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Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, May 18, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
By Bradley Blankenship
Earlier this week, bloody images of charred bodies came out of Rafah, the last refuge for Palestinians in the besieged enclave of Gaza. The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been saying openly for months that it would launch a ground operation in the area, with Western benefactors calling on Israel to "limit" the operation and take steps to reduce civilian casualties.
Yet, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) massacred at least 45 Palestinians in an area marked "safe" by authorities, essentially herding them into an area for slaughter. It has also been reported that skirmishes have broken out between the Egyptian military and the IDF, with several Egyptian soldiers dying.
The latest moves by Israel are a flagrant violation of international law. They must be taken seriously by the international community to prevent the complete liquidation of Gaza as a sovereign entity – and wider regional escalation.
On May 28, Mexico invoked Article 63 of the International Court of Justice Statute, filing a declaration of intervention in the case concerning the "Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)." Several major Israeli partners, such as Germany, have described the images coming out of Gaza as "unbearable" and called for an investigation.
The IDF, also on Tuesday, while justifying the brutal attack as having killed two senior Hamas officials and suggesting that the militant group may have some culpability, released a statement admitting mistakes. "Despite our efforts to minimize civilian casualties during the strike, the fire that broke out was unexpected and unintended...Our investigation seeks to determine what may have caused such a large fire to ignite," the IDF said.
Israel's public relations strategies are extraordinarily well-documented. First, officials will deny reports of civilian casualties before pointing the blame to faulty equipment by Hamas. Then, they will excuse the deaths by saying the people involved were actually terrorists. Then, they will admit to killing civilians but say they were human shields. This is currently where we are in the loop.
Next, Israel is likely to admit that no fighters were in the area but that this was a mistake of miscalculation and that, on the contrary, Hamas would target civilians on purpose. After this, they may admit that the numbers are clear that Israel kills far more civilians than Hamas but that other countries are involved in the same behavior. And, finally, if you continue to harp on this point, then you are singling out Israel and are an anti-Semite.
Palestinians are seen at the site of an Israeli airstrike on tents for displaced people near the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, May 27, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
The evil being committed in Gaza right now is, to be sure, uniquely evil. The International Court of Justice has already said that accusations of genocide are credible; virtually, the entire global community is united in condemning Israel, and public opinion among Israel's surest partners is evidently not on the side of Israel. Every single mainstream Western human rights organization has condemned Israel for its atrocities in Gaza. Bar none.
Yet, these crimes could not be conducted alone. The United States is wholly responsible for providing the necessary logistics for the Israeli war effort against the Palestinians. U.S. President Joe Biden described a possible operation in Rafah as a "red line," and despite the bloody images, something he claims Hamas committed against Jews in Israel without any corroboration, the U.S. still considers the operation "limited."
Mainstream American media, such as The Atlantic, is printing a full-throated defense of Israel that is beyond the pale in its moral depravity. "Even when conducted legally, war is ugly. It is possible to kill children legally, if for example one is being attacked by an enemy who hides behind them. But the sight of a legally killed child is no less disturbing than the sight of a murdered one," the magazine said.
Perhaps most symbolically, the former American ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, was photographed in Israel writing "FINISH THEM" on shells to be fired into Rafah. Biden's Democratic Party is providing the weapons, Republicans autograph them, and Israel launches them – in a clear and flagrant violation of international law.
Benjamin Netanyahu is even slated to speak before a session of the U.S. Congress soon despite the International Criminal Court seeking a warrant for him. This comes after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, in the aftermath of Hamas' assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, that what separates democracies from groups like Hamas is their respect for international law.
The live-streamed ethnic cleansing happening in Gaza today and the lengths to which the Western elite are going to deny this reality are the height of moral decay. Not since the American 2003 invasion of Iraq has the West's image been so badly damaged over its boldfaced cynicism and deceit. The United States has not only a moral duty to end support for Israel's crimes but also a strategic imperative, or else American leadership is forfeited forever.
Bradley Blankenship, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst, and freelance reporter.
