Biden Needs to Impose Restrictions on Arms to Israel
Just Saying He was Angry about IDF Killing of WCK Workers is Not Sufficient
We are all horrified at the Israeli attack on a three-car convoy of World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers resulting in three workers being killed by Israel firing missiles-rockets from drones at them blowing a hole in the roof of one car. We mourn these brave humanitarians who gave their lives serving others.
Israel claims it is launching a high level investigation. Every Israeli Gaza atrocity is followed by their statement that they will launch an investigation, but we never hear the results of any such investigation. Israel sweeps it under the rug by merely saying they will investigate. Do the news media follow up looking for the results of such “investigations?” I read widely but I have not read any articles about the results of these supposed investigations. Does any journalist or foreign government ask for the investigation results, or is there just silence.
President Biden was only able to publicly say that he was “angry” about the killing of these seven WCK humanitarians, but he also stated that he would not change any relations with Israel or impose any limits on arms sales. He says the most he can do is to cajole Netanyahu. But Netanyahu resists all of Biden’s anger and admonitions to reduce civilian casualties and to increase humanitarian assistance.
Biden is President of the United States: the principal military backer of Israel. He has tremendous authority over Netanyahu through restrictions on arms sales and other potential actions and conditions, but he refuses to impose any limitations on arms for Israel. Biden is apparently willing to wait for the results of the supposed investigations and then do what, probably nothing.
There is a moral and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Famine is on every doorstep. Hospitals are bombarded. Buildings are bombed into rubble. People are buried under the remains of buildings. The civilian death toll is about 33,000.
Meanwhile Israel blocks delivery of humanitarian assistance. It has cut off food and water to Gaza. It certainly looks like collective punishment of the Palestinian people for the horrific Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
There have been news reports of Israel demanding inspections of every relief vehicle resulting in long delays. They insist all trucks be unloaded for inspection of their contents, supposedly looking for weapons, but the net effect is the creation of famine and dangerous disease and health problems.
So in light of the Israeli harassment of relief convoys, the killing of the seven WCK workers looks like it was a deliberate Israeli decision to target the WCK convoy to dissuade humanitarian organizations from continuing their efforts in Gaza at great risk to themselves. The immediate result is WCK, led by Chef Jose Andres, has temporarily stopped his organization from delivering aid. Other relief organizations are also pausing their delivery of aid in fear for the safety of their workers. Maybe that was Israel’s objective. It would promote their restrictions on humanitarian assistance.
I am Jewish. I had family killed in the Holocaust. I have supported Israel in the past. But when Netanyahu and his War Cabinet act like they are emulating the worst of the Nazi atrocities, we must draw the line and call them out. Hitler imposed mass murder. Steve Schmidt just did a wonderful post on the remains of one of the Nazi death camps where collective punishment and death was the organizing principle.
But to see Israel follow collective punishment is heart breaking. When will they ever learn?
President Biden has enormous tools and leverage he could use to force a ceasefire and release of the remaining hostages. He could force Netanyahu to allow all humanitarian assistance. But to just say he is angry is grossly insufficient.
Biden wants to be re-elected, but his policy in a hands-off attitude about Israel is causing him to lose support among young people and many progressive and Muslim organizations.
I thought Biden should retire at the height of his achievements, but he was convinced that only he could defeat Trump, the ever more maniacal, sociopath.
I was encouraged by his State of the Union address, but now I see him sinking back into moderation when the world and U.S. events call for strong leadership. If Biden cannot exercise that strong leadership by imposing tough conditions on any further Israeli arms exports, he runs the risk of alienation of people critical to his electoral campaign. He will then slowly deliver us to the monster Trump, and I am sorry for lumping all monsters in with Trump.
Biden has negotiated with some of the worst foreign leaders. He knows what makes Netanyahu tick. He needs to assert his authority now for the good of humanity, the American people, the residents of Gaza and the Israelis who want to see Netanyahu ousted from power to potentially serve a criminal sentence on one of the many pending investigations of him.
The time for Biden to act forcefully is now. Just saying he is angry does not do it.
Well said, Harold. Netanyahu says that “things happen” in war. What a banal comment! (Another example is the IDF’s killing three released Israeli hostages waving a white flag.) This retribution is being carried out with the opposite of surgical precision.
Netanyahu’s goals are to exterminate Hamas
as quickly as possible and also retrieving the hostages. I am only an armchair military strategist, but it seems that those two goals are incompatible. Watching him use his military in a madcap rage is sickening and disappointing. In creating a shitstorm, he is the one being covered in ordure—and it is falling on his countrymen as well. We in the U.S. need to try our best to keep our hands clean of this poorly managed atrocity.
Frank Scarpa