Rafah: the new chapter of the continuing nightmare
Laura K provides a grimly ironic description of the Netanyahu government’s pitch for its new round of the war on Palestinians civilians in Gaza:
Israel has been left with no choice but to launch its Rafah offensive, due to an outrageous provocation from Hamas in which the terror group agreed to a ceasefire in exchange for the safe release of all hostages. Disturbingly, the ceasefire agreement contained a string of unacceptable demands from Hamas, such as Israel allowing 600 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza and agreeing to not carpet bomb civilians. The ceasefire agreement was put together by Egypt and the US, but Israel said no to the deal that would have freed the hostages because it wants to free the hostages. If you question this reasoning, it’s because you are Hamas.1
Sometimes, only irony can do justice to describing extreme cynicism. I don’t think we can call it satire, because it’s pretty much the actual hasbara (propaganda) posture that Netanyahu’s government is taking.
Sen. Bernie Sanders gives cautious praise for the Biden Administration’s momentary position on providing arms for Israel’s current war on Gaza civilians.2
TYT’s Ana Kasparian reports on the current state of Israel war in Gaza.3 As she notes, Israel’s Rafah offensive has begun, though the leaks from the Biden Administration are momentarily pretending it might still be prevented. It’s going on. And there is a brighter glimmer of hope than we’ve had so far that the Biden Administration may actually stop supplying substantial parts of its military aid if Netanyahu stops its war against civilians in Gaza. I’ll believe it when it happens. And it should have happened months ago.
Ana regularly uses the common phrase “taxpayer money” for US government funding. Politicians use that phrase and variants all the time, e.g., “your hard-earned tax money.” If a magic genie gives me two free wishes for the political vocabulary, I would ask to eliminate those phrases in favor of “public money” or “the people’s money” or variations thereof. Because public funds belong to the democratic government whether it comes from taxes or other sources. (If I had only one wish, it would be to eliminate all variations of the world “bipartisanship” from the vocabulary of US Democrats.)
But her reporting on the Gaza war has been solid.
Ryan Grim points out a real irony (not just a satirical one) in how Biden has played the politics of the Gaza war4:
We need to qualify that by noting that the voters who are most enthusiastic about Netanyahu’s war policies, like the antisemitic Christian Zionists, weren’t likely to vote for Biden anyway.
Laura Rozen, who is very experienced in sorting through diplomatic doubletalk, explains the latest public signaling:
“We have paused one shipment of near term assistance, and we are reviewing others,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists at the department press briefing today (May 8).
"We've been very clear ... from the very beginning that Israel shouldn't launch a major attack into Rafah without accounting for and protecting the civilians that are in that battlespace," Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a Senate Appropriations committee hearing today.
“As we have assessed the situation, we paused one shipment of high payload munitions,” Austin confirmed. “We’ve not made a final determination on how to proceed with that shipment.”
“We are currently reviewing some near term assistance in the context of unfolding events,” Austin said.5
Kevin Liptak reports on Biden’s own statement, which the President clearly meant to at least sound like he is seriously trying to restrain Israel’s actions in Gaza:
President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel – which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza – if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview on “Erin Burnett OutFront,” referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said. [my emphasis]
The president’s announcement that he was prepared to condition American weaponry on Israel’s actions amounts to a turning point in the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas. And his acknowledgement that American bombs had been used to kill civilians in Gaza was a stark recognition of the United States’ role in the war.6 [my emphasis]
Using murky phrases like “I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” may be diplomatically useful. But for normal voters, it’s also confusing, and the confusion is no doubt intentional. But also discouraging for people who want to see a real peace settlement in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Ben Samuels also points out that Biden makes a huge exception to his threat to restrict military aid for “defensive” weapons:
He made clear the U.S. would not stop providing defensive weaponry, though other shipments would end if a major ground offensive began.
"We're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently," he said, "but it's just wrong. We're not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells."
There was no immediate comment from Israel on Biden's remarks, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Rafah operation would go ahead. Israel says it must hit Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are there.7 (7)
+972 Magazine writes straightforwardly, “Israel’s long-threatened invasion of Rafah has begun.”8:
Israel’s long-threatened invasion of Rafah has begun. Under cover of intense aerial bombardment Tuesday morning, Israeli forces moved into Gaza’s southernmost city, which has become a shelter for 1.5 million Palestinians with nowhere else to go. This is the moment they most feared, carrying the potential for a catastrophe greater than anything we’ve seen so far. Gazans counted on the world to stop this invasion, and the world let them down. …
Despite warnings from humanitarian organizations, U.S. President Joe Biden’s claim that a Rafah invasion would be a “red line,” and Hamas’ acceptance of the latest Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire proposal — triggering fleeting celebrations among Palestinians across Gaza — the Israeli army pressed ahead with its incursion amid a blaze of fire near the Egyptian border. Since then, artillery and bombings have continued relentlessly.
For now, the operation is focused on the city’s eastern area and the Rafah Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt — the only route to the outside world for the severely wounded, the extremely sick, and those lucky enough to be able to pay for their escape. The nearby Karem Abu Salem/Kerem Shalom Crossing was also closed for several days, sealing off access to essential humanitarian aid for the residents of the south; on Wednesday morning, Israel reportedly reopened it.
The +972 report provides descriptions of the kind of conditions which the Netanyahu government and the supporters of his war celebrate when they are inflicted on Palestinians.
The Biden Administration should not be facilitating this.
Laura K (2024): Israel insists it has a right to defend itself from ceasefire agreements. Normal Island 05/07/2024. (Accessed: 2024-09-05).
Sanders, Bernie (2024): X [Twitter] 05/08/2024. <https://x.com/SenSanders/status/1788236519523705297> (Accessed: 2024-09-05).
Biden FINALLY Pushes Back on Israel After Rafah Attack. The Young Turks YouTube channel. (Accessed: 2024-09-05).
(4) Grim, Ryan (2024): X [Twitter] 05/09/2024. <https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1788341965924229266< (Accessed: 2024-09-05).
Liptak, Kevin (2024): Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if it launches major invasion of Rafah. CNN 05/08/2024. <https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/08/politics/joe-biden-interview-cnntv/index.html> (Accessed: 2024-09-05).
Samuels, Ben & Reuters (2024): Biden: U.S. Will Halt Arms Shipments to Israel if It Continues With Rafah Invasion. Haaretz 08/09/2024. <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-05-09/ty-article/biden-u-s-will-halt-arms-shipments-to-israel-if-it-continues-with-rafah-invasion/0000018f-5a44-d9a0-a38f-fe67a68a0000> (Accessed: 2024-09-05).
Amer, Ruwaida Kamal & Mushtaha, Mahmoud (2024): ‘The scenes of the Nakba are repeating’: Rafah in panic as Israeli invasion begins. +972 Magazine 05/08/2024. <https://www.972mag.com/rafah-invasion-gaza-refugees/> (Accessed: 2024-09-05).
"I don’t think we can call it satire, because it’s pretty much the actual hasbara (propaganda) posture that Netanyahu’s government is taking"🍉🍉📢