US
President Joe Biden directed the US military to establish a temporary
port on the Gaza coast to ease the humanitarian crisis in the territory sparked
by the Israel-Hamas war and used his State of the Union speech to call on
Israel to let more aid into the territory. He said the pier would enable “a
massive increase” in the amount of aid getting into Gaza.
اضافة اعلان
The UN
has warned earlier that widespread famine in the Gaza Strip is "almost
inevitable" without urgent action.
The
US-backed Israeli war on Gaza is entering its sixth month. As the brutal
siege and bombing continues, the death toll rises, famine increases, and
disease spread rapidly. The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza has once again brought
attention to the substantial military support provided by the US to Israel,
fueling controversy and raising humanitarian concerns.
Since
October 7, Israel has received immense support from the US, ranging from arms
and ammunition to consultancy and advice from top-level commanders. The US has
sent to Israel thousands of military equipment, including ammunition, vehicles,
armaments, personal protective equipment, and medical supplies.
A
report by the Wall Street Journal in December highlighted the quality and large
quantities of munitions sent by the US to Israel. According to the report, the
US is considering sending FMU-139 bomb fuses, with the total shipment estimated
to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
The
US has provided roughly 21,000 precision-guided munitions to Israel since
October, according to media reports. Other types of munitions and weapons also
include tens of thousands of 155mm artillery shells, thousands of bunker-buster
munitions, and 200 kamikaze drones. On the other hand, the US and Israel have
concluded a massive arms deal that includes the supply of F-35 and F-15 fighter
jets to Tel Aviv, the Hebrew Channel 12 recently reported.
“The US has provided roughly 21,000 precision-guided munitions to Israel since October.”
The
channel cited officials from the Israeli Defense Ministry as saying that an
agreement has been reached between the US and Israel in which the Israeli
Occupation Forces (IOF)will be supplied with drones and thousands of rounds of
ammunition in the following days.
According
to the officials, the deal includes supplying the IOF with many F-35 and F-15
fighter aircraft and Apache helicopters. Israel will be the first country to
receive the advanced F-35 aircraft manufactured by Boeing. Israel is the
largest recipient of US foreign aid, primarily focusing on defense and military
assistance. Annually, Israel receives over $3 billion in defense aid.
Last
February, the US Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill, out of which $14
billion is allocated for Israel.
According
to the Times of Israel, around $5.2 billion is spent on systems that deter
missiles and other long—and short-range airborne threats. Of this amount, $4
billion would be used to procure short-range anti-missile systems for Israel’s
Iron Dome missile defense system and to fund the David’s Sling system, which
intercepts mid-to-long-range missiles.
For
his part, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has announced that the US is
assisting Israel with intelligence and planning and providing advice and
consultations to its military. However, the US deployed aircraft and warships
at its military bases in the Middle East and ordered more warplanes to support
its existing A-10, F-15, and F-16 squadrons at these bases.
As
the Israeli war against Gaza is now entering its sixth month, it would be
impossible to overstate the horrifying destruction that has been unleashed on
the people of Gaza. More than 30,960 people have been killed, and more than
72,524 others injured. However, these statistics are likely a dramatic
undercount; thousands of people remain missing, and many of them are lying dead
under the rubble of what was once their homes. More than 80 percent of Gaza’s
Palestinians are now internally displaced and are being corralled under threat
of bombing into an ever-shrinking killing cage.
As
they respond to the October 7 attack by Hamas, the IOF has destroyed Gaza’s
hospitals and care centers, severely impairing access to health facilities for
patients, health workers, and supplies. Israel has Systematically destroyed
Gaza’s universities and schools, its archives and libraries. Controlled
demolitions of entire neighborhoods, blowing up apartment complexes, destroying
farms and other agricultural areas. More than 70 percent of Gaza’s homes have
been destroyed or significantly damaged. There are reports of mass executions
of prisoners and the widespread torture of other Palestinians. Their homes were
demolished and flattened with no shelter and limited supplies, and the
displaced Gazans have been living on the streets facing catastrophic hunger and
starvation, with no clean water and disease spreading.
