Washington DC – A younger man holds fragments of a rocket in his fingers as he stands on the chaotic scene after Israeli forces bombed a college housing displaced individuals in central Gaza on Tuesday. “That is an Israeli-American missile,” he stated.
“We’re stepping on corpses. I can not describe the cruelty of what’s occurring,” the person stated in a video verified by Al Jazeera after the assault within the Nuserat area that killed 17 civilians and several other others. Ten individuals had been injured.
Such mass-casualty assaults have been an virtually day by day actuality for Palestinians in Gaza for the previous 9 months. Officers and peculiar individuals within the besieged areas have expressed anger that the bombs that price them lives had been in lots of instances supplied by the USA as a part of its alliance with Israel.
An airstrike final week within the Mawasi space of Khan Younis province killed a minimum of 90 Palestinians, with the Gaza authorities media workplace straight blaming the USA for the assault.
However US President Joe Biden has a distinct view of Washington’s position within the struggle.
“I’m the one that has contributed extra to the Palestinian neighborhood than anybody else,” he stated in an interview broadcast on-line on Monday.
“I used to be the one who opened all of the property. I used to be the one who made certain to open the borders to the Egyptians… I used to be the one who was capable of unite the Arab international locations to agree to offer meals and housing for the Palestinians.
He added, “I imply, I’ve all the time been very supportive of the Palestinians.”
The US president’s claims had been derided by Palestinian rights advocates, who careworn that Biden’s unconditional assist for Israel was fueling the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
“It is laborious to inform whether or not Biden’s feedback are smug, blind or deceitful. It appears he needs to take credit score for precipitating the genocide and permitting the Palestinians to get somewhat medication, water and meals,” Palestinian American comic and activist Amir Zah Amer Zahr stated.
Lexis Zeidan, a Palestinian-American organizer in Detroit, echoed the criticism.
“The one factor Biden will do extra concerning the Palestinians is enhance the dying toll from US-funded Israeli bombs,” she advised Al Jazeera.
Armed by the USA, Israeli forces have killed greater than 38,000 Palestinians in Gaza and razed massive swathes of the territory.
self-proclaimed Zionist
In the identical interview with journalist Speedy Moman, Biden reiterated that he’s a Zionist.
“Zionists are involved about whether or not Israel is a secure haven for Jews due to their historical past of persecution,” he stated.
The president then requested the interviewer if he knew what it meant to be a Zionist.
Zionism is a Jewish nationalist ideology that emerged in Europe within the late 1800s and referred to as for the institution of a Jewish state in Palestine, the place solely a minority of the inhabitants was Jewish on the time.
Whereas supporters of the ideology view it as a type of self-determination, many Palestinian rights advocates consider that Zionism has led to the dispossession and continued subjugation and oppression of Palestinians.
Within the interview, Biden reiterated a place he typically repeats when explaining his love for Israel: Jews world wide wouldn’t be secure with out the nation, he claimed.
“With out Israel, each Jew on the earth can be in peril,” he stated.
Some activists stated such feedback could possibly be seen as perpetuating the anti-Semitic trope of “twin loyalty”: Jews have to be loyal to Israel no matter their background.
Eva Borgwardt, nationwide spokesperson for IfNotNow, a progressive youth-led Jewish American group, slammed the president’s feedback.
“Many people hear this repeated assertion as a risk to our safety on this nation. As President of the USA, Biden’s job is to make America secure for everybody, together with Jewish Individuals.” individuals,” Borgwater advised Al Jazeera in a press release.
“If he needs to maintain Jews secure, he ought to give attention to confronting the true risks of white nationalism moderately than sending extra bombs to Israel to extend the assault on Gaza that has killed tens of 1000’s of Palestinians , the hostages are in hassle.
U.S. assist for Israel
Palestinian American comic Zal additionally slammed Biden for insisting that he’s a Zionist.
“9 months later, he’s nonetheless defiantly and proudly calling himself a Zionist. Nicely, in November he’ll see how that phrase will get us to vote,” Zair advised Al Jazeera.
Biden has struggled with key Democratic constituencies, together with younger individuals, progressives and Arab and Muslim Individuals, due to his unwavering assist for Israel.
His electoral woes worsened after a disastrous debate efficiency in June, by which he at occasions appeared exhausted and confused.
Whereas Biden and senior officers in his administration have typically emphasised their assist for Israel, the president downplayed that assist within the interview with Moorman.
Ahmed Abznaid, govt director of the USA Marketing campaign for Palestinian Rights (USPCR), stated Biden claims he helps the Palestinians as a result of he is aware of he alienates voters in communities that assist Palestinian rights.
“So he’s attempting to make himself an ally of the motion, when the truth is what he’s doing is supporting the genocide of our individuals,” Abznaid advised Al Jazeera. “At this second, he’s arming it. He’s defending it. That is how Palestinian Individuals view President Biden and these feedback are offensive.
Biden boasted earlier this month that he was extra in style in Israel than in the USA. However whereas discussing the Arab vote with Mollman, the U.S. president falsely claimed that the USA was solely sending defensive weapons to Israel.
“I refuse to allow them to use assault weapons, equivalent to 2,000-pound (907 kilograms) bombs and different weapons,” he stated.
Whereas the U.S. did halt shipments of two,000 kilos of bombs to Israel this 12 months, Biden administration officers emphasised that transfers of different weapons are nonetheless occurring often and steadily.
In April, Biden signed an settlement for a further $14 billion in U.S. navy assist to Israel. The Pentagon confirmed this week that the suspended cargo of the 500-pound (226-kilogram) bomb had been separated and launched to U.S. allies.
“Biden might have stopped this genocide as we speak by halting limitless funding and weapons to Israel. However as a substitute, he has allowed Netanyahu to do no matter he needs, repeatedly calling himself a Zionist, and doing what an emperor does factor – clear assist for Israel as a result of Israel secures U.S. pursuits within the Arab world,” stated Hatem Abudayyeh, president of the American Palestinian Group Community (US Patent CN).
“If Biden is our savior, who’re our enemies?”
