[RD] War in Gaza: News Thread

www.newyorker.com

Biden’s Increasingly Contradictory Israel Policy

A former State Department official explains the Administration’s sharpening public critique of Israel’s war and simultaneous refusal to “impose a single cost or consequence.”
www.newyorker.com www.newyorker.com

I could be wrong, but when I was listening to you talk, and you discussed the horrors of October 7th, I sensed an emotion in your voice that I haven’t heard at any other time in this conversation. I don’t want to criticize that, but I do wonder if the people who make policy in America don’t have that same emotion when it comes to Palestinian lives. Do you think that’s fair?


I think it’s fair to say, yes, that America and Americans have a pro-Israeli sensibility. I don’t think there’s any question about that. Clinton wrote in his memoir that he loved Yitzhak Rabin as he loved no man, rarely loved any other man, which is extraordinary. I watched Clinton grieve in the wake of Rabin’s murder. And when Biden gave the speech on October 10th, you watched the tears well up in his eyes. He talked about the black hole of loss. He’s conflated the tragedies in his own personal life with what Israelis felt on that day.

Yes, that’s very moving, but there is another kind of loss going on now which he apparently can’t conflate with his own experience.

Oh, if you’re asking me: Do I think that Joe Biden has the same depth of feeling and empathy for the Palestinians of Gaza as he does for the Israelis? No, he doesn’t, nor does he convey it. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.
Click to expand...
 
I'm waiting for Israel's investigation to reveal that they have received intelligence reports that Hamas were using vehicles marked as 'World Central Kitchen' to transport arms and ammunition,
 
Last edited:
Bonyduck Campersang said:
www.newyorker.com

Biden’s Increasingly Contradictory Israel Policy

A former State Department official explains the Administration’s sharpening public critique of Israel’s war and simultaneous refusal to “impose a single cost or consequence.”
www.newyorker.com www.newyorker.com
Click to expand...
quote:
The policy has evolved, but I think there were two broad objectives. No. 1, containment, to insure that this conflict does not spread and evolve into a regional war. By and large, the Administration’s been relatively successful in containing this conflict.

I never understood this outlook. I think Israel's adversaries have no interest in rescuing Palestinians militarily because they do more good being bombarded where they are, rather than in some relief camp within another nation where their status as props is far more limited. (I think Israel's neighbors are very cynical in that regard; particularly Egypt). So the idea of a widening war in the Mideast because of Israel's actions in Gaza always looked unlikely to me...
 
www.972mag.com

‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza

The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties, +972 and Local Call reveal.
www.972mag.com www.972mag.com

During the early stages of the war, the army gave sweeping approval for officers to adopt Lavender’s kill lists, with no requirement to thoroughly check why the machine made those choices or to examine the raw intelligence data on which they were based. One source stated that human personnel often served only as a “rubber stamp” for the machine’s decisions, adding that, normally, they would personally devote only about “20 seconds” to each target before authorizing a bombing — just to make sure the Lavender-marked target is male. This was despite knowing that the system makes what are regarded as “errors” in approximately 10 percent of cases, and is known to occasionally mark individuals who have merely a loose connection to militant groups, or no connection at all.

Moreover, the Israeli army systematically attacked the targeted individuals while they were in their homes — usually at night while their whole families were present — rather than during the course of military activity. According to the sources, this was because, from what they regarded as an intelligence standpoint, it was easier to locate the individuals in their private houses. Additional automated systems, including one called “Where’s Daddy?” also revealed here for the first time, were used specifically to track the targeted individuals and carry out bombings when they had entered their family’s residences.

The result, as the sources testified, is that thousands of Palestinians — most of them women and children or people who were not involved in the fighting — were wiped out by Israeli airstrikes, especially during the first weeks of the war, because of the AI program’s decisions.

“We were not interested in killing [Hamas] operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity,” A., an intelligence officer, told +972 and Local Call. “On the contrary, the IDF bombed them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. It’s much easier to bomb a family’s home. The system is built to look for them in these situations.”
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It is hardly surprising that after the destruction of aid convoys and death of UK aid workers that the UK judiciary is turning against Israel.

www.theguardian.com

Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law

More than 600 prominent lawyers sign letter that calls for end to exports as a ‘measure to prevent’ genocide
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

I reckon they will be placing an injunction to prohibit UK arms exports to Israel within about a week.
 
Yes arms exports to Israel have been "suspended" since 2009, doesn't seem to do much good if only one or a few nations do that.

Really only large supranational institutions can have an effect.

ipisresearch.be

Belgian arms exports to Israel: The discrepancy between words and deeds in export control policy

In this report, Vredesactie and IPIS take a critical look at Belgium’s policy on the export and transit of defense-related goods and dual-use goods to Israel. The new Gaza war puts this arms trade policy back in the spotlight. The regional governments, responsible for arms trade, regularly...
ipisresearch.be ipisresearch.be
 
Narz said:
I'm sure curious about the real politics between the US and Middle East
Click to expand...
I mean if you really want to understand US policy in the region I suggest starting with the BCCI and say the safari club.

Safari Club - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org


It's a rabbit hole of international crime and finance with ties to Poppy Bush to Saddam Hussein. It links international drug and human trafficking to CIA operations of terrorism and insurgency financing... the framework can give you an idea of "our" policy in the Middle East... It will also clear up why USA Inc. was (and still is) so eager to prop up religious extremists around the region...

The IDF might be the world's worst terrorist group in the world at the moment, but it would take it decades to catch up with the CIA.
 
Yeekim said:
This might be understandable policy goal for its neighbors.
Expecting Israel itself to voluntarily follow this recommendation is ...bound to disappoint, I'm afraid.
Click to expand...
I agree, sadly.
 
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