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Fears of 'Imminent Catastrophe' Mount as Hezbollah Hits Back Amid Israeli Airstrikes
"It cannot be overstated enough: There is NO military solution that will make either side safer," said one U.N. official.
Sep 22, 2024
Fears of an all-out Middle East war mounted Sunday as Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets into Israel, whose military continued bombing targets in southern Lebanon while moving troops, tanks, and other equipment toward the northern border.
During a Sunday funeral speech for three members killed in Israeli airstrikes, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem declared an "open-ended battle" with Israel was underway. Hezbollah is reeling from last week's unprecedented surprise attack on communication devices that killed dozens of people and wounded thousands more, as well as Israeli airstrikes on Beirut suburbs that have slain dozens of Lebanese including women and children and injured scores more.
The dead include senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil.
"We admit that we are pained. We are humans. But as we are pained, you will also be pained," Qassem told mourners at Aqil's funeral, directing his remarks to Israel.
In Israel, air raid warning sirens blared warnings of incoming Hezbollah rocket fire that penetrated further south in Israel than at any time in nearly two decades, sending residents scrambling for shelters. Israeli media reported 13 people injured—one of them seriously—and heavy damage to homes and cars.
As officials closed schools, limited gatherings, and ordered hospitals to move patients in the north, the Israel Defense Forces moved troops, tanks, and other equipment toward the border with Lebanon. Numerous social media posts said Israeli reservists had received emergency call-up orders, known as Tzav 8s.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his far-right government would "take whatever action is necessary to restore security" in the northern part of Israel.
"No country can accept the wanton rocketing of its cities," he said. "We can't accept it either."
Hezbollah said it would not stop fighting until Israel stops its assault on Gaza, for which it is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the United Nations envoy for Lebanon, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "with the region on the brink of an imminent catastrophe, it cannot be overstated enough: There is NO military solution that will make either side safer."
European Union foreign policy chief and European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell
said on social media Sunday that "the E.U. is extremely concerned by the escalation in Lebanon, following Friday's attacks in Beirut and the increasing cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah."
"Civilians on both sides are paying an enormous price," Borrell added. "An immediate ceasefire is needed."
In the United States, White House national security spokesman John Kirby
told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that the Biden administration—which supplies Israel with billions of dollars in arms and diplomatic cover—is "involved in extensive and quite assertive diplomacy."
"We want to make sure that we can continue to do everything we can to try to prevent this from becoming an all-out war there with Hezbollah across that Lebanese border," he added. "We still believe that there can be time and space for a diplomatic solution here."
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'We Did the Same Thing,' US Official Says After Israel's Rafah Massacre
One Afghanistan-born journalist said John Kirby's admission "does not excuse what Joe Biden's allies in Israel did in Rafah."
May 29, 2024
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Tuesday defended Israel after its military killed and wounded hundreds of Palestinians in attacks on refugee encampments in and near the southern Gaza city of Rafah inside an Israeli-designated "safe zone."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the first of the two attacks—which ignited a fire that burned people, including many women and children, alive inside their tents—a "tragic mistake."
Asked by a reporter what the consequences would be "if there were an American strike on a legitimate terrorist target that ended resulting with 45 civilian deaths and some 200 others injured," Kirby replied, "I can't answer a hypothetical like that."
"But we have conducted airstrikes in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where tragically we caused civilian casualties," he continued. "We did the same thing. We owned up to it. We investigated it. And we tried to make changes... Wae tried to learn from it to make changes so that those set of mistakes wouldn't happen again."
Kirby referred to an August 2021 drone strike in Kabul that occurred during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan that killed an aid worker and nine members of his family including seven children outside their home. A New York Times investigation subsequently revealed that the U.S. military knew that the strike likely killed civilians but initially lied about it, claiming there was "no indication" that noncombatants were harmed in the attack.
"We atoned for it, we learned from it, and we put in place procedures to try and prevent that from happening again," Kirby said of the strike, "and that's what our expectations would be in this case."
According to the Costs of War Project at Brown University's Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs, more than 432,000 civilians in over half a dozen countries have been killed by all sides during the course of the continuing open-ended U.S.-led War on Terror.
Since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that left more than 1,100 Israelis and foreign nationals dead and over 240 others taken hostage, Israeli forces have killed at least 36,171 Palestinians—mostly women and children—according to Gazan and international officials. Israel's Gaza onslaught has also wounded at least 81,420 Palestinians; another 11,000 are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of bombed buildings.
During Tuesday's press conference, CBS News reporter Ed O'Keefe asked Kirby how Israel's tent massacre doesn't violate U.S. President Joe Biden's shifting "red line" warning against invading Rafah.
"We don't want to see a major ground operation," Kirby replied. "We haven't seen that at this point."
