The United States this week declared it is unable to influence its partner Israel’s attacks on the civilian population of Gaza.
Matthew Miller, speaking at the State Department Media Briefing on Monday, told reporters: “Israel is a sovereign country that makes its own decisions. The United States does not dictate to Israel what it must do, just as we don’t dictate to any country.“
A journalist then interjected: “Unless you invade them“, to which Miller laughed and said, “It’s stand-up hour, in the briefing room!“.
In the past five months, Israel has killed or maimed 100,000 mainly women and children in Gaza.
The BBC reported today: “The actual number of dead is likely to be far higher as the count does not include those who have not reached hospitals, among them thousands of people still lost under the rubble of buildings hit by Israeli air strikes.“
After Miller’s briefing, one journalist said, “Matthew was the only person laughing in the room. I wonder if he laughed when he saw the tweet of one of his own soldiers burning to death captioned ‘Our enemies kill themselves‘.
Last weekend, serving US Air Force analyst Aaron Bushnell self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in DC saying he could no longer be complicit in Israel’s genocide. An image of the soldier on fire was tweeted, along with the caption, by the account “Mossad Commentary” before later being deleted.
Mr Miller added that Hamas not agreeing to a ceasefire was the reason children were currently starving to death in Gaza. However, Hamas this month put forward a detailed plan to end the fighting and release all Israeli captives in Gaza, which was rejected by Israel.
More money, more weapons
Since Israel’s founding in 1948, it has received $158 billion in military aid from the United States, making it the greatest recipient in history.
The US also provides Israel with fighter jets and bombs four times larger than those used against ISIS in Iraq, which it continues to drop into refugee camps and so-called designated ‘safe-zones’ in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden – one of Israel’s greatest historical supporters over the duration of his long political career – called Israel’s attacks ‘indiscriminate’ in December.
The ailing President reportedly called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an ‘a**hole’ in a recent private briefing. He has just sent another multi-billion-dollar consignment of US taxpayers’ money to supply Israel with more weapons to use in Gaza.
The number of bombs dropped by Israel onto the people of Gaza since October surpassed the combined equivalent of the two atomic bombs that the US used in Hiroshima, in January.
Stranglehold tightens
Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been under land, air and sea siege by Israel for over 15 years – making it the world’s largest concentration camp – and the Head of the UN previously called it ‘a pressure cooker of misery’.
A report last week by UK Channel 4 News showed the West Bank is also ‘under siege’ from Israeli settlers since October.
US pleas for Israel to slow down inflammatory action in the region have been completely ignored.
Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, this week pledged to continue expanding settlements on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank, defying US requests for Israel to stop.
In December, the UK Foreign Office issued a statement saying that since the start of October, Israeli settlers have committed more than 343 violent attacks on Palestinian civilians, killing 8, injuring more than 83, and forcing 1,026 Palestinians from their homes.
It added: “We strongly condemn the violent acts committed by extremist settlers, which are terrorising Palestinian communities.“
UK is complicit
A number of flights of US military planes with undisclosed cargo have arrived in Israel since October via the UK, with the MOD telling parliament in January that Britain is not assisting Israel in its offensive.
Multiple so-called ‘ghost-flights’ have left from Glasgow, Birmingham, Suffolk and Oxfordshire airports, and on to Israel.
In October, the UK government issued a rare D-notice to the British press asking them not to report that SAS soldiers stationed in Cyprus were to be deployed in Gaza, to assist the Israelis. The UK has also admitted operating drones over Gaza since last October and sharing the intelligence they have collected with Israel.
The ICJ, the highest court in the world, told Israel in January to cease any activity that could be construed as genocidal, meaning any third party who helps them continue a genocidal campaign could be legally deemed to be complicit in genocide.
UK members of parliament have backed Israel’s campaign since the ICJ request and are therefore now potentially liable under international law, and may face charges.
Millions of people have taken to the streets around the world to protest that their elected leaders are either turning a blind eye to Israel’s offensive or are publicly backing it.
Former UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman – who has relatives serving in the IDF – and the embattled MP, Lee Anderson, have both called the protests ‘hate marches’, even though they have been largely peaceful.
Israel has called the marches ‘antisemitic’ despite the fact large contingents of the Jewish community have also been in attendance, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the repatriation of illegally seized Palestinian land.
