violation of international law and numerous United Nations Resolutions—is a blessing in disguise for Israel’s current government.
For most of the year, Western European nations and even Israeli sponsors in Washington, D.C., have been reluctant to be viewed as supporting present Israeli government policies meant to roll back democratic judicial checks upon Israeli government authority. These policies include the demolition of Palestinian homes to make way for more Israeli settlements and an end to any pretense for a two-state solution.
However, now these same Western powers are quick to endorse any measures that Israel might undertake to bring about a final solution to its Palestinian problem. The question now facing Washington’s policymakers is: how to provide additional advanced weaponry and support to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)—which is already being done to the tune of $3 billion annually, courtesy of the American taxpayer—and provide similar support to Ukraine for its resistance to Russian occupation of its territory. One approach would be to support those forces opposing occupation and not to support the occupiers.
What of those being occupied without the advanced weaponry to defend themselves? How do the more than 2 million Palestinian residents of Gaza—forced to endure an occupation that denies them life’s necessities like employment, education, and health care—petition the Israeli government to say that their situation is intolerable and inhumane?
Guy McCullough
Lompoc
