When the horrific attacks happened last October, after the initial shock and dismay wore off, I began to worry about how Israel was going to respond.
Given that Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s leader, and is also pretty much a smarter version of Trump, I knew it would be bad. I did not expect it to be quite this bad.
Even with millions on the brink of starvation, there were still many who supported Israel’s actions, despite the fact that this slaughter is happening at least in part due Bibi’s self-interest. Given his deep political problems, he is fighting this war at least in part so he can keep in power. And there are those who support the slaughter despite the Israeli government showing little real concern for freeing the hostages. Think that’s a bit unfair? Tell that to the families of those hostages.
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under pressure after the killing of seven aid workers in an airstrike, the families of hostages held in Gaza stormed a parliament meeting to demand a deal for their release. @BrittClennett reports. https://t.co/pej9cFjfRH pic.twitter.com/L1ljVXLFQR
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) April 4, 2024
But as you may have heard, the far-right authoritarian wanna-be Israeli government had quite a rough week, even beyond the bad optics of anxious Israelis begging you to do something about their captured family members. After you kill more than 32,000 people including many civlian and nearly 200 aid workers, and yet despite this still get arms from the U.S., you get a bit cocky and think you can do anything you want. So on Monday, Israel murdered seven volunteers with World Conflict Kitchen (WCK), the beloved and deeply admired aid organization led by Spanish-American Michelin-starred chef Jose Andres and his wife Patricia Fernandez de la Cruz.
Israel has squared off with the likes of United Nations aid agencies and Doctors Without Borders during this conflict and somehow has still managed not to lose support from many Americans. But they crossed a line with the attacks on WCK aid workers. This was British newspaper The Independent’s front page yesterday:
Netanyahu’s response was “‘These things happen in war.” Of course that’s what he said. It’s who he is. Bibi is a Troll Lord, except unlike a douchenozzle on TwitterX being an ass, he is killing thousands and appears to be trying to launch WWIII (Israel’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria that killed an Iranian general this week was wildly irresponsible).
Israel’s attack on a beloved organization has suddenly flipped the script. In going after Andres’ organization and his life cause, Israel attacked someone who viewed the conflict pretty much through centrists’ eyes. One might think it would give those Very Serious Centrist Minds some pause about supporting Israel here…and it seems to have done just that.
To paraphrase what LBJ supposedly said after a negative report by Walter Conkrite about his Vietnam policy, when you lose Morning Joe, you lose America.
MORNING JOE hosts erupt at Israel’s economy minister and his government’s handling of the war in Gaza.
— Waleed Shahid 🪬 (@_waleedshahid) April 4, 2024
This even seems to be changing the Biden Administration. After a few initial missteps, including a maddening moment when Karine Jean-Pierre referred to the WCK murders as “concerning” which is an insane choice of words, it appears that Biden is on the cusp of changing his Israel approach. Yesterday he had a tense phone call with Bibi where Biden reportedly read him the riot act, and Israel is now claiming they will open new routes to get food to starving people in Gaza.
This is good because it is not out of the question if Biden keeps on his previous course of sending Israel weapons, that would help Trump.
The race is pretty much even right now as Biden has gained ground since early March, but Israel’s brazen disregard for human life while we continue to support them could endanger any momentum he had. And for God’s sake, this is not putting an election ahead of human suffering, this is about preventing an election that would cause more, even much more, human suffering. If Trump wins, then the suffering spreads for vulnerable groups ranging from American Muslims to immigrants to women to POC voters to people vulnerable to climate change.The guy is telling us that certain Americans are “poisoning the blood” AND he is telling us what he intends to do. Biden has to do the right thing here, not just for millions of Palestinians, but potentially the entire world.
I don’t think that’s a big risk, necessarily, but any risk is too much given the stakes. The entire thing is a massive tragedy carried out by a right-wing monster, from people being slaughtered in a hospital to the U.S. giving Israel weapons to kill children to the potential of everything becoming so much worse because we lose Michigan and Minnesota.
Biden has to do the right thing here. It is becoming harder and harder not to.
The last word goes to Palestinian and Israeli young people.
