Month: April 2024

The attempt to excuse Joe Biden

benfell

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
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 special State Department panel recommended months ago [prior to the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023] that Secretary of State Antony Blinken disqualify multiple Israeli military and police units from receiving U.S. aid after reviewing allegations that they committed serious human rights abuses [mostly in the West Bank]. . . .

Multiple State Department officials who have worked on Israeli relations said that Blinken’s inaction has undermined [Joe] Biden’s public criticism, sending a message to the Israelis that the administration was not willing to take serious steps. . . .

“If we had been applying Leahy effectively in Israel like we do in other countries, maybe you wouldn’t have the [Israel Defense Forces] filming TikToks of their war crimes now because we have contributed to a culture of impunity,” said Josh Paul, a former director in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and a member of the vetting forum. Paul resigned in protest shortly after Israel began its bombing campaign of Gaza in October.[2]

The language here paints Joe Biden as somewhat innocent. His continued support of Israel’s genocide in all but rhetoric, we are told, is Anthony Blinken’s fault.[3] I’m not buying it.

First, Biden is in charge. He is responsible for what his administration does or does not do. He doesn’t get a pass because his secretary of state is misbehaving.

Second, Biden’s feelings for Israel are well known. He may not like Binyamin Netanyahu much[4] but he has been adamant that the U.S. will support Israel’s self-defense. And he interprets that “self-defense” to include the genocidal war on Gaza. He does for Israel what he won’t do for Ukraine.[5]

Leigh Ann Caldwell and Marianna Sotomayor, “Johnson gambles on plan separating Israel aid from Ukraine funds,” Washington Post, April 15, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/15/mike-johnson-israel-ukraine-aid-house-republicans/

Eugene Daniels, “White House opposes standalone Israel funding bill,” Politico, April 15, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/15/biden-iran-attack-israel-00152282

Julia Ioffe, “Bibi Stings,” Puck News, April 15, 2024, https://puck.news/will-bibi-netanyahu-escalate-with-iran/

Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim, “Leaked NYT Gaza Memo Tells Journalists to Avoid Words ‘Genocide,’ ‘Ethnic Cleansing,’ and ‘Occupied Territory,’” Intercept, April 15, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/04/15/nyt-israel-gaza-genocide-palestine-coverage/

Ishaan Tharoor, “Iran’s escalation with Israel shifts focus away from Gaza,” Washington Post, April 16, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/16/iran-escalation-israel-gaza-attention-focus/

Jason Burke, “Revealed: Israel has sped up settlement-building in East Jerusalem since Gaza war began,” Guardian, April 17, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/17/revealed-israel-has-sped-up-settlement-building-in-east-jerusalem-since-gaza-war-began

Brett Murphy, “Blinken Is Sitting on Staff Recommendations to Sanction Israeli Military Units Linked to Killings or Rapes,” ProPublica, April 17, 2024, https://www.propublica.org/article/israel-gaza-blinken-leahy-sanctions-human-rights-violations

Jennifer Scholtes and Connor O’Brien, “Johnson releases text on foreign aid plan as it hangs by thread,” Politico, April 17, 2024, https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/04/17/congress/johnson-outlines-foreign-aid-plan-00152767

