Global Research

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name.

To receive Global Research’s Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here.

Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.

***

After more than one month of blanket bombings of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) and the limited incursions into the territory by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the United States government has refused to even call for a ceasefire after the death tolls exceed ten thousand people.

The majority of those killed in Gaza are women and children although the regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu frequently described all targeted Palestinians as members of the Hamas resistance movement.

Every speech, interview and press briefing from the Israeli administration and the IDF are placed as headlines in western corporate and government-controlled media. In these reports, Hamas is routinely described as a “terrorist” organization being characterized as such by the western imperialist states.

Even the daily statistics provided by the Gaza Health Ministry documenting each confirmed death, are treated with scorn by the Netanyahu government and the White House. U.S. President Joe Biden has stated that he does not believe in the veracity of the data being issued by the Gaza officials.

These utterances by the White House and its spokespersons along with most politicians within the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate are designed to justify the mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The initiation of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm by the Palestinian resistance forces on October 7 is always presented by the western-based media outlets as far worse than the atrocities committed by the IDF.

Any comparison regarding the number of interviews, quotes, headlines and references between the Israeli government and those that either speak on behalf of the Palestinians or express sympathy and solidarity with their plight clearly reveal that the proponents and apologists for genocide have far greater access to the media. The representatives of the State of Israel coupled with their financial and military backers in Washington dominate the airwaves in a manner which seeks to convince the public that Tel Aviv is the victim in the current phase of this 75-year war which began with the forced removals of 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948.

Gaza youth load victim into ambulances (Source: Abayomi Azikiwe)

Therefore, as many Palestinians have said in the disproportionate time granted to them by the western media houses, the genocidal onslaught against the oppressed people of the country did not begin on October 7. The overall conditions under which Palestinian live is never acknowledged by the U.S. administration and the corporate and western governmentally controlled television and other media sources.

Weapons Continue to Flow to the IDF Amid Calls for a “Humanitarian Pause”

Although the U.S. media and most politicians either ignore or minimize the importance of the mass demonstrations domestically and internationally calling for a ceasefire and solidarity with the cause of the Palestinians, the White House and their allies in Congress have adopted the phrase of a “humanitarian pause.” Activists have ridiculed such language as a disingenuous gesture to the millions of people who staunchly object to the war against the Palestinians.

What does this actually mean in light of the illegal nature of the bombing and ground incursions into the Gaza Strip? If there is a “pause” then this implies that the same bombing operations will continue after a brief period of time. The attempts to replace the legitimate quest for a ceasefire with the notion of a “pause” only means that the White House believes that the present course in the genocidal war is correct.

This is why the continuous supplying of so-called “precision weapons” to the IDF exposes the actual intent of the Biden administration. In addition to the weapons being flown into Israel, there is the deployment of two aircraft carriers in the Eastern Mediterranean, the presence of Pentagon advisors among the Israeli troops, the enhancement of a U.S. military base in the Negev notwithstanding the diplomatic, political and media cover granted on a daily basis to Tel Aviv.

The business magazine Forbes reported on November 6 that:

“The Biden administration will transfer $320 million of precision bombs to Israel as its war with Hamas continues in Gaza, multiple outlets reported — as Israel faces pressure to agree to a pause in fighting. The agreement said Rafael USA, a weapons manufacturer, will transfer bombs to its Israeli parent company for use by Israel, an aid package that includes support and testing, according to correspondence seen by the Wall Street Journal. The Journal reported that the Biden administration formally notified congressional leaders about the transfer on Oct. 31.

The news comes shortly after the White House said President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘discussed the possibility of tactical pauses’ to allow civilians to safely depart from fighting areas, amid increasing calls for a ceasefire. As recently as Sunday (Nov. 5), Netanyahu fiercely rejected calls for a ceasefire, saying there would not be one until all Israeli hostages are returned by Gaza-based militant group Hamas, adding ‘we will simply continue until we defeat them.’”

