BRATTLEBORO-The current state-sponsored denial of all food, water, medical supplies, and humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza is not a "war." Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to force the will of his government on the Palestinian people through suffering and starvation. This is a brutal tactic used throughout history, and it is why we have the Geneva Conventions.
Netanyahu's policies are hugely divisive and widely condemned in his own country. And yet these policies continue for his own political purposes, to hold the right-wingers in his ruling coalition and to keep himself from facing legal accountability in his own judicial system.
Since the Trump administration (the Trump disintegration?) came in, over $10 billion of U.S. foreign military assistance has been provided to Netanyahu's government. Our own laws prohibit military assistance to any government that blocks humanitarian assistance to civilians. Familiarize yourself with the Leahy Amendments.
While we march and protest against assaults on the rule of law and human rights in our own country, please remember that our nation is losing its way as a beacon of such laws and rights in other parts of the world where we are blinded by perceived U.S. strategic interests.
This conflict is complex, but it is not impossible to understand. The lines have been drawn clearly since the 1920s. As horrific and illegal as was Oct. 7, 2023, it fit into a pattern of brutality from Napoleon to the present.
Brutality and intransigence has existed since well before - and continued after - the Third Reich came and went. The British Empire protected its interests during World War I until the U.S. stepped in after World War II as the presiding foreign empire.
Foreign empires that choose one side over the other will never bring justice and peace. The British protected "their" Suez Canal, the United States eyed "our" oil, and now Trump has his eye on "beautiful" beachfront property.
Israel is, among other things, a weapons storehouse and staging area for the United States military. Meanwhile, the Palestinians are still seeking self-determination and political independence despite a century of European meddling and invasion.
Read history, listen to well-informed podcasts, and contact your duly elected representatives. Reading the Israeli press online will open your eyes and dissolve the falsehood of using antisemitism as a weapon against free debate.
The U.S. is supporting a brutal campaign against an entire people. Hundreds of innocent civilians, including women and children, have been killed since the ceasefire ended.
This will lead us nowhere but to hell. Many Palestinian families are already living in it - despite our billions.
Andy Davis
Brattleboro
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