U.S. aid to Palestine is for show (just don’t look at the genocide behind the curtain)

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,^[1] fair use.

A little more than a week ago, Ann Wright criticized the pier built by the U.S. to help aid get to Gazans, calling it a Rube Goldberg design.^[2] The Wall Street Journal is more charitable, writing that “[t]he maritime corridor is a cumbersome system with multiple potential bottlenecks.” So, unsurprisingly, the pier is indeed not working out so well.^[3]

But in the first week of operations, only 820 tons of aid was delivered through the pier, of which around two-thirds reached distribution points within Gaza, the Pentagon said Thursday. That is roughly equivalent to 71 truckloads—far below the initial target of 90 truckloads a day, and about 15% of the estimated minimum daily need for a population of more than two million people facing crisis-level acute food insecurity.^[4]

Put simply, this looks a lot more like an intentional boondoggle than a serious effort. The priority clearly isn’t getting necessities of life to Palestinians but military and financial aid to Israel and its genocide operation. It’s $320 million^[5] against $300 billion annually in U.S. financial and military aid^[6] for genocide. And it’s part of the lie in which Joe Biden pretends to rein in the Israelis.^[7]

Prem Thakker, “The State Department Says Israel Isn’t Blocking Aid. Videos Show the Opposite,” Intercept, May 18, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/05/18/israel-blocking-aid-gaza/

Mohamad Bazzi, “Biden wants progressives to believe he’s reining in Israel. He isn’t,” Guardian, May 20, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/20/biden-weapons-israel-gaza-war

Ron Kampeas, “ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leaders,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 20, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/05/20/israel/international-criminal-court-prosecutor-seeks-arrest-warrants-for-benjamin-netanyahu-and-hamas-leaders

Ivana Kottasová and Madalena Araujo, “ICC seeks arrest warrants against Sinwar and Netanyahu for war crimes over October 7 attack and Gaza war,” Cable News Network, May 20, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/20/middleeast/icc-israel-hamas-arrest-warrant-war-crimes-intl/index.html

Louisa Loveluck, “ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu and Hamas’s Sinwar,” Washington Post, May 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/20/israel-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/

Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel ‘is stuck inside Gaza’ as Palestinian suffering deepens,” Washington Post, May 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/05/20/israel-gaza-suffering-netanyahu-palestinian/

Alexander Ward, Erin Banco, and Lara Seligman, “Biden admin openly hammering Israel’s military strategy in Gaza,” Politico, May 21, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/21/biden-admin-hammering-israel-military-strategy-gaza-00159262

Washington Post, “Six experts weigh in on the ICC’s warrants on Israeli and Hamas leaders,” May 21, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/21/icc-arrest-warrant-israel-hamas-debate/

Lazar Berman, “Norway, Ireland, Spain move to recognize Palestinian state, drawing Israeli fury,” Times of Israel, May 22, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/norway-ireland-spain-move-to-recognize-palestinian-state-drawing-israeli-fury/

William Booth, “Norway, Ireland and Spain recognize Palestinian state; Israel condemns move,” Washington Post, May 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/22/norway-ireland-palestine-state-recognition/

Kareem Fahim et al., “Israel’s latest offensives unleash ‘hell’ in Gaza, aid groups say,” Washington Post, May 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/22/gaza-famine-aid-israel-hamas/

Ishaan Tharoor, “The ICC’s battle with Israel is a test of the international order,” Washington Post, May 22, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/05/22/icc-international-order-criminal-court-israel-war-crimes/

Jerusalem Post, “Could Oct. 7 attack have been prevented? IDF reveals Netanyahu received prior warnings,” May 23, 2024, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-802391

Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s isolation deepens on the world stage,” Washington Post, May 23, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/05/23/israel-isolation-icj-ruling-gaza/

Louisa Loveluck and Ellen Francis, “U.N. court order deepens Israel’s isolation as it fights on in Rafah,” Washington Post, May 24, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/24/israel-rafah-invasion-icj-ruling/

Haroon Siddique and Lorenzo Tondo, “UN’s top court orders Israel to immediately halt Rafah offensive,” Guardian, May 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/24/icj-orders-israel-to-halt-rafah-offensive-new-ruling

Patrick Wintour, “US and UK to back Israel over ICJ ruling after blurring their Rafah red lines,” Guardian, May 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/24/us-and-uk-to-back-israel-against-icj-while-blurring-their-rafah-red-lines

Karen DeYoung, “U.S. silent as global condemnation of Israel’s Rafah offensive grows,” Washington Post, May 25, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/25/biden-gaza-rafah-international-law/

Stephen Kalin and Nancy A. Youssef, “The U.S. Built a $320 Million Pier to Get Aid to Gazans. Little of It Has Reached Them,” Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2024, https://apple.news/AE6vfFl5VS0Cs-jZgwST7Bw

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1. ^[1]Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
2. ^[2]Ann Wright, “Why Did the US Spend $320 Million on a Rube Goldberg Pier For Gaza?” Common Dreams, May 16, 2024, https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-military-pier-gaza↩
3. ^[3]Stephen Kalin and Nancy A. Youssef, “The U.S. Built a $320 Million Pier to Get Aid to Gazans. Little of It Has Reached Them,” Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2024, https://apple.news/AE6vfFl5VS0Cs-jZgwST7Bw↩
4. ^[4]Stephen Kalin and Nancy A. Youssef, “The U.S. Built a $320 Million Pier to Get Aid to Gazans. Little of It Has Reached Them,” Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2024, https://apple.news/AE6vfFl5VS0Cs-jZgwST7Bw↩
5. ^[5]Stephen Kalin and Nancy A. Youssef, “The U.S. Built a $320 Million Pier to Get Aid to Gazans. Little of It Has Reached Them,” Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2024, https://apple.news/AE6vfFl5VS0Cs-jZgwST7Bw; Ann Wright, “Why Did the US Spend $320 Million on a Rube Goldberg Pier For Gaza?” Common Dreams, May 16, 2024, https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/us-military-pier-gaza↩
6. ^[6]Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow, “U.S. Aid to Israel in Four Charts,” Council on Foreign Relations, April 11, 2024, https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts↩
7. ^[7]Mohamad Bazzi, “Biden wants progressives to believe he’s reining in Israel. He isn’t,” Guardian, May 20, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/20/biden-weapons-israel-gaza-war↩