Israel’s land grab accelerates as does US isolation and complicity in genocide
The Biden Administration’s credibility is looking increasingly threadbare. The letter sent to Netanyahu on Oct. 13 threatening consequences if specific stipulations on aid delivery were not complied with in 30 days now appears to have been little more than a pre-election ploy. There would be no consequences of any kind, despite the damning report issued by eight major human rights organizations detailing just how little Israel had done to implement those stipulations and how near the Gaza Strip is to death by starvation. The decision prompted 20 White House staffers to write a strongly-worded letter condemning ongoing weapons transfers to Israel and the failure of the Administration to enforce the requirements of the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, Foreign Assistance Act, Arms Export Control Act, US War Crimes Act, Leahy Laws and the Genocide Convention Implementation Act.
An alternate reality was on display in the Nov. 13th letter to the Administration from the new Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. He insisted that “Israel has taken measures to keep innocent Palestinians out of harm’s way that are unprecedented in the history of urban warfare,” that UN agencies and international organizations are to blame for the failure to meet the goal of 350 trucks a day entering Gaza, and that “at no point has Israel issued ‘Evacuation Orders’ anywhere in the Gaza Strip throughout the war.”
On Nov. 20, the White House lobbied the Senate to oppose the attempt spearheaded by Sen. Bernie Sanders to block an additional $20 billion in arms shipments to Israel. “What this extremist government has done in Gaza is unspeakable, “ Sanders said, “but what makes it even more painful is that much of this has been done with U.S. weapons and American taxpayer dollars. In the last year alone, the U.S. has provided $18 billion in military aid to Israel... and by the way, a few blocks from here, people are sleeping out on the street.” The following day, 18 Democrats – including Senators Warren and Markey – voted with Sanders, an Independent. While their effort to stop the shipments failed by a considerable margin, the erosion of lockstep Democratic Party support for Israel is notable.
Also on Nov. 20 the US revealed the extent of its own global isolation when, for the fourth time, it voted against a UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire to be respected by all parties” and for “the immediate and unconditional release” of the hostages. The vote was 14 – 1 with even France and the UK deserting their superpower ally. Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon thanked the US for its veto and “for standing on the side of morality and justice” while Majed Bamya, the deputy Palestinian UN ambassador, gave a passionate speech decrying the inability of the Council to take action to stop the genocide.
The next day - just when it appeared that the international law framework was being rendered entirely inoperable by US intransigence on behalf of Israel – the three International Criminal Court judges issued the long-anticipated war crimes arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu, former Defense Secretary Gallant and Hamas military leader Muhammad Deif, whose death was reported by Israel but not confirmed. Netanyahu denounced the judges, saying they were “driven by anti-Semitic hatred of Israel” while President Biden called the warrants “outrageous.” Mike Waltz, nominated to be Trump’s national security advisor, declared “you can expect a strong reaction to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN” when Trump takes office. All 124 countries that are parties to the Rome Statute setting up the ICC are obliged to arrest them if they seek entry, but already Victor Orbán of Hungary has defied the Court and invited Netanyahu to visit. Canada and many EU countries said they would uphold the ruling. The US is not a party to the Rome Statute.
The ICC action takes place at a time when the death toll in Gaza has topped 44,000 and hunger and starvation are spreading. Schools sheltering the displaced and tented encampments in so-called ‘safe zones’ have been bombed not once, but repeatedly. Palestinians continue to be killed in hospitals and during forced evacuations. Small ‘sniper drones’ are reportedly among the weapons being used to murder civilians. The aid being distributed is a tiny fraction of what the Biden administration had called for in its Oct. 13th letter. According to the Nov. 15th Haaretz, as soon as the first three aid trucks to reach the north in 40 days unloaded their cargo in a school, that area was attacked by the army, the residents forced to flee, and the school was burned down. On Nov. 16, immediately after a convoy of 109 trucks entered the southern Gaza Strip it was attacked by an armed gang that seized the contents of 98 trucks. There are reports that gangs are made up of enemies of Hamas and operate with the complicity of Israeli soldiers who now patrol the southern crossings.
“Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged” is a Nov. 14th Human Rights Watch report that describes how Israel has rendered much of the Gaza Strip ‘uninhabitable’ and created conditions and permanent changes on the land that make the return of the population to large, newly designated buffer zones impossible. “The intention of Israeli forces appears likely to ensure they remain permanently emptied and cleansed of Palestinians and, in their place, occupied and controlled by Israeli forces.” The Nov. 13th Haaretz illustrates how Israel has seized over a quarter of the Gaza Strip and is building an infrastructure that suggests a permanent presence. One brigadier general has told Israeli journalists that expelled Palestinians will not be allowed to return to what had been their homes in the north. In the words of a UN Special Committee, “By destroying vital water, sanitation and food systems, and contaminating the environment, Israel has created a lethal mix of crises that will inflict severe harm on generations to come.”
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared on Nov. 12 that “2025 is the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. The new Nazis need to pay a price through land that will be permanently taken from them, both in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria.” As Israel continues to bombard Lebanon and destroy villagessouth of the Litani River, former Netanyahu adviser Michael Freund argued in the Nov. 17th Jerusalem Postthat “southern Lebanon is actually northern Israel.” Settler groups like Uri Tsafon have been pushing for Jewish settlements there.
Settler activists and their government allies are bent on annexing the West Bank: the upsurge in deadly violence against Palestinians is documented here and the ‘Gazafication’ of the northern part of the West Bank has been featured in a rare New York Times piece. They also have their eyes on Gaza, and Trump’s election has convinced them that now is the time to act. Scorning the Biden Administration for placing sanctions on the West Bank settler organization Amana and on three individual settlers, they have every reason to be pleased with several of Trump’s nominees, especially the Christian evangelicals. The potential Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to build the Third Temple in Jerusalem. Mike Huckabee, chosen to serve as Ambassador to Israel, favors annexation and says there is no such thing as a Palestinian. Marco Rubio, nominated to be Secretary of State, has criticized Biden for not being supportive enough of Israel. Elise Stefanik, the choice for US Ambassador to the UN, favors defunding UNRWA and has blasted university presidents for their ‘antisemitism.’ The Mideast envoy is slated to be Steve Witkoff, a real estate magnate and big pro-Israel donor.
No wonder Smotrich thinks that the whole land of ‘Eretz Israel’ will soon be entirely in Israel’s hands.