Reporter: How does this not violate the red line the president laid out
Kirby: We don’t want to see a major operation we haven’t seen one
Reporter: How many more charred corpses does he have to see before he considers a change in policy
Kirby: I take offense at the question pic.twitter.com/9LMKl1BuAr
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) May 28, 2024
O'Keefe followed up by asking, "How many more charred corpses does he have to see before the president considers a change in policy?"
"We don't want to see a single more innocent life taken, and I kind of take a little offense at the question," Kirby retorted. "No civilian casualties is the right number of civilian casualties, and this is not something that we've turned a blind eye to, nor has it been something we've ignored or neglected to raise with our Israeli counterparts."
Kirby's remarks came on the same day that Israeli tank fire on a makeshift refugee encampment in southern Gaza killed at least 21 people, at least a dozen of whom were women and children.
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Putin Warns of 'Serious Consequences' If Ukraine Uses Western Arms in Russia
The Russian president condemned the West's "constant escalation" as NATO members including France, Germany, and Canada back Kyiv's use of long-range missiles to attack targets inside his country.
May 29, 2024
As the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and leaders of NATO member nations joined the United States in advocating Ukrainian use of Western-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday that any such attacks could have grave repercussions.
"This constant escalation can lead to serious consequences," Putin told reporters during a visit to Uzbekistan. "If these serious consequences occur in Europe, how will the United States behave, bearing in mind our parity in the field of strategic weapons? It's hard to say—do they want a global conflict?"
Putin's remarks came after French President Emmanuel Macronsaid Ukraine should be allowed to "neutralize" bases inside Russia from which Russian forces are launching missiles at Ukrainian targets.
"We should not allow them to touch other targets in Russia, and obviously civilian capacities," Macron said during a visit to Germany.
🇩🇪 🇺🇦 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said Germany would not prohibit Ukrainian attacks on Russian military targets, saying Ukraine "is allowed to defend itself."
He made the comments in a joint show of policy support with French President Emmanuel Macron in Meseburg. pic.twitter.com/jqJctfeD3T
— euronews (@euronews) May 29, 2024
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz—who has so far declined to approve the transfer of his country's Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine—said he agreed with Macron, so long as Kyiv adheres to any restrictions imposed by suppliers.
"Ukraine has every possibility under international law for what it is doing. That has to be said explicitly," Scholz said during a joint press conference with Macron. "I find it strange when some people argue that it should not be allowed to defend itself and take measures that are suitable for this."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that he also supports letting Ukrainian forces use Western-supplied arms to attack Russia, which launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"The time has come to consider whether it will be right to lift some of the restrictions which have been imposed because we see now that especially in the Kharkiv region, the front line and the borderline is more or less the same," he asserted.
The United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, the Czech Republic, and other NATO members also say Ukraine should be permitted to attack targets inside Russia.
In the United States, NATO's most powerful member, there is disagreement within the Biden administration over the policy. While Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reportedly pushing for a change in the administration's stance against the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to attack Russian soil, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Tuesday that "there's no change to our policy at this point."
"We don't encourage or enable the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia," Kirby said.
Blinken, speaking in Moldova on Wednesday ahead of NATO talks in Prague, Czech Republic, responded to a question about whether the U.S. would support Ukrainian use of Western-supplied arms to attack Russia by saying that "we're always listening, we're always learning, and we're always making determinations about what's necessary to make sure that Ukraine can effectively continue to defend itself."
"At every step along the way we've adapted and adjusted as necessary," he added. "And so that's exactly what we'll do going forward."
Police in Chișinău, Moldova's capital, violently arrested anti-war demonstrators protesting Blinken's visit. Protesters reportedly doused American flags in beetroot juice simulating blood and chanted messages including "Blinken, go home; we don't want war!" and "We don't need NATO."
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White House Spokesman Condemned for 'Absurd' Claim Aid Bombing Wasn't Illegal
"The IDF has an affirmative responsibility to know what it is dropping bombs on," said former Biden official Jeremy Konyndyk. "Kirby confirms they ignored that."
Apr 03, 2024
A former official of the Biden and Obama administrations was among those expressing shock late Tuesday at the Biden administration's comments on Israel's conduct in its continued bombardment of Gaza, in which a U.S.-Canadian citizen is now among the tens of thousands of victims.
John Kirby, the White House national security communications adviser, spoke to reporters at a press conference less than 24 hours after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed seven workers with World Central Kitchen (WCK), and made clear that the bombing of the U.S. nonprofit's convoy in Gaza was not an event that would push the administration to halt the delivery of military aid to Israel.
Kirby appeared exasperated as Selina Wang of ABC News asked how the U.S. "can continue to send military aid into Israel without any conditions."
"Is there no red line that can be crossed here?" Wang asked.
Kirby repeated the administration's frequent remark that it is pushing Israel to make sure the IDF is "precise" and ensuring that humanitarian aid can reach Gaza, where parts of the population are now living in famine, according to a United Nations-backed analysis.
