Public Comment

After four failures to cobble together a coalition government and facing serious charges of corruption, Prime Minister Netanyahu orchestrated a crisis to stay in power. He ordered police to attack Palestinian worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque ((one of the holiest sites in Islam) during Ramadan. He then gave a green light to Israeli settler terrorists to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, a heavily Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. 

The evictions are a stark reminder of the Nakba, or the 1948 ethnic cleansing of 700,000 Palestinians, who were forcibly removed from their homeland, which the U.N. described as “a clear violation Israel’s obligations under international law.” This would not have been possible without active US military support which makes America complicit in war crimes. In response to the attack on Palestinian worshippers and rebalance the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jewish favor, Hamas launched rockets the vast majority being deflected by the US dome. Like all prior wars, the main victims were Palestinian civilians blown to pieces by US-Israeli bombs. Massive damage has occurred to Gaza’s infrastructure and water supply.  

“One side has suffered over 10 times the casualties”, commented award winning John Oliver who was highly critical of Israel’s bombing campaign.  

Israeli strikes included a house in a refugee camp, a building housing the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, and a 13-story office and apartment building, clear war crimes. The Biden administration response has been pathetic, echoing the timidity of prior administrations ignoring the fundamental issues. The suffocating apartheid occupation, the siege of Gaza and the systematic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, receiving some $3.8 billion a year.  

In recent weeks, the Biden administration approved the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons which have been used to obliterate buildings housing civilians. For decades we have mourned the crimes of Nazi Germany against the Jews. We re now fast approaching the genocide of Palestinians. Israel and America have completely lost their humanity. 

As Senator Sanders stated, “Palestinian lives matter”. They have every right to resist apartheid persecution. In the meantime, we must demand an immediate halt to all military and economic aid to Israel.