After Six Months Daily Massacres Continue in Gaza

Growing numbers of people in the United States and Internationally express outrage at the ongoing siege by Tel Aviv and Washington

By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Saturday April 6, 2024

Geostrategic Review

Since October 7, 2023, the United States foreign policy position on the Palestinian Question has come under fire by billions of people around the world.

President Joe Biden, who is seeking reelection for a second term in November, has had his approval rating drop substantially due to the White House handling of the Gaza situation among other issues. 

For months the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations has vetoed several resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. It was only in the most recent vote during late March 2024 that Washington abstained. 

Yet despite the passage of the resolution demanding a halt to the genocide perpetuated by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the carnage of the Palestinians and others attempting to assist them has persisted resulting in the deaths of over 33,000 people, the majority of whom are women, babies, young children, seniors, the disabled and seriously infirm. Even within the U.S. Congress, a growing number of politicians are in support of a ceasefire, a drive which was led by Michigan Congressional representative Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush of St. Louis, Missouri. 

Although there is a public appearance being crafted by the corporate media and the Democratic Party leadership in the White House and the Congress suggesting that there is a growing rift between the U.S. government and Israel, the reality is that weapons are still flowing into the Zionist state which are being utilized to slaughter the Palestinians. The continuing weapons supplies from the Biden administration is by no means a secret since reports have been published widely in the mainstream media. 

Public Pressure Prompts Congressional Letter

The Palestine solidarity movement in the U.S. and around the world has been demanding a halt to weapons sales to Tel Aviv. In response to these protest actions for an immediate ceasefire and the breaking of all ties with the racist regime, dozens of Democrats within the House of Representatives have signed a letter calling for an end to arms sales to the IDF.

These weapons are not only massacring Palestinians along with international aid workers in Gaza and other areas of the Occupied Territories, the IDF recently killed seven people in an airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. The U.S. has occupied areas of northeastern Syria over the last decade in an effort to weaken and overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad. 

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on the letter signed by the Democratic Congresspersons, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California, noting:

“U.S. representatives of the Democratic Party, including the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, called on U.S. President Joe Biden to stop arming the Israeli entity. Reuters quoted a letter by congressmen, addressed to Biden and his secretary of State Anthony Blinken demanding the cessation of arms transfers to Israel. They also called on the Biden administration to conduct a special investigation into the Israeli airstrike, which killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity last Monday. ‘Given the recent attack on humanitarian workers and the worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is not justified to approve arms transfers to Israel,’ they said. Last Monday (April 1), the Israeli occupation forces bombed a convoy of the World Central kitchen organization in Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip, killing 7 people of various nationalities, including British, Australian, American, Canadian and Polish.” (https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=328586)

In the New York Times on April 5, it was reported that there were 40 Congresspersons who had already signed the letter to Biden. It was the IDF bombing of the truck carrying food assistance from the World Central Kitchen which prompted the message to the White House.

Of course, this is not the first time that food and other forms of humanitarian assistance has been used by the State of Israel and the U.S. as weapons in an imperialist war. The refusal to recognize the situation in Gaza as genocide is to solidarize with the intentions to eliminate the entire Palestinian population.

The Palestinians and their organizations are viewed by Washington and its allies within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as “terrorists.” However, the genocidal measures enacted by the Zionist state for nearly 76 years are recognized by the West as “legitimate” because they serve the interests of imperialism. 

West Asian states such as the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran have never attacked the people of the U.S. Their only “crime” according to the corporate and imperialist governmental controlled media, is that they are in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine and other geo-political regions. 

The letter written by the Congressional members was attached to a New York Times article published on April 5 which reads in part:

“Given the horrifying facts on the ground, we are also greatly concerned by your recent decision to authorize an arms transfer to Israel, which reportedly includes 1,800 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 500 MK-82 500-pound bombs, and 25 F-35A fighter jets. The MK-84 2000-pound bombs have been linked to multiple mass casualty events in Gaza and are capable of killing or wounding people more than 1,000 feet away. We are also concerned by recent reports that the administration is considering authorizing another $18 billion arms transfer to include dozens of F-15 aircraft. In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers. We again strongly urge you to withhold any offensive weapons transfers until the investigation into the airstrike is concluded and, if it is found this strike violated U.S. or international law, those responsible are held accountable. And we again urge you to ensure that any future military assistance to Israel, including already authorized transfers, is subject to conditions to ensure it is used in compliance with U.S. and international law.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/05/us/politics/democrats-israel-aid.html)

Nonetheless, it is not the aid agencies which are suffering the brunt of U.S.-Israeli aggression in Palestine and throughout the region. The overwhelming burden of imperialist-militarism in the region is being borne by the Palestinians and their contiguous states.

Until the focus is placed upon the necessity of liberating Palestine and the creation of an independent sovereign state, there can be no sustainable peace. The establishment of a unitary Palestinian nation and the withdrawal of imperialist forces from neighboring areas would open the way for ending all instability throughout the West Asia region.

Humanitarian Crisis Worsens in Gaza

The focus of the struggle to end the war in Palestine must be placed upon reversing the Zionist occupation and imperialist interventions. The State of Israel is given unconditional support by the U.S. and other NATO countries for the central purpose of maintaining hegemony in West Asia and North Africa.

Palestinians and their neighbors in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran are suffering the most casualties and displacement in the region. The objective of the State of Israel and the ruling class in the U.S. is to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza and the whole of Palestine.

Al Mayadeen reported that on April 5 while a letter is circulating in the U.S. Congress talking about placing “conditions” on arms transfers, Palestinians are still being displaced, wounded and killed:

“Occupation forces also launched multiple shells toward the southwestern neighborhoods of Khan Younis, located in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, simultaneously with Israeli warplanes conducting raids on the central and western areas of the city. On the 182nd consecutive day of aggression on the Strip, the Health Ministry in Gaza reported that the Israeli occupation committed a total of 5 massacres against Palestinian families in 24 hours only, killing 54 and injuring 82. This increased the total number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since the Israeli aggression on Gaza started on October 7 to 33,091, in addition to 75,750 injuries.

Compounding the devastation, some victims are still trapped under rubble and on roads, presumed dead, with the Israeli occupation hindering the arrival of ambulance and civil defense teams.” (https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/martyrs-and-injuries-reported-in-gaza-in-beginning-of-day-18)

Consequently, while the members of the U.S. Congress and the White House are contemplating how to ensure the reelection of a Democratic administration, the major issue of ending the genocide in Palestine still remains secondary within imperialist ruling circles. Palestine solidarity activists must keep their focus on achieving a permanent ceasefire and the halting of arms shipments immediately.