That the butcher of Gaza was even invited to speak before the United States Congress nine months into his murderous campaign waged on the wretched Palestinian people betrays the morally vacuous state of American politics. It shows the breathtaking hollowness of the oft repeated rhetoric about a superior American-led world order which we are spoon-fed through Hollywood productions and woefully simplistic political pronouncements from many Western leaders.
We will endure wall to wall coverage of the American presidential election campaign over the next three months and it will be easy to fall into the trap of believing one candidate to be on the side of the ‘good guys’.
Yet the depressing truth exposed by cross-party support for Israel’s genocidal campaign is that, at least at a political level, America continues to stand squarely with the world’s foremost war criminal at this time.
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As wicked and contemptible as he may be, it was not Donald Trump who occupied the White House and provided active support and weapons to facilitate the slaughter of the innocents that we have borne witness to since last October.
It is, as ever, worth noting that the Palestinian nightmare began long before October 2023. It has been the consistency of the Israeli state terrorism over generations that has so devalued Palestinian lives to the point that Israeli society can approvingly endorse genocide, a shocking irony lost on no-one.
Some 200 United Nations workers have been killed by Israel up to this point. The CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Jodie Ginsberg, last week released a message stating that over 100 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, with “an unprecedented number of journalists and media workers” being arrested, mistreated and tortured.
Christina Assi was a journalist with Agence France-Presse when she lost a leg in an Israeli attack last October that a range of human rights organisations - including Amnesty - concluded to have been a targeted attack on journalists in southern Lebanon. A Reuters journalist, Issam Abdallah, was killed in the same attack.
Earlier this month, Christina carried the Olympic flame through Vincennes in honour of journalists killed in the line of duty.
Russian and Belarussian athletes have faced a special vetting process introduced by the International Olympic Committee to prove they have not shown any public support for the war in Ukraine, with some facing Olympic bans on account of liking social media tweets. Those cleared have been forced to compete as neutral athletes as their countries have been banned from competing in the Paris games.
No such ban has been introduced for Israel.
Indeed, one of the two Israeli flagbearers for the opening ceremony, Peter Paltchik, tweeted a photograph of signed Israeli bombs with the message “From me to you with pleasure”, an act that would have earned him an Olympic ban if the bombs had been Russian and destined for the land of his birth, Ukraine. His participation is allowed only because the International Olympic Committee has determined the lives of Palestinian children to be of less value to those from Ukraine.
Meanwhile, ordinary people the world over continue to raise their voices against the suffocating injustice in Gaza, struggling with a sense of despair, helpless to make it stop. Hundreds of Jewish Americans occupied Congress ahead of Netanyahu’s address to protest at the war. Some multinational companies continue to report profit losses as worldwide boycotts remain in place.
It’s too late for five-year-old Aboud Shaat, recorded in his kindergarten uniform on social media with his new schoolbag, smiling as he told his dad he was going to school. He was killed with his mother and siblings in an Israeli attack.
In a welcome move, Queen’s University Belfast has increased from one to four the number of post-graduate scholarships offered to Palestinian students and academics. Part of Israel’s genocidal campaign has involved destroying all 12 universities in Gaza. The United Nations reported in May that over 80% of Gaza schools had been destroyed or seriously damaged. Scholasticide, the systematic destruction of education institutions in Gaza, long preceded October 2023 and has been Israeli policy since the Nakba.
A QUB Palestine group have set up a GoFundMe page for people wanting to donate money to help cover living costs for the successful Palestinian students. Féile an Phobail have organised a special Ireland for Palestine concert in the Falls Park this Sunday with all funds going towards the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.
Every small step matters.