“Last February, the US Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill, out of which $14 billion is allocated for Israel.”
Israel
has enforced a wartime blockade on the entry of aid, and aid groups and
humanitarian organizations have been complaining of Israel’s blocking of their
planned missions to deliver aid to Gaza.
The IOF is showing no signs of slowing their attacks. At every turn,
Netanyahu has made clear he intends to continue his campaign indefinitely, even
as the IOF faces an impasse in their military battle against Hamas. Israel will
push on with its offensive against Hamas, including into the southern Gaza city
of Rafah, despite growing international pressure to stop, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said, addressing a graduation ceremony at a training school
for Israeli army officers recently, adding that Israel would operate throughout
Gaza, "including Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold."
"Whoever
tells us not to act in Rafah is telling us to lose the war, and that will not
happen," Netanyahu said.
Within
days of the October 7 attack by Hamas inside Israel, killing around 1,400
people, President Joe Biden traveled to Israel to declare solidarity with the
Jewish state. Biden described Hamas as “unadulterated evil” and stated that
America “stands with Israel.”
“This is not just Israel’s war; it is a joint US-Israeli war.”
Since
the October 7 attack and as Israel has been bombing Gaza relentlessly, the US
has been careful not to criticize Israel even in the face of the latter’s
disproportionate attack on the tiny enclave of 2.3 million people.
The
US also vetoed last February an Arab-backed and widely supported UN resolution
demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in the
embattled Gaza Strip, saying it would interfere with negotiations on a deal to
free hostages abducted in Israel. It was the third US veto of a Security
Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. It came a day after the US
circulated a rival resolution that would support a temporary ceasefire
linked to the release of all hostages. Besides, US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken reiterates that the US opposes a permanent ceasefire.
The
US continues to rush weapons and ammunition to Israel to continue this
slaughter. At the same time, the Biden administration has led the charge to cut
funding to UNRWA, one of the most important international organizations
operating on the ground in Gaza.
This
is all happening as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that South
Africa’s genocide case against Israel could proceed and explicitly ordered
Israel to allow, with immediate effect, the delivery of humanitarian aid.
“Today, in the face of the fact that the US remains the greatest bankroller of Israel in general and the biggest sponsor of Israel, specifically in this war of annihilation in Gaza.”
The
US is not some outside observer. It is complicit in all of this. It is an
active partner in the carnage, the bombings, and the attacks against
defenseless civilians, and it is leading the international charge to defund the
essential aid organization operating in Gaza.
On
the other hand, we are told that Biden is losing patience with Netanyahu for
the high toll of deaths in Gaza and for not allowing in humanitarian aid.
However, instead of cutting the flow of weapons to Israel and pushing for an
immediate ceasefire, Biden is working to reach just a ‘temporary’ ceasefire
agreement to release hostages held in Gaza by Hamas before the holy month of
Ramadan.
Well,
in the real world, Biden almost cannot give a speech anywhere now without it
being disrupted by protesters confronting him for his support of the
devastating war on Gaza. This is not just Israel’s war; it is a joint
US-Israeli war and a part of the same global political culture —to be entirely
uncritical of Israel and how Israel is waging what is effectively — and, even
by the ICJ, potentially — a genocidal war against the people of Gaza.
Today,
in the face of the fact that the US remains the greatest bankroller of Israel
in general and the biggest sponsor of Israel, specifically in this war of
annihilation in Gaza, people around the world, especially the young
generations, are standing together and reigniting the spirit of unity not just
about the legacies of colonialism and existing colonialism. Still, it is about
creating a new international order where everybody is seen as equal.
Not
just to defend Gaza but to protect the idea that every state and every person
is equal, that there are no hierarchies of who deserves justice and who does
not, and that the only people who should face justice are those who are
geopolitically convenient to the US.
It
is a turning point for a lot of people, in the sense that the status quo in
Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem is being renounced and that
Palestinians must have justice in the end.
Najla M. Shahwan is a Palestinian
author, researcher, and freelance journalist. She has published thirteen books
and a children's story collection and has received two prizes from the
Palestinian Union of Writers.
Disclaimer:
Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Jordan News' point of view.
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