But the spokesperson said the U.S. will not "hang some sort of condition over [Israel's] neck" to ensure the nation abides by international law and refrains from violating human rights—suggesting Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which bars the U.S. from providing military aid to countries that impede humanitarian aid, does not apply to Israel.
U.S. law "is in fact a condition hanging over your neck, John Kirby," said journalist Krystal Ball.
Kirby also chastised a reporter for asking whether "firing a missile at people delivering food and killing them" is "a violation of international humanitarian law."
"There is no evidence" that the IDF deliberately targeted the WCK convoy, which Israel claimed it struck unintentionally, Kirby said, adding that the State Department has not observed any violations of international law by Israeli since it began attacking Gaza in October.
Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International who previously served in the Biden and administrations at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), called Kirby's remarks "absurd and risible" and called for him to be taken "off the podium."
"Apart from the clearly marked aid convoy that had been cleared with the IDF in advance?" asked Konyndyk regarding Kirby's claim that there was no evidence of a deliberate bombing.
Al Jazeera's Sanad Verification Agency on Tuesday found that, based on images taken from the bombing sites in the central Gaza Strip, the WCK vehicles' roofs and windshields were clearly marked as belonging to the nonprofit group.
According to WCK, the group had coordinated its movements with the Israeli military before the aid workers left a warehouse in Deir el-Balah, where it has unloaded 100 tons of aid, and headed toward Rashid Street in the city.
Jose Andres, chef and founder of the group, told Reuters the IDF targeted the convoy "systematically, car by car."
The attack was not a "bad luck situation where, 'oops, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,'" Andres told the outlet. "Even if we were not in coordination with the [Israeli army], no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians."
Konyndyk added that Kirby's defense of Israel, which the spokesman said did not know it was aiming at aid workers, serves as an admission that Israel violated the internationally recognized laws of war, which requires that parties make a distinction between combatants and civilians.
"The IDF has an affirmative responsibility to know what it is dropping bombs on," said Konyndyk. "Kirby confirms they ignored that."
Zachary Carter, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, added that Kirby's defense of the WCK attack was "embarrassing" considering the readily available evidence of deliberate targeting, and his continued claim that Israel is attempting to avoid civilian casualties.
"Israel has killed more than 200 aid workers in Gaza, at least 95 journalists, and more than 33,000 Palestinians," said Carter. "Israel is in violation of a U.N. cease-fire resolution and Gaza is starving. It is not credible to declare each act of violence an unusual aberration from humane conduct."
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'Beyond Parody': Biden Pushing for $18 Billion Warplane Sale to Israel
"Does anyone wonder why Netanyahu ignores Biden's pleas for restraint in Gaza?" asked one critic.
Apr 03, 2024
Palestine advocates on Wednesday slammed the Biden administration as it pushes Congress to approve the sale of $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Israel, despite public pronouncements of anger over ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza and a federal ban on the U.S. arms transfers to human rights violators.
The New York Times reported that the U.S. State Department has informally asked two congressional committees to begin the legislative review process for the deal, which involves the sale of as many as 50 McDonnell Douglas F-15 fighters to Israel, as well as munitions, training, and other support.
"As Israel is bombing and starving Palestinian civilians, Biden still wants to sell it $18 billion of F-15 fighter jets."
The proposed deal—which would be one of the largest and most lucrative arms sales to Israel in years—comes amid Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, during which more than 115,000 Palestinians have been killed, maimed, or are missing and presumed dead.
The planned sale also comes amid growing frustration among Biden administration officials over what President Joe Bidencalled Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza. On Tuesday, Biden said he was "outraged" and "heartbroken" by Israel's airstrike targeting a World Central Kitchen convoy that killed seven humanitarian aid workers, including one U.S. citizen. Biden acknowledged that the attack was "not a stand-alone incident" while asserting that Israel has "not done enough" to protect Palestinian civilians.
"Does anyone wonder why Netanyahu ignores Biden's pleas for restraint in Gaza? Netanyahu sees them as empty words because, as Israel is bombing and starving Palestinian civilians, Biden still wants to sell it $18 billion of F-15 fighter jets," former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth
said Wednesday, referring to right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Some congressional progressives have also come out against the proposed sale. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asked: "The United States wants Israel to let in more humanitarian aid, stop bombing civilians, and not invade Rafah. Netanyahu has ignored all of it. Why are we still sending him taxpayer dollars and weapons and expecting a different outcome?"
William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, noted that the "signs of hope in the Biden administration's recent shift in rhetoric" and the U.S. abstention from the most recent United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolution have "been destroyed by the administration's recent actions," including the proposed F-15 sale.
"Although the planes might not be delivered for years, agreeing to provide them in the midst of Israel's war on Gaza sends a signal of support that runs contrary to the administration's claims to be pressing the Netanyahu government to avoid civilian casualties and clear the way for humanitarian aid shipments," he wrote.
