cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20133423
[interview with Dr. Hassan Abdel Salam, from Abandon Harris movement]
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor 04 Sep 2024
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20133423
[interview with Dr. Hassan Abdel Salam, from Abandon Harris movement]
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor 04 Sep 2024
I agree that as long as Bibi is in charge we have no actual leverage to get things done because he doesn’t give two shits what anyone in the US says or does, but that’s not the same thing as saying Harris is “pro genocide”, she’s not.
Blaming Netanyahu is a copout that distracts from two salient facts:
The US hasn’t actually done anything against Israel, let alone withheld from actively supporting its genocide. It makes no sense to sat, “oh well I guess we could never make things happen due to Netanyahu”. Nothing has been tried! But it does place the focus for responsibility on a foreign leader over whom you have no expectation of influence, whereas every person in the US can fight against genocide supported by the Biden-Harris admin.
Israelis have, on average, incredibly dehumanizing attitudes towards Palestinians. Netanyahu isn’t even that far right in Israel. They broke that rapist out of jail and are parading him around on TV. This is typical of ethnic supremacist settler colonisrs, it has happened several times over the last 200 years, we know the pattern. The protests against Netsnyahu, and his lower approval ratings, are tied to sentiments about not being harsh enough on Gaza and not retrieving the hostages, not the genocide of Palestinians, who they call terrorists. Who they believe should not be shown on television in a sympathetic light, that it should be censored. All of this is to say that the genocide in Gaza is very popular in Israel. What is unpopular are the impacts to the settlers. Economic problems, exodus from the north, and an inability to return the hostages.
The Biden-Harris administration is supporting a genocide. That genocide depends on the consent and military support of the most powerful country on the planet. Both Biden and Harris are providing thus unconditionsl support. They are sending the weapons. They are sending the money. They are building the little pier that was used to land and extract military personnel. They are fighting the ICJ on Israel’s behalf. They are pressuring every country they can on Israel’s behslf. They are trying to undermine the Houthis’ blockade done in solidarity with Gaza. Faced with a domestic anti-genocide movement, they are refusing to pressure college campuses to not sic cops (et al) on protesters and feed into the bad faith rhetoric that to oppose Israel’s genocide is to be antisemitic. When corronating their new candidate, part of this genocidal administration, they brought on an Israeli speaker, pledged unconditional material support to Israel, and shut out a potential Palestinian soeaker.
Harris is not just pro-genocide, she has assisted this one and has pledged to materially support its continuation.
Bibi and the Likud property are literally the problem. They take US support intended for the legit support of the Iron Dome and re-direct it into war crimes.
Please see: everything I just said that contradicts overemphasizing “the problem” just being Netanyahu being obstinate. I wrote out two main points with many specifics to support and explain my meaning.
And the US knowingly funds the genocide in Gaza. It isn’t an oopsie. They have only increased funding since Oct 7.
They are not funding the genocide. They are funding the legitimate defense of Israel.
The Israeli leaders are mis-directing that funding into the genocide.
Oh they are most definitely funding the genocide. Here us one simple example: Boeing is the exclusive manufacturer of JDAMs, a system that retrofits bombs to make them missiles. The US provides direct funding to Israel for them to “buy” these systems. JDAMs are the most common bombs used in this genocide to target civilian infrastructure. Hospitals, schools, refugee csmos, bakeries, mosques, churches.
Plenty of other forms of funding and material support, this is just a particularly visceral example.
100% wrong, these are offensive weapons with only one purpose and they are provided with no strings attached. Funding and support has only increased and Israel has only escalated.
The purpose for which they are sold is “defend Israel”, the purpose Bibi puts them to use as is “genocide”, but that is not why we’re selling them.
An example I use quite a bit is humanitarian aid, a lot of aid we send out gets stolen or re-directed by corrupt governments. That doesn’t mean we’re going to stop sending aid.
“Defense” has a long history of euphemistic use and this is no exception. JDAMs have no defensive use. They are bombs. They have been and are used to bomb essential civilisn infrastructure in Gaza. The US and Israel still call it “defense”. It is just a rhetorical trick. Same as " Israel has a right to defend itself", which is a thought-terminating cliche that provides a smokescreen for highly aggressive military actions with little care for civilians, journalists, aid workers.
Everyone in power knows how this works and what it means. It isn’t an accident or even particularly unwanted. Israel has been invading and destroying Gaza for nearly a year. Nobody thinks a bunch of JDAMs are for defending Israel or are a case of misuse. They are being used exactly as intended.
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That is not what Harris is doing.
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Saying Israel should be able to defend itself is not the same as allowing Israel to offensively commit genocide. Two different things.
Harris supports the former, not the latter. Bibi wants the latter, not the former.
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