Gaza & Biden

I’m angry and I’m heartbroken. I remember when I was 12 years old seeing pictures of dead bodies piled on top of each other in trenches. These pictures were of the bodies of Jews that the Nazis killed at concentration camps throughout Eastern Europe. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could treat another in such a horrific way. Ever since then, I promised myself that I wouldn’t draw conclusions on someone based on race, color, creed, fashion, hair color, etc. I know I’ve occasionally failed, but I think I’ve mostly kept my promise because I still see those pictures.

This is why I’m so angry and frustrated by what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza. It must stop. I’m trying in my own way by calling and writing the White House. I don’t know what else to do.

LIVING IN GAZA

Gaza is described as an “open-air prison.” Until Israel responded in October 2023 to Hamas the world ignored how the Israeli government treated the Palestinians in Gaza. But now the light is on for the people of the world to see and they are responding.

If you were one of the 2.2 million people who live in Gaza which is about 141 square miles you would think that this place is like living in corporate chicken cages . But that’s not the worst of it.

“Today, Israeli authorities maintain a single regime of control over the borders, airspace, population registry and economic activity of the territories of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.” https://101.visualizingpalestine.org/visuals/israel-controls-land-air-and-sea

• Israel has occupied Gaza and the West Bank for 56 years.

• Israel put in place a 16-year blockade on Gaza which shattered the economy of Gaza.

• Israel controls the land, sea, and air.

• Gaza was left with 80% of its people dependent on international aid which has dried up.

• Last year, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Uctad) said two-thirds of the population lived in poverty.

• The unemployment rate was 45%, one of the highest in the world.

• Restrictions, closures, and military operations severely hurt investment and production.

• Israel restricts movement which affects access to health and other essential services and impacts living conditions.

• Electricity is provided about half the time.

• Very limited access to clean water and a proper sewage system is unavailable.

• Gazans must have a permit to leave and re-enter through two road stop points which are controlled by Israel.

• Permits are only given for an approved reason.

• The closures keep Gazans from traveling to the West Bank for opportunities.

• Gazans are not permitted to travel abroad through Israel, closing the door for work and education.

• Egypt also placed restrictions on Gazans trying to leave Gaza or travel internationally.

• The IDF can enter a home in Gaza at any time for as long as they want without warning. The occupant must obey any order given by the IDF.

• Gazans have no voting rights.

• Most international laws regarding rights are broken continuously, but apparently Israel provides just enough justification to get away with it. How is beyond me.

• Israelis steal land for new settlements even though it’s illegal.

• Indiscriminate imprisonment of Palestinians takes place daily. Some of these people haven’t been charged. Most of these people have been held for years.

Just think about this list. Who among us, even those living in our own definition of poverty, would not rebel against such oppression. Until Israel responded to Hamas most of the world simply ignored the Gaza Palestinians, me included.

THE ATTACK & THE RESPONSE

Hamas started planning the October attack over two years prior. I doubt we’ll ever learn the truth, but why didn’t Mossad find out about this way before the attack? How could the best intelligence agency in the world that monitors everything that is going on outside of Israel not become aware of this? It just doesn’t pass the smell test.

The irony is that Netanyahu funneled through Qatar about $15 million subsidizing Arab groups that might be against the PLO, hoping to divide the Palestinians and to put a stop to the notion of a two-state solution. What emerged was Hamas with Netanyahu’s support.

Initially, I felt like everyone else. This is a terrorist group that killed over 1,400 innocent men, women, children, and elderly and took 222 hostages who were just out enjoying a music event. I don’t approve of what Hamas did, but I understand why they did it.

Of course, Israel responded quickly and with force, a force that we helped fund and weaponize.

Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding, receiving about $300 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military assistance. The United States has also provided large foreign aid packages to other Middle Eastern countries, particularly Egypt and Iraq, but Israel stands apart. https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts

The US sends approximately $3.3 billion a year through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) fund for military equipment and services. We also send about $500 million a year for Israeli and joint Israeli-US military defense programs. And here’s the kicker.

The United States cannot provide security assistance to foreign governments or groups that commit gross human rights violations, a red line enshrined in the so-called the Leahy Law. Moreover, the Biden Administration announced in February 2023 that it would not provide arms to recipients deemed likely to commit serious human rights violations. https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts

• Since October 7 Biden made over 100 military aid transfers to Israel, two of which totaled about $250 million.

• Israel also received expedited weapon deliveries from a strategic stockpile in Israel that the US has maintained since the 1970s

• The US agreed to lease two Iron Dome missile defense batteries.

• The military aid includes tank and artillery ammunition, bombs, rockets, and small arms.

• In April 2024, (yup, that’s this month) the administration is considering an $18 billion military sale which would include fifty F-15 fighter aircraft.

QME [Qualitative Military Edge] has been a conceptual backbone of U.S. military aid to Israel for decades, and it was formally enshrined in U.S. law in 2008. It requires the U.S. government to maintain Israel’s ability ‘to defeat any credible conventional military threat from any individual state or possible coalition of states or from non-state actors, while sustaining minimal damage and casualties.’ QME is based on NATO military planning vis-à-vis a potential conflict with the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War.

Under the 2008 law, the United States must ensure that any weapons it provides to other countries in the Middle East do not compromise Israel’s QME. In several cases, this has required the United States to provide Israel with offsetting weaponry as part of larger regional arms sales. QME has also ensured that Israel is the first in the region to receive access to the most sophisticated U.S. military weapons and platforms, such as the F-35 stealth fighter, of which Israel has fifty. https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts

We are complicit. Killing children with direct shots to the head is documented. Indiscriminate bombing of hospitals and emergency vehicles is documented. Indiscriminate bombing of homes is documented. Targeting aid workers is documented. Indiscriminate sniper fire is documented. Babies and children starving is documented. This is nothing more than a continuing genocide of the Palestinians. Netanyahu’s government response is that they will look into it. That’s not good enough. To make matters worse, the US voted "no" on a latest UN General Assembly resolution to pave the way for Palestine to have UN membership. China, who has no standing when it comes to human rights, delivered a response that should put us to shame.

The link takes you to an excellent opinion piece by Nicholas Kristof, “What Happened to the Joe Biden I Knew?” I highly recommend that you read it because it explains the position Biden is in and the ramifications of his current decisions. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/opinion/biden-gaza-war.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

I thought and talked about not being myopic. That the results of the next election will have the greatest impact on our republic in our time. But in good conscience I cannot vote for Joe Biden unless he stops sending military aid and arms to Israel. The world ignored what was happening to the Jews by the Nazis. Israel is doing the very same thing in a different way to the Palestinians and we’re helping them. The world is watching us do it.

I understand that Biden is really a good person and he has a great deal of empathy. But in this case his support for the Israeli government is wrong. Netanyahu does not listen to him because he doesn't listen to anyone. Biden's disregard for the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, and we must include the West Bank, is morally wrong. This will be his legacy. Nope. I’m so angry that I will not do it. I will vote blue down ballot to help get as many Democrats as possible in the House and the Senate, but I will not and cannot vote for Biden until he does what is right. The choice is his.