Israeli Genocidal Actions, Bombing Multiple Nations Regularly, Invading Lebanon . . . Kamala Blames Iran
October 7, 2001 The U.S. invades Afghanistan.
October 7, 2023 The Israeli-US alliance begins its latest genocide against the Palestinian people.
October 7, 2024 It is now one year since the Israeli-US alliance began its latest phase of genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and the world is teetering on the edge of World War III, while the U.S.-supported Israelis claim that they are “defending themselves on 7 fronts”. Netanyahu states this instead of owning up to the illegal nature of the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank; the bombings in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, the bombings of Yemen, Iraq and Syria, and the eyeing of Iran as their next victim. And as of the moment of this writing, while some countries continue to condemn the U.S.-Israeli genocide of Palestinians and Netanyahu’s actions expanding his war, the Biden-Harris administration continues to back Israel, decrying Iran as the “destabilizing force” in the region.
Yes, you heard right. In a video recording of October 6th, in English, Netanyahu called the actions of all the countries listed above directed toward Israel as “barbarism” and “terrorism” — a true case of projection and theater of the absurd. Yemen’s actions are in line with international law and international court rulings, calling on all nations to do what they can to stop what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled a “plausible genocide.” Hezbollah in Lebanon exercised tremendous restraint, especially in light of the “terrorist” actions of Israel to program pagers, walkie-talkies and solar generators to explode simultaneously. Even former CIA director Leon Panetta called those events acts of terrorism, but current U.S. political leadership did not. Israel was very much a part of encouraging the U.S. to invade Iraq in 2003, eager to bomb Syria in order to protect the Golan Heights, Syrian land now owned by Israel, and, of course, Israel and the U.S. have been trying to go after Iran since the Iraq/Iran war from 1980 – 1988. And yet, U.S.-backed Israel hasn’t stopped its wars throughout the region, in violation of the U.N. Charter and international humanitarian law.
There was a time when every year, as October 7th approached, I took it upon myself to assess whether the world was closer to or further from peace in the years following 9/11/01. I would reflect on world events and offer my analysis of what lessons the U.S., Israel and its few remaining allies had learned after 9/11. Unfortunately, I must say today that the U.S., Israel and a few allies, seem to have learned nothing. And if I contemplate what happened from September 1, 1939 through September 6, 1945, I would have to say that some have learned nothing even after the atomic bombings of Japan on August 6 and August 9, 1945 or the holocaust and mass killings of Jews, gypsies, disabled and more.
U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan began in August 2021, almost 20 years after that action began. I went on a Women’s Delegation with Global Exchange in June of 2005, at a time when the conditions in Afghanistan were spiralling downward. I’m still not sure what the “Coalition of the Willing” accomplished after continuing an illegal and unjustified war for two decades, the longest in U.S. history.
And now, here we are, on October 7, 2024 with the whole world staring at the possibility of WWIII. With each new day and each new arms shipment to Israel, more and more countries are being drawn into the line of fire. And, as in WWII, once again, there’s the possibility that nuclear weapons will be used. Surely, the U.S. learned from Hiroshima and Nagasaki that using nuclear weapons would be a mistake. Right? Not so fast.
Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of 8 countries, including Iran, over 7 years, to negotiate the Iran Nuclear Deal, that deal was ended by the U.S. in 2015 and no efforts made to put a new deal in place. Israel never liked that deal, even though Iran kept up its end of it — so once again, diplomacy was scrapped and military aggression put back on the table.
What’s truly absurd is that Israel continues to pretend that it doesn’t have nukes. In a recent interview with an Australian reporter, an Israeli spokesperson bristled when asked if it’s fair that Israel is the only country in the region to possess nuclear weapons. The spokesperson replied, “We’ve never admitted to having nukes” and abruptly ended the interview because he thought the questions were unnecessarily antagonistic.
Ironically, much of the world knows that Israel has between 200 – 400 nuclear weapons. The U.S. and Israel scuttled a planned U.N. Conference in 2012 on the creation of a nuclear weapons free Middle East because “there was too much tension in the region”. Certainly, that would have been the perfect time to negotiate for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East, but that opportunity was squandered. Instead, some of the world’s activists, connected with the U.S. Peace Council, organized its own such conference in Haifa in 2013. Many countries knew then and then again in 2017 with the signing of the International Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons, that the world and nuclear weapons are on a collision course.
This is a very dangerous moment. I imagine it is chillingly reminiscent of the advance of Nazi Germany during WWII. But as we see what is unfolding in front of our eyes, one would think that the terrible consequences of WWII would push the international community into action before it’s too late. Words like “accommodation” and “never again for anyone” ring loudly in my ears. The world can see what’s happening now in graphic detail, each and every day, with photos of buildings destroyed by U.S. supplied bombs and residential areas flattened by carpet bombing and photo after photo of families, all killed by these bombings. These were families who were just trying to live their lives and found themselves at the bottom of a pile of rubble.
How in the world can this be normal? How in the world can this be tolerated and accepted? Genocide is never justified. Blatant attempts to annex more land to the borders of one country in an imperialist manner is in violation of international law. It must be stopped now, and not allowed to continue to satisfy the greed and so-called exceptionalism of any nation.
And with the presidential election in the U.S. coming up on November 5th, one would hope that the U.S. electorate would understand that the threat of WWIII and nuclear war and these continued crimes against humanity committed by the U.S.-supported Israeli regime and deter voters from rewarding EITHER Kamala Harris or Donald Trump with a victory.