In another report published in the investigative online journal The Intercept written by Ken Klippenstein, it documents the secret weapons transfers from Washington to Tel Aviv:

“One month since Hamas’s surprise attack, little is known about the weapons the U.S. has provided to Israel. Whereas the Biden administration released a three-page itemized list of weapons provided to Ukraine, down to the exact number of rounds, the information released about weapons sent to Israel could fit in a single sentence. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged the secrecy in an October 23 press briefing, saying that while U.S. security assistance ‘on a near-daily basis,’ he continued, ‘We’re being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what they’re getting — for their own operational security purposes, of course.’” 

As the ground war intensifies inside Gaza, inevitably the number of casualties among IDF troops will increase. After the first few days of the announced invasion by IDF soldiers into northern Gaza, there has not been any specific figures released by Tel Aviv on the number of Israeli troops killed and wounded as well as the disabling and destruction of their tanks and other armored vehicles.

Resistance to the War Against Gaza

The war has already taken on a regional character particularly between the Hezbollah resistance movement and the IDF. Large swaths of territory inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) on the border with Lebanon have been evacuated by the settler regime.

There are daily exchanges of rocket fire between Hezbollah and the IDF where the number of casualties continue to mount. At the same time attacks on U.S. military bases and installations in Iraq and Syria are escalating. Affiliates of the regional Axis of Resistance from Yemen, Iraq and Syria have fired rockets into U.S.-occupied areas which indicate the political assessment of these forces that Washington is the main force undergirding the genocidal war against the Palestinians.

Yemen march in solidarity with Palestine (Source: Abayomi Azikiwe)

With specific reference to Lebanon, the speech delivered by Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Sayeed Hassan Nasrallah drew international attention on November 3. The resistance movement which plays a significant role in the domestic politics and security concerns of Lebanon, fought two major wars with the IDF in 2000 and 2006 repelling Tel Aviv from its deep incursions into the southern region of the country.

Al Mayadeen news website noted from the major policy address by Nasrallah that:

“’Last Friday, Hezbollah Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, declared in a speech that the Lebanese Resistance is ready for any eventuality. All possibilities on our Lebanese front are open and all options are on the table, and we could resort to them at any time,’ he said, making a direct warning to the U.S. that ‘if war breaks out in the region, neither your [U.S.] fleets nor aerial forces will be of any use.’ Reiterating this equation, Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s Deputy Chief, warned on Tuesday (Nov. 7) of ‘serious consequences’ should Israel escalate the scope of its aggressions. In an interview with NBC News, he confirmed that Hezbollah participates ‘for the sake of lowering the pressure on Gaza. And for the sake of preventing Israel from achieving its objectives. In addition, as a clear message that if you expand there will be serious consequences.’” 

As public support in the U.S. and Western Europe declines for the unconditional backing given to the Israeli regime, the White House and Congress will suffer the political consequences of their actions. Biden, who already has faced an abysmal approval rating among the U.S. electorate over the last year, has now drawn the ire of significant sections of those who traditionally vote democratic in Congressional and national elections.

However, the Republican party harbors positions on the Palestinian question which are just as dire if not worse than the Democrats. The failure of U.S. foreign policy in West Asia and Eastern Europe is a reflection of the inability of successive administrations to develop and implement a consistent approach to resolving the issues plaguing these geopolitical regions.

At the source of these contradictions is the infeasibility of imperialism in the modern era. There is the pressing need for a new political dispensation inside the U.S. and other western capitalist states. The dependency upon militarism as the cornerstone of Washington’s foreign policy cannot sustain the insatiable need for profits among the ruling class. Therefore, the workers and oppressed peoples within the imperialist states must join together in solidarity with the Global South to ensure the avoidance of another world war while creating the conditions for greater levels of cooperation and international stability among the majority within the world today.

*

Note to readers: Please click the share button above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.

Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: Khan Yunis, Gaza. Search for bodies under the rubble (Source: Abayomi Azikiwe)