Hartung continued:
The sad truth is that there have been zero consequences from Washington for Israel's crimes in Gaza. Regardless of the rhetoric, the weapons keep flowing and the killing continues. The Biden administration's argument that it is simply giving Israel the means to defend itself willfully ignores the fact that killing over 32,000 people and attempting to deny them food and other essential goods goes far beyond defense, to the point that the International Court of Justice has suggested that Israel's actions could "plausibly" be considered a campaign of genocide.
"Even worse," Hartung added, "the tragedy in Gaza has been compounded by Israel's attack on Iran's consulate in Syria, which has increased the chances of a wider Middle East war which could easily draw in U.S. personnel."
Hartung and others have also voiced alarm over the Biden administration's approval of the transfer of munitions including 2,000-pound bombs, which Israel has used extensively in Gaza with devastating results. In one of the deadliest bombings of the war, Israel dropped multiple 2,000-pound bombs on the Jabalia refugee camp on October 31, killing at least 126 civilians including 69 children.
Some of the worst Israeli atrocities perpetrated during the 180-day war have involved aerial attacks by missiles, drones, and warplanes. Robert Pape, a U.S. military historian and University of Chicago professor, said in December that Israel's bombardment of Gaza "sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever," and that by some measures, surpasses the Allied "terror bombing" of German cities during World War II.
An analysis published Tuesday by the World Bank and United Nations found that the Israeli onslaught on Gaza has caused approximately $18.5 billion in damage to essential infrastructure in the embattled strip, equivalent to nearly the entire gross domestic product of both Gaza and the occupied West Bank in 2022.
Human rights and Palestine advocates have called for an arms embargo on Israel. However, the Biden administration is seeking an emergency military aid package for Israel worth more than $14 billion and has repeatedly bypassed Congress to fast-track armed assistance to Israel—which already receives nearly $4 billion in U.S. military aid annually. Israel imports nearly 70% of its arms from the United States.
Since the passage of the Foreign Assitance Act of 1961, and later the Leahy Laws, the U.S. government has been statutorily prohibited from providing assistance to foreign security forces who commit gross human rights violations. However, this has not stopped Washington from supporting rights violators—including dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Egypt and the perpetrators of genocides in Paraguay, Guatemala, Bangladesh, East Timor, Kurdistan, and Gaza—since these laws were enacted.
The Biden administration—which earlier this year reaffirmed the ban on arms transfers to human rights violators—says Israel is not violating international law in Gaza. During a contentious Tuesday press conference, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was asked by Niall Stanage, the associate editor of The Hill, if "firing a missile at people delivering food and killing them" is "a violation of international humanitarian law."
Kirby replied: "The State Department has a process in place. And to date, as you and I are speaking, they have not found any incidents where the Israelis have violated international humanitarian law."
Last month, 25 humanitarian groups urged the Biden administration to comply with U.S. law by suspending arms sales to Israel.
"U.S. weapons, security assistance, and blanket political support have contributed to an unparalleled humanitarian crisis and possible war crimes in Gaza," the groups wrote in a letter to the president. "We demand that you urgently comply with U.S. law, end U.S. support for catastrophic human suffering in Gaza, and use your leverage to protect civilians and ensure the impartial provision of humanitarian assistance."
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The Grotesque PR That Justifies Israeli Slaughter of Palestinian Children
How do the people claiming this is what "self-defense" looks like sleep at night?
Feb 16, 2024
For its victims, war is . . . yes, hell. For the rest of us—the onlooking and supportive patriots—war is an abstraction embedded in ignorance, a.k.a., public relations, served up for public consumption.
At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The reality of war should never directly confront the official PR of those waging it. If it does, God help the war industry!
But that’s what’s happening now, as public support for U.S. complicity in Israel’s devastation of Gaza diminishes, indeed, starts turning to outrage. Official spokesmen for the Biden administration, such as John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, are forced to start mixing apologetic language in with their unwavering support for the bombing and murder of civilians . . . excuse me, Israel’s right to defend itself.
“Civilian deaths are happening, and happening at a rate that obviously we’re not comfortable with,” Kirby said in a New Yorker interview. “But,” he quickly added, “it doesn’t mean that they are intentionally trying to wipe the people of Gaza off the map the same way that Hamas wants to wipe the Israeli people off the map.”
Wow, Israel’s actions and official declarations of intent to obliterate Palestine are making the U.S. government uncomfortable. (But Hamas is still the bad guy.) Oh, if only fragments of actual truth about the war could penetrate such an interview. For instance:
“And it was mostly — I mean, the majority of the patients that I treated were children, anywhere from the age of 2 to 17. I mean, I saw horrific eye and facial injuries that I’ve never seen before, eyes shattered in two 6-year-old children with shrapnel that I had to take out, eyes with shrapnel stuck inside, facial injuries. I saw orthopedic injuries where — you know, limbs just cut off and dangling. I saw abdominal injuries that were just horrific. And it was just mass chaos. There were children on the floor, unattended to, with head trauma, people suturing patients without anesthesia on the ground. It was just mass chaos and really horrific, horrific scenes.”
