“How long can Israel bomb Lebanon? “, Biden was asked this Friday during a press conference. The American president smiled and, without responding, ended his appearance. Shortly after, the Israeli army launched a new round of intense bombings on Beirut.
The figures provided this Saturday by the UN bring the number of Lebanese deaths to 2,000, including more than a hundred boys and girls and more than a hundred humanitarian workers. In addition, at least a million people have been forced to leave their homes. As happened with Gaza, Israel claims that its invasion of Lebanon is an “incursion” and “a limited operation”, but the facts contradict this. The number of deaths exceeds, in less time, that of the 2006 invasion, which lasted 33 days.
Dozens dead in a single night in Gaza
The aggression against Lebanese territory did not stop Israeli attacks in Palestine. In recent hours, the Israeli army has killed dozens of people in Gaza, including several children and eighteen refugees in a mosque in Deir Al-Balah. The early hours of Sunday were particularly harsh, with bomb attacks and more deaths, including young journalist Hassan Hamad, whose last tweet, at 4:38 a.m., read: “Attack on house near Terence Junction in the field of Jabalia. , in the north of the Gaza Strip. According to initial information, there are 6 dead, including a newlywed.
Since October 2023, bombings against the Gaza Strip have killed more than 41,000 people, including at least 15,000 children and adolescents. To this official figure, we must add the missing Not counted under the rubble are people who died from indirect causes, such as malnutrition, hunger or diseases caused by the Israeli blockade on the entry of necessary humanitarian aid. According to conservative calculations by several public health experts, the total number would exceed 186,000 deaths.
99 health professionals who worked in Gaza establish a figure of 118,908 deaths
In a letter to Biden and Kamala Harris released this week, 99 health professionals who worked in Gaza put the number at 118,908 deaths and asserted that “all of us who treat in emergency, intensive care, or surgical centers treat before teenagers who were shot in the head or chest on a regular, even daily basis.
US military, political and economic aid to Israel
Despite the scale of the massacres against the Palestinian population, US support and protection for Israel has been consistent this year. To the $3.6 billion annually that Washington has provided to Tel Aviv for decades – the highest fixed annual amount the United States grants to any country – several additional envelopes must be added during these months. The last of them, worth $8.7 billion, received the green light a few days ago.
Additionally, the Biden administration has increased the US military presence in the region, sending more planes, ships and troops, and strengthening intelligence support. Diplomatically, he vetoed several United Nations resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza or the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.
American neocolonialism uses the Israeli colonial project
All this clearly shows that the United States favored the escalation of the war. If he had wanted to avoid it, he would have suspended his military support and his political and diplomatic protection in Tel Aviv. But he didn’t do it. Israel is an important element enabling Washington to maintain – and, ultimately, expand – its capacity for influence in the region. American neocolonialism uses the Israeli colonial project.
This week it was learned that, as early as October 2023, the Biden administration had received internal reports from officials and the Red Cross warning of possible Israeli war crimes. It was also revealed that two US government agencies denounced Israel’s deliberate blocking of humanitarian aid entering Gaza. Despite this, the US administration has maintained its strong support for Tel Aviv.
Biden’s words from two days ago, in line with past statements, put it this way: “No administration [de EEUU] He helped Israel more than me; none, none, none. His support is undeniable, even if his predecessors were not to be outdone. All Democratic and Republican governments have supported Israel as it expanded its illegal occupation and apartheid system against the Palestinian population.
The United States contributed to the escalation. If he had wanted to avoid it, he would have suspended his military support and political protection for Israel months ago.
The risk of losing votes by supporting Israel
The escalation of the war in Israel is affecting the US election campaign, with Democratic voters generally very unhappy with Biden and Harris’ policies towards Tel Aviv. In January and February of this year, the Uncompromising National Movement, which calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo against Israel, received more than 700,000 votes in the Democratic Party primaries.
Subsequently, after Kamala Harris’ candidacy was announced, members of this group, as well as Jewish peace groups and members of the Arab and Muslim American community, called on the vice president to change positions. position, in vain. Last August, the National Congress of the Democratic Party offered space on its stage to representatives of all minorities, except the Palestinians. He also denied any participation in the Uncommitted National Movement.
Polls show Harris losing Arab voters but continues to do nothing to try to win them back
This week, a new poll shows that Kamala Harris is losing a significant percentage of Arab voters, but her campaign is still doing nothing to try to win them back. Pressure from pro-Israeli lobbies, which bring large sums of money to the two main parties, as well as the fear of losing Zionist voters, keep the Democratic candidate paralyzed.
Added to this are his own convictions and his political career, always in line with Israel. In April, Harris helped rally congressional support for a new $17 billion in military aid to Tel Aviv. Previously, in 2017, he campaigned against a UN resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlements and co-sponsored a Senate initiative against UN intervention in the Palestinian issue. Additionally, he opposes investigations by the International Criminal Court into Israeli crimes.
Harris doesn’t talk much about the Middle East. When he does so, it is to clearly express his strong support for Israel. He celebrated the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, which he called a “measure of justice”, and insisted on his “unwavering commitment to justice”. Security of Israel» and their “right to defend themselves”. He supports Biden’s legacy and has not distanced himself from his policies in this regard.
There is an international pro-Israeli war front that defends the expansion of global impunity.
The international war front
The US defense budget exceeds $900 billion per year and increases by 2 to 3% each year. The war itself is an engine of the American economy. Washington has spent between $1,800 and $4,000 million on the bombing of Yemen in recent months alone. With the invasion of Lebanon and Israel’s announcement of a “serious and significant” attack on Iran, spending continues and arms manufacturers have once again risen in the stock market.
Direct and tangible US support for Israel is joined by some countries that continue to send weapons to Tel Aviv, as well as by economic and political groups. Among the latter is a significant part of the European extreme right. All constitute an international war front that defends Israel’s engagement in permanent war and the escalation of global impunity. His position significantly weakens international law and threatens to leave us even more unprotected before the law of might. These are the same people who, at the beginning of this century, supported the so-called war on terror and the illegal invasion of Iraq.
Among them was already Benjamin Netanyahu himself who, in 2002, before the American Congress, assured that an American operation aimed at overthrowing Saddam Hussein “would, I guarantee you, have enormous positive repercussions in the region”. This war generated increased militarization around the world, provoked other conflicts in the region, and established a dynamic of greater impunity and warmongering that continues to this day. Twenty-two years later, the Middle East is once again suffering a new shock.
