Opinion by Aaron Maté
Israel aims to complete what it started in 1948 by any means necessary, and the White House is on board. From Aaron Maté at aaronmate.net:
Amid “utter carnage” in Gaza, the White House insists that the Israeli government has a “legitimate objective.”
The temporary truce between Israel and Hamas has slowed the Israeli army’s assault on Gaza and begun to free civilians held captive by both sides. The Biden administration has made clear that it will support Israel’s continued military operations when the pause officially expires – at this point, as early as Tuesday. Israel’s stated goal of “attempting to eliminate Hamas,” President Biden said on Friday, “is the legitimate objective… and I don’t know how long it will take.”
In endorsing the next phase of Israel’s military operations, the White House recognizes that the brief lull poses a new challenge. According to Politico, “there was some concern in the administration about an unintended consequence of the pause: that it would allow journalists broader access to Gaza and the opportunity to further illuminate the devastation there and turn public opinion on Israel.”
The Biden team’s concern is understandable: the devastation that they have supported in Gaza is without precedent in recent memory.
The United Nation’s top aid official, Martin Griffith, describes Gaza as “the worst ever” crisis that he has witnessed. “I don’t think I have seen anything like this before,” Griffith remarked. “It’s complete and utter carnage.” Former senior Pentagon analyst Marc Garlasco likewise describes as Gaza “beyond anything that I’ve seen in my career.” With so many large bombs hitting a small and densely populated area, a historical precedent could only be found “back to Vietnam, or the Second World War,” Garlasco says. As the New York Times notes, after ordering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to leave their homes in northern Gaza for supposed refuge in the south, “Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes across the south with large munitions: 1,000- to 2,000-pound bombs.”
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of Citizens Journal
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Sad and disgusting