After nearly ten months of the livestreamed genocide in the occupied and blockaded Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was honored by US Congress as a hero and was given the chance to address the world through its platform.
Despite the mass opposition to his invitation, he was given the chance by the American leadership to present his fake claims about the genocide he is committing in Gaza, as well as his defiance in the face of international pressure on him to stop his war crimes.
Netanyahu gave a 55-minute speech and was given 52 standing ovations by Congress despite presenting fake claims and telling mere lies. “Netanyahu is a war criminal,” US Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on X. He added: “He should not be addressing Congress.”
Many other senators and US officials held the same view. Scores of them did not attend the Congress session in protest against Netanyahu’s war crimes against the Palestinians.
Some of the senators, US officials and journalists took the time to refute Netanyahu’s claims and lies about the Israeli restrictions and ban on the entry of food, healthcare supplies and other items in Gaza.
Yet, what we have seen throughout the course of the ongoing genocide is that American support for the Israeli occupation state is blind and it adopts its Zionist foundations, including fake historical narratives, lies, propaganda, the demonization of Palestinians, etc..
The Israeli occupation forces are carrying out the mass slaughter of Palestinians using American arms and money. “The US is by far the biggest supplier of arms to Israel, having helped it build one of the most technologically sophisticated militaries in the world,” the BBC reported, referring to data provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
According to the BBC, after the start of Israeli genocide in Gaza, US President Joe Biden said that his country was “surging additional military assistance” to the occupation state, which has been ignoring the international law and disrespecting all international institutions.
Since then, the BBC said: “Only two US military sales to Israel have been made public after receiving emergency approval – one for 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth $106m and the other for $147m of components to make 155mm artillery shells.”
Meanwhile, US media has reported that Biden’s administration “quietly made more than 100 military sales to Israel, most falling below the dollar amount that would require Congress to be formally notified.” These sales include thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters and small arms.
This means that the Zionist occupation state of Israel is killing the Palestinians using mostly American weapons. While local authorities have used violence to disperse university protests calling for an end to the slaughter of Palestinians with American arms and money.
American leaders have also been, since the start of the genocide, providing political support in every international forums where the Zionist occupation state is being criticized, condemned or asked to stop the genocide. It has given cover or led every attempt to delegitimize pro-Palestine bodies or measures. The campaign against UNRWA and threats against the ICC are only two examples which have come to the surface.
In order to reinforce the lies of the Zionist occupation state, senior US officials have continued to repeat the lies that Zionist leaders used to justify their mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians and mass destruction of the blockaded Gaza Strip.
So far, none of the Israeli lies have been proven to be true, including the stories of rape on 7 October or those of children being beheaded, but American leaders continue to repeat them.
US Vice President Kamala Harris referred to these same lies when addressing the media following her meeting with Netanyahu last week.
She also demonized Palestinians and the leadership of their resistance, which is a legitimate, guaranteed right afforded to them by international laws and conventions.
What I have been noticing since the start of the ongoing wave of Zionist crimes in Gaza is desperate American attempts to pay for them, justify them, cover them up, give impunity to the Zionists and whitewash their crimes. The generous standing ovations for Netanyahu in Congress were the pinnacle of US involvement in Israel’s crimes.
Now, in the run up to the US presidential elections, we see candidates competing over their absolute support for Zionism.
Look at Harris who said: “I had a frank and constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu about a wide range of issues, including my commitment to Israel’s security.” Commitment to the security of the Zionist project; an occupation state.
The US has officially adopted every single Israeli crime and provided political cover for the genocide through the illusional ceasefire proposals whose vague interpretations provide more time for the Zionists to shed more Palestinian blood.
The actions of the Biden administration and American lawmakers prove that unwavering support for Israel is a key component of Americanism.
-Motasem A Dalloul is MEMO’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip.
