US President Joe Biden’s interview with Time magazine attracted the attention of mainstream and Israeli media due to one particular comment. “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion,” he uttered in response to the question about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation”. Biden continued, “Whether he would change his position or not is hard to say, but it has not been helpful.”
However, the US role in enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza was neatly avoided. Biden stated that it’s uncertain that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, reflecting National Security Memorandum 20 which calls into question even the clearest evidence in order to grant Israel absolute impunity.
Asked if Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war, Biden replied: “No, I don’t think that. I think they’ve engaged in activity that is inappropriate.” Israel is not a kindergarten classroom, though. It is a settler-colonial entity and a formidable military power. “Inappropriate activity” is an odd and very dismissive way to describe war crimes that are painfully obvious to everyone except, it seems, US politicians and officials. From the statement that it is “reasonable to asses” that Israel used US weapons in violation of international humanitarian law to “activity that is inappropriate” we can see that the parameters of Washington’s leniency are forever expanding in Israel’s favor.
The US has not stopped its military aid to Israel. On Tuesday, the apartheid state’s ministry of defense signed a $3 billion deal for the purchase of 25 Lockheed Martin stealth fighter jets, financed by US military aid. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described the deal as “another illustration of the strength of the strategic alliance between the US and Israel and its extensive effects in arenas near and far.” The jets will be delivered from 2028 in batches of five per year.
Meanwhile, although Washington has reveled in its role as violator and purported humanitarian aid provider, US Central Command stated that no humanitarian airdrops have occurred since 9 May, ostensibly because of bad weather. After building the pier to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza by sea, now damaged by stormy weather, the Pentagon advocated for humanitarian aid to be delivered via land routes. Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war in its genocide in Gaza, and the US is facilitating the strategy.
Another reason cited by Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh is that the US cannot airdrop aid while Israel is conducting military operations in Rafah. “We don’t want civilians running into active battlespace. So there haven’t been airdrops recently.”
Which means that the US does not mind how Palestinians are killed, as long as they die.
Since the US is openly assisting Israel in committing genocide, why isn’t Biden’s two-state rhetoric being questioned? Although defunct, the concept requires both a population and available land for its implementation. Several years back, diplomats, including the Middle East Quartet, declared the two-state paradigm to be obsolete as a result of Israel’s ongoing colonial expansion. Land, therefore, was already scarce enough to implement the paradigm. Now that Israel is committing genocide, and the US is aiding it, why is it still acceptable to speak of the two-state compromise, when Palestinians are being exterminated on a daily basis?
-Ramona Wadi is an independent researcher, freelance journalist, book reviewer and blogger. Her writing covers a range of themes in relation to Palestine, Chile and Latin America. Her article appeared in MEMO.