  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]Brett Murphy, “Blinken Is Sitting on Staff Recommendations to Sanction Israeli Military Units Linked to Killings or Rapes,” ProPublica, April 17, 2024, https://www.propublica.org/article/israel-gaza-blinken-leahy-sanctions-human-rights-violations↩
  3. [3]Brett Murphy, “Blinken Is Sitting on Staff Recommendations to Sanction Israeli Military Units Linked to Killings or Rapes,” ProPublica, April 17, 2024, https://www.propublica.org/article/israel-gaza-blinken-leahy-sanctions-human-rights-violations↩
  4. [4]Kelsey Ables and Andrew Jeong, “Over 100,000 Michigan primary votes were ‘uncommitted.’ What does that mean?” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/02/28/uncommitted-votes-meaning-michigan/; Yasmeen Abutaleb, “Biden says Israel’s military conduct in Gaza has been ‘over the top,’” Washington Post, February 8, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/08/biden-israel-gaza-speech-netanyahu/; Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden rebukes Israel over aid workers, but his Gaza policy is unchanged,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/03/biden-world-central-kitchen-tough-statement-israel-policy/; Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden warns Netanyahu the situation in Gaza is ‘unacceptable,’” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/biden-warns-netanyahu-situation-gaza-is-unacceptable/; Lazar Berman, “Israel cannot use Oct. 7 as ‘license to dehumanize others,’ Blinken warns in Tel Aviv,” Times of Israel, February 8, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-cannot-use-oct-7-as-a-license-to-dehumanize-others-fumes-blinken-in-tel-aviv/; Aaron Blake, “Four takeaways from the Michigan primary,” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/27/4-takeaways-michigan-primary/; Charles M. Blow, “Arab American Fury Toward Biden,” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/opinion/voters-michigan-biden-gaza.html; Eric Bradner, “Biden and Trump will easily win Michigan primaries, CNN projects,” CNN, February 28, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/27/politics/biden-trump-michigan-primaries/index.html; John Cassidy, “Michigan’s “Uncommitted” Democrats Send a Message to Biden,” New Yorker, February 28, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/michigans-uncommitted-democrats-send-a-message-to-biden; Karen DeYoung, “Six months into Gaza war, Biden confronts the limits of U.S. leverage,” Washington Post, April 6, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/06/gaza-israel-biden-war/; Karen DeYoung, Yasmeen Abutaleb, and Toluse Olorunnipa, “Biden-Netanyahu rift grows, as Israel cancels delegation visit,” Washington Post, March 26, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/25/biden-netanyahu-un-delegation-rift/; Tony Diver, “Michigan primary results: Joe Biden wins but young and Arab Democrats rebel over Israel,” Telegraph, February 28, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/02/28/michigan-primary-results-polls-vote-republicans-trump-haley/; Caleb Ecarma, “Why Michigan’s Protest Vote Could Change Joe Biden’s Calculus: ‘There Will Be Political Consequences,’” Vanity Fair, February 28, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/michigan-vote-change-joe-biden-calculus; Lauren Fedor and James Politi, “Joe Biden faces dissent over Gaza as he wins Michigan Democratic primary,” Financial Times, February 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/4dbd9253-5147-4bbd-9e09-276e48e3f799; Jonathan Freedland, “In defying Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu is exposing the limits of US power,” Guardian, March 22, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/22/joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-gaza-donald-trump; Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793; Guardian, “Netanyahu making a ‘mistake’ on Gaza, says Biden, as he urges Israel to push for ceasefire,” April 9, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/10/benjamin-netanyahu-joe-biden-gaza-mistake-ceasefire-israel-war-palestine; Ron Kampeas, “‘Uncommitted’ campaign protesting Biden’s Israel support nets 100,000+ votes in Michigan primary,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 28, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/02/27/politics/campaign-protesting-bidens-support-for-israel-celebrates-as-tens-of-thousands-vote-uncommitted-in-michigan-primary; Ron Kampeas, “‘Uncommitted’ campaign opposing Biden’s support for Israel makes a mark in 5 more states,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, March 6, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/03/06/politics/uncommitted-campaign-opposing-bidens-support-for-israel-makes-a-mark-in-5-more-states; Shia Kapos and Adam Cancryn, “Arab, Muslim and Palestinian leaders refuse to meet with White House aides in Chicago,” Politico, March 14, 2024, https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/14/arab-muslim-and-palestinian-leaders-refuse-to-meet-with-white-house-aides-in-chicago-00147109; M. J. Lee, “Inside President Biden’s pointed phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu,” CNN, April 7, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/politics/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-phone-call-details/index.html; Rachel Leingang, “How the uncommitted movement rocked Biden over Gaza,” Guardian, March 17, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/17/us-uncommitted-voters-biden-gaza; Jacob Magid, “Biden urges Israel ‘to just call for’ 6-8 week ceasefire, slams PM’s handling of Gaza war,” Times of Israel, April 10, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-urges-israel-to-just-call-for-6-8-week-ceasefire-slams-pms-handling-of-gaza-war/

    1. [1]A. J. Rao, “Erie County Executive Brenton Davis uses police-like badge to ID himself. Is it appropriate?” Erie Times-News, April 11, 2024, https://www.goerie.com/story/news/local/2024/04/11/erie-pa-county-executive-brenton-davis-uses-police-like-badge-to-id-himself/73272067007/↩
    2. [2]Kiley Koscinski, “Pittsburgh Police resume secondary traffic stops despite city ordinance against them,” WESA, January 12, 2023, https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2023-01-12/pittsburgh-police-resume-secondary-traffic-stops-despite-city-ordinance-against-them↩
    3. [3]Amanda Arnold, “What Exactly Does It Mean to Defund the Police?” Cut, June 12, 2020, https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/what-does-defund-the-police-mean-the-phrase-explained.html↩
    4. [4]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/↩
    5. [5]Asaf Elia-Shalev, “Israeli academics face backlash after signing letter accusing Israel of ‘plausible genocide’ in Gaza,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, April 10, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/04/10/israel/israeli-academics-face-backlash-after-signing-letter-accusing-israel-of-plausible-genocide-in-gaza↩

Be smarter about your loan sharks than Donald Trump

benfell

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump
Finances


Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

There are a lot of used car dealers, each with their own loan shark, around the South Hills area of Pittsburgh, especially along Pennsylvania Route 51. But you know, if you go to one, they’ll actually put up the money and you can get a car.

Kinda looks like Donald Trump went to a loan shark who can’t put up the money.[1] Tell me again what a smart businessman he is.

Shayna Jacobs, “Ex-Trump company executive Weisselberg sentenced to 5 months in jail,” Washington Post, April 10, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/10/trump-weisselberg-sentencing-new-york/

Ben Metzner, “Trump’s Bond Is So Weak, Letitia James May Still Seize His Assets,” New Republic, April 10, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180590/trump-bond-weak-letitia-james-seize-assets

Imperialism

Israel

Palestine

07_09:10:47-2
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,[2] fair use.

These two statements are inconsistent:

  1. “Hours after that call [between Joe Biden and Binyamin Netanyahu], the security cabinet approved a series of measures aimed at significantly boosting aid to Gaza and the past several days have seen the largest number of aid trucks enter the Strip since the war’s outbreak.”[3]

  2. “Israel claims it has never placed any limits on the amount of aid it is allowing into Gaza.”[4]

Both of these statements are from the same story in the Times of Israel. If you are acknowledging that security cabinet action can increase the amount of aid flowing into Gaza from third countries, then it makes little sense to claim that they have never placed limits on that aid.[5]

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden rebukes Israel over aid workers, but his Gaza policy is unchanged,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/03/biden-world-central-kitchen-tough-statement-israel-policy/

Hafiz Rashid, “‘Unacceptable’: White House Cancels Event as Biden Struggles on Gaza,” New Republic, April 3, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180409/white-house-cancels-event-gaza-outcry

Haroon Siddique, Eleni Courea, and Patrick Wintour, “Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law,” Guardian, April 3, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/former-supreme-court-judges-say-uk-arming-israel-breaches-international-law

Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s ‘unintentional’ strike on aid workers stirs global