Aside from Israel, the United States is the nation most responsible for the pain and suffering people in Gaza are experiencing due to Israel’s devastating military action of the last two months. This is because the US is now and long has been the number one provider of weapons to Israel, as well as the source of much intelligence employed to direct the use of those weapons.
The Israel government bears responsibility for its ongoing devastating attack on Gaza. But, the destruction, with truth in labeling, should also be declared “Made in America.”
Thus, it is astounding that US National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby made the following assertion in a White House press conference on Thursday:
Tell me — name me one more nation, any other nation, that’s doing as much as the United Sates to alleviate the pain and suffering of the people of Gaza. You can’t. You just can’t.
Continuing, Kirby talked about the US bringing aid items including food and fuel to people in Gaza, working to bring hostages and foreigners out of Gaza, and urging “our Israeli counterparts to be as cautious and deliberate as they can be in the prosecution of their military operations.”
Say what? This is like a ruffian on trial for holding a victim from behind while an accomplice pummeled the victim in the stomach telling the judge he was the victim’s biggest advocate. “If it weren’t for me, judge, the poor fellow may have fallen down and hurt himself.”
Kirby’s comment is absurd. It also is indicative of a promising development. The reason he resorts to such absurdity in his effort to “catapult the propaganda” is that Americans are increasingly recognizing the reprehensibility of the military action to which the people in Gaza are being subjected. Kirby, therefore, is trying to do a dance that admits that dire situation while promoting maintaining the flow of weapons and intelligence from the US to Israel.
People will increasingly see through Kirby’s and others’ effort to distort reality. But, it can take quite some time for public opinion to lead to the creation of sufficient power to stop the US facilitation of the Gaza devastation. In the meantime, the resulting pain and suffering will be immense and, despite Kirby’s nonsensical assertion, squarely blamable on the US government.
Indeed, the destruction already wrought in Gaza is extreme. For some perspective, consider a Tuesday Financial Times article by John Paul Rathbone that details how, in the less than seven weeks from the beginning of Israel’s attack on Gaza, the Israel military has caused a level of destruction of buildings comparable to what it took years of carpet bombing to accomplish in World War 2. That means the Gazans who survive the direct military action and resulting problems including malnutrition and disease will have little to return to, supposing they are not successfully banished.
“One reason for the scale of destruction is the munitions that Israel uses,” the Financial Times article notes. That is the primary contribution of the US in regard to pain and suffering in Gaza, not the great humanitarian effort claimed in Kirby’s public relations spouting.