The speaker is Dr. Yasser Khan, a Canadian ophthalmologist recently back from a humanitarian mission at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, near Rafah. He was interviewed by Democracy Now! I wish John Kirby could have been there.
The hospital, he said, was “about 300, 400 percent over capacity. There was patients and bodies lying all over the hospital floor, inside and outside. They had orthopedic devices coming from their legs or their arms. They were getting infected, they were in pain, because they were on the floor, so the conditions weren’t very sterile. And if they survived amputation the first time, the infection would get them . . .”
His words go on and on. OK, you (I mean Kirby) might say, this is war. People get hurt. But Israel has to “defend itself.”
This is self-defense?
“They have killed over 300 or 400 healthcare workers, doctors, nurses, paramedics. Ambulances have been bombed. This has all been a systematic sort of — you know, by destroying the healthcare system, you’re contributing to the genocide.”
Khan also notes: “They’ve attacked the sewage system, the water system, so the sewage mixes with the drinking water. And you get diarrheal diseases, bacterial diseases. You know, cholera, typhoid is not far away. Hepatitis A is epidemic there now. They’re living in cramped spaces.”
And it gets even more insane: “What’s going on is now there’s 10,000 to 15,000 bodies that are decomposing. So, it’s raining season right now in Gaza. So all the rainwater mixes with the decomposing bodies, and that bacteria mixes with the drinking water supply, and you get further disease.”
Israel has the right to defend itself. But come on, guys, be a little bit more careful. Kill fewer children. Try not to poison the water. You might say this is public relations with a limp. Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to “refrain” from taking action that could be considered genocidal and, good God, “take measures to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinian civilians in the enclave,” as Reuters reports.
But it’s war itself — regardless of “intent” — that is causing this hell. The act of war, the weapons of war, the political-economic structure of the globe that is based on endless war and domination, seems never to face serious condemnation, at least not in any official sense. But if we feed war, we feed hell.
Perhaps there’s one bit of recent news about a challenge to the global war industry, and its public relations perpetrators, that isn’t simply a scream from the political margins or cries from the victims. It’s the Transatlantic Civil Servants’ Statement on Gaza, a statement, released on Feb. 2, signed by more than 800 civil servants from the United States, the European Union, and about a dozen European countries, declaring: “It Is Our Duty To Speak Out When Our Governments’ Policies Are Wrong.”
The statement declares the Gaza pummeling “one of the worst human catastrophes of this century.” And it calls on its countries to halt all military support to Israel and use their leverage “to secure a lasting ceasefire and full humanitarian access in Gaza and a safe release of all hostages” and “develop a strategy for lasting peace.”
A strategy for lasting peace? That’s another way of calling for an end to war. It’s about time.
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Biden Has No Plan to Punish Israel for Rafah Invasion as UN Warns of 'Slaughter'
"More than half of Gaza’s population—well over 1 million people—are crammed in Rafah, staring death in the face," said the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator.
Feb 14, 2024
President Joe Biden and other leading American officials have publicly urged Israel not to invade the overcrowded Gaza city of Rafah without ensuring the protection of civilians, but the administration reportedly has no plan to impose consequences if the Netanyahu government launches the ground assault without heeding U.S. warnings.
Three unnamed U.S. officials told Politico's "National Security Daily" newsletter on Tuesday that "no reprimand plans are in the works, meaning Israeli forces could enter the city and harm civilians without facing American consequences."
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in response to Politico's reporting that "Biden can stop this but chooses not to."
"Instead, he only resorts to calling Netanyahu an 'asshole' behind his back," Parsi added. "This is leadership?"
Around 1.4 million people, most of them displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip, are currently in Rafah, which is roughly a quarter the size of the U.S. city of Baltimore.
Some are
desperately trying to flee ahead of an Israeli invasion, gathering their few remaining belongings and leaving the city without any clear direction or assurance of safe passage.
"They need to be protected," Biden said of Rafah's civilians following a White House meeting with the king of Jordan on Monday.
But that same day, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a press briefing that "we are going to continue to support Israel" after a reporter asked whether Biden has "ever threatened to strip military assistance from Israel if they move ahead with a Rafah operation" that doesn't protect civilians.
"They have a right to defend themselves against Hamas. And we're going to continue to make sure they have the tools and the capabilities to do that," Kirby said, sidestepping growing evidence that U.S. weapons are fueling the Israeli military's war crimes in Gaza.
REPORTER: "Has the President ever threatened to strip military assistance from Israel if they move ahead with a Rafah operation that does not take into consequence what happens with civilians?"
WHITE HOUSE: "We’re going to continue to support Israel."
"They have a right to… pic.twitter.com/tMCVUQ2IZc
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) February 13, 2024
Israel's military has ramped up attacks on Rafah in recent days, killing dozens of Palestinians—including an entire family—in a wave of airstrikes on the besieged city earlier this week. The strikes leveled buildings, wiped out makeshift tents that displaced people have been using for shelter, and killed at least 27 children.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that a ground invasion of Rafah will go ahead despite the Biden administration's pleading and growing protests from the international community. On Tuesday, the South African government implored the International Court of Justice to intervene to prevent an invasion of Rafah, arguing such an assault would violate the legally binding orders the court issued in its interim decision last month.
"We're going to do it," Netanyahu said in an interview that aired over the weekend. "We're going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion."
Meanwhile, the White House is actively pressuring the U.S. House of Representatives to approve a $95 billion aid package that includes more than $10 billion in offensive military assistance for Israel. The bill passed the Senate Tuesday morning with just three no votes from members of the Democratic caucus, but progressive opposition is likely to be stronger in the House.
"This is not the time for vague generalities about doing more to protect civilian life. We must demand of Netanyahu—STOP," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote on social media Tuesday, noting that a majority of House Democrats voted against a standalone $17.6 billion aid package for Israel last week.
"The bombing in Rafah that is killing children refugees must end today," Khanna added.
Martin Griffiths, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, echoed that message in a statement on Tuesday, warning that "the scenario we have long dreaded is unraveling at alarming speed."
"More than half of Gaza’s population—well over 1 million people—are crammed in Rafah, staring death in the face: They have little to eat, hardly any access to medical care, nowhere to sleep, nowhere safe to go," said Griffiths. "Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza. They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death's door."
"We lack the safety guarantees, the aid supplies, and the staff capacity to keep this operation afloat," he continued. "The international community has been warning against the dangerous consequences of any ground invasion in Rafah. The government of Israel cannot continue to ignore these calls. History will not be kind. This war must end."
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Biden Calls Israel's War on Gaza 'Over the Top'—But Keeps Sending Arms
"Throughout it all, he arms them, funds them, defends them, enables them, and refuses to call for a cease-fire," wrote one journalist.
Feb 09, 2024
President Joe Biden said Thursday that he believes Israel's assault on Gaza has been "over the top" but did not indicate any substantive changes to U.S. policy, which has been to support the war militarily and diplomatically while pushing for humanitarian aid and pauses.
"A lot of innocent people starving, in trouble, dying," Biden said during a press conference at the White House. "It's got to stop."
The president's remarks were characterized as perhaps his most direct criticism of the Israeli military's conduct since it began its large-scale war on the Gaza Strip just over four months ago, following a deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
But critics argued that Biden's words will ring hollow as long as his administration continues to arm Israel's military unconditionally, oppose global efforts to enact a lasting cease-fire, and reject evidence that Israel is committing genocide. Since October 7, the U.S. State Department has twice bypassed Congress to send lethal weaponry to Israel and is working to gut lawmakers' oversight of foreign military financing for the country.
"It's maddening to hear him say stuff like this," wrote journalist Mehdi Hasan. "Now he says Israel is going 'over the top.' Before he said they were doing 'indiscriminate' bombing. But throughout it all, he arms them, funds them, defends them, enables them, and refuses to call for a cease-fire."
President Biden calls Israel's conduct in Gaza "over the top," and says he is "pushing very hard" for a sustained pause to the fighting. pic.twitter.com/59En2DfFVB
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 9, 2024
Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy, said that if Biden truly feels Israel has gone too far in its assault on the Gaza Strip, he should "do something about it."
"'Over the top' is how you might describe an action movie that was more violent than you were expecting, not an atrocity you've been backing to the hilt," Duss added.
Biden's press conference came as the Israel Defense Forces ramped up its bombardment of Rafah—where more than half of Gaza's population is currently living in overcrowded and increasingly horrific conditions—ahead of an expected ground invasion. Israeli airstrikes on the city, located near Gaza's border with Egypt, hit two houses on Thursday, killing and wounding multiple people.
John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, told reporters Thursday that the Biden administration would not support an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah, which was previously deemed a "safe zone" for displaced Gazans.
"I think you all know more than a million Palestinians are sheltering in and around Rafah," Kirby said. "That's where they were told to go. There's a lot of displaced people there. And the Israeli military has a special obligation as they conduct operations there or anywhere else to make sure that they're factoring in protection for innocent civilian life."
"I could tell you that—absent any full consideration of protecting civilians at that scale in Gaza—military operations right now would be a disaster for those people, and it's not something that we would support," Kirby added.
But the White House has not publicly said there would be any consequences if Israel decides once again to ignore the administration's stated concerns and go ahead with the Rafah assault.
In late October, Biden administration officials privately urged Israeli leaders to rethink its plans for a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip, but Israel launched the deadly invasion anyway—and U.S. support for the country's military did not waver.
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted to begin debate on White House-backed legislation that would provide Israel with more than $10 billion in additional military aid as famine and disease spread across the Gaza Strip and the death toll grows.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) opposed advancing the legislation, warning in a statement Thursday evening that "so long as this bill contains $10 billion to enable [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's right-wing government to continue its horrific war against the Palestinian people, I will keep voting no."
"The taxpayers of the United States cannot continue to be complicit in this humanitarian disaster," said Sanders. "We should not provide another penny to allow Netanyahu to continue this incredibly destructive war."
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Biden White House Says 'We Don't Want a Wider War.' Analysts Say 'Too Late'
"But the U.S. can snap to its senses, end the Gaza war, and climb down from pointless escalations across the Middle East," said one observer.
Jan 29, 2024
Since October, the United States has bombed Iraq and Syria dozens of times, launched five rounds of airstrikes in Yemen, supplied the Israeli government with more than 10,000 tons of military equipment for its devastating assault on the Gaza Strip, and opposed international efforts to secure a cease-fire in the Palestinian enclave.
Yet Biden administration officials continue to insist that the U.S. is not at war in the Middle East, and is not seeking a broader military conflict in the region.
On Monday, amid reports that the U.S. is weighing how to respond to a deadly drone attack on American servicemembers just inside Jordan's border with Syria—an attack the White House blamed on Iran-backed militia groups—National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an appearance on NBC's "Today Show" that "we don't want a wider war with Iran."
"We don't want a wider war in the region," said Kirby, "but we gotta do what we have to do."
The disconnect between the White House's stated intention to avoid a broader conflagration in the Middle East and its escalatory actions has become increasingly stark in recent weeks, with potentially dire consequences for the region.
Phyllis Bennis, director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, told Common Dreams that—contrary to Kirby's suggestion—the U.S. is not obligated to continue the tit-for-tat strikes that are fueling the intensifying cycle of violence and risking an all-out war.
"They don't 'gotta do' what they're doing," Bennis wrote in an email. "What they've 'gotta do'—if there's any reality to the claim that they don't want to expand the war in the region or risk war with Iran—is exactly the opposite of what they're now doing."
"That means stop the military provocations," she added. "Withdraw the aircraft carrier groups and destroyers from the area. Stop bombing Iraq and Syria, and withdraw the 2,500 U.S. troops from Iraq (isn't that war officially over?) and the 900 or so U.S. troops from Syria (who are we fighting there, anyway?). Stop bombing Yemen, killing civilians as well as Houthi fighters. And first things first—call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza."
"The only genuine path to significantly reducing the current spasm of violence in the Middle East is securing an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, pouring cold water on the fire at the heart of this regional inferno."
The attack on American troops in Jordan—reportedly carried out by a drone that was initially mistaken for a U.S. aircraft—immediately set off the drumbeats of war, with Democratic and Republican members of Congress demanding that the Biden administration respond forcefully with strikes inside Iran.
Biden signaled in a statement Sunday that the U.S. will retaliate "at a time and in a manner of our choosing." Kirby declined to say Monday whether the president is weighing strikes within Iran—which has denied involvement in the Jordan attack—but vowed that the U.S. "absolutely will" retaliate.
Analysts and anti-war campaigners warned that a military response would be a potentially catastrophic mistake, further inflaming a conflict that already involves at least 10 countries.
Thanassis Cambanis, director of The Century Foundation's Center for International Research and Policy, argued late Sunday that with the U.S. already "fighting on multiple fronts," it is "too late to avoid regional war."
Unless the U.S. "deescalates immediately" across the region and pressures Israel to stop its war on the Gaza Strip, President Joe Biden "will have ended one war in Afghanistan only to start a bigger one that stretches from Iran to the Suez Canal," Cambanis wrote.
"It's too late for 26,000 dead Gazans," he added. "It's too late to avoid colossal self-harm to America's reputation. But the U.S. can snap to its senses, end the Gaza war, and climb down from pointless escalations across the Middle East."
Stephen Miles, president of Win Without War, also made the case for urgent deescalation efforts, saying in a statement that the attack on U.S. servicemembers in Jordan was "a painful reminder that President Biden's current policy in the Middle East is simply not working."
"The same voices who advocated for never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, arguing victory was forever just around the corner, now want the American public to believe that the path to peace lies with yet another war in the Middle East—this time with Iran. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now," said Miles. "The only genuine path to significantly reducing the current spasm of violence in the Middle East is securing an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, pouring cold water on the fire at the heart of this regional inferno."
This story has been updated to include additional comment from Phyllis Bennis.
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While Dismissing ICJ Genocide Finding, US Cuts UNRWA Funds Over Israeli Allegations
"How has the U.S. reacted to these allegations against UNRWA? It suspended funding," said one British expert. "How has the U.S. reacted to the International Court of Justice ruling that there are plausible grounds that Israel is committing genocide? Nothing."
Jan 27, 2024
Note: This article has been updated to include comments from UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
The Israeli government's allegations that 12 employees of the United Nations Palestinian refugees agency were involved in Hamas' October 7 attack pushed the United States to promptly halt funding for the organization on Friday—leading journalists and advocates to note that a top international court's finding that Israel is "plausibly" committing a genocide in Gaza has not convinced the U.S. to stop arming the Israeli military.
Hours after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced its preliminary ruling in a case brought by South Africa, ordering Israel to stop acts of genocide in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Public Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced it had fired 12 of its 30,000 workers after the Israeli Foreign Ministry called for "an urgent investigation by UNRWA regarding the involvement of its employees in the terrorist events of 10/7."
"The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on October 7," Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the agency, said in a statement.
Lazzarini said the agency was opening a thorough investigation into the allegations, while the U.S. State Department quickly released a statement saying it had "temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA" while the investigation takes place.
As The New York Times reported Saturday, "it's not entirely clear" what Israel's precise allegations are, how the employees were allegedly involved in the attack on southern Israel, or "what kind of work they did or how senior they were" at UNRWA.
The agency is almost wholly funded by donations from U.N. member states. After the State Department announced its suspension of some of its funding,
countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland, Australia, and Italy said they were following suit.
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, told Sky News that the decision by several countries to slash funding for the UNRWA "on the basis of allegations, not proven claims," was "a disgrace."
"The rest of the world is looking at this—they are aghast quite frankly," said Doyle. "How has the U.S. reacted to these allegations against UNRWA? It suspended funding. How has the U.S. reacted to the International Court of Justice ruling that there are plausible grounds that Israel is committing genocide? Nothing. Did the U.S. say it would be suspending the sale of arms, the massive bombs that have been used in the Gaza Strip to destroy civilian infrastructure, as part of [what] might constitute genocide? Not a bit. Is it continuing? Yes."
UNRWA is one of the largest employers of Palestinians in Gaza—where nearly half of adults are unemployed—and operates schools, medical clinics, and shelters while administering housing assistance, emergency loans, and overseeing other operations.
Lazzarini said Saturday that the suspension of funding would "threaten our ongoing humanitarian work across the region including and especially in the Gaza Strip" and said it was "shocking" that countries would halt funding even as the workers in question were fired—particularly since Israel and other countries were long aware of all the employees working for UNRWA:
UNRWA shares the list of all its staff with host countries every year, including Israel. The Agency never received any concerns on specific staff members.
Meanwhile, an investigation by OIOS into the heinous allegations will establish the facts. Moreover, as I announced on 17 January, an independent review by external experts will help UNRWA strengthen its framework for the strict adherence of all staff to the humanitarian principles.
I urge countries who have suspended their funding to re-consider their decisions before UNRWA is forced to suspend its humanitarian response. The lives of people in Gaza depend on this support and so does regional stability."
Cutting funding to the agency is akin to accelerating "genocide by collective punishment, cutting desperately needed relief aid," said historian and former British ambassador Craig Murray.
Doyle wasn't alone in noticing the contrast between the U.S. responses to the ICJ and to Israel's allegations.
"It took [U.S. Secretary of State] Antony Blinken about three seconds to suspend UNRWA aid based on mere allegations that 12 employees [were] linked to Hamas' attack, but despite concrete evidence that the Israel Defense Forces has indiscriminately and deliberately massacred tens of thousands of Palestinians—plausibly a genocide, ICJ said—ZERO suspension of Israel military aid,"
said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now.
Following the ICJ ruling, U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.), who have led lawmakers in a call for the U.S. to demand a cease-fire since October, released a statement arguing the court's findings put "the U.S. government on notice for enabling violations of the Genocide Convention."
"The Biden administration must not only affirm the legitimacy of this ruling and facilitate an immediate cease-fire—it must comply with federal and international law by suspending military assistance to the Israeli government," said Tlaib and Bush.
Like Israeli officials, the Biden administration has dismissed the findings of the ICJ, with National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby saying Friday that the court did not find Israel "guilty" of genocide.
Journalist and rights advocate Daniel Denvir pointed out that hours after the ICJ said South Africa's claim that Israel is committing genocidal acts in Gaza is "plausible," the news was dwarfed at the
Times by its coverage of the UNRWA allegations.
"Israel has killed 101 UNRWA workers in Gaza and has bombed its schools and camps. Guess what you get when you google UNRWA & Israel now?"
said Al Jazeera's Sana Saeed.
Historian Remi Brulin noted that Israel has previously designated Palestinian civil rights organizations as terrorist groups "on wholly spurious grounds."
"None of this necessarily means that the specific allegations about these 12 UNRWA members are untrue," said Brulin. "But evidence needs to be provided. And it is quite remarkable that the U.S. could decide so quickly that cutting all funds to UNRWA was the correct, necessary measure here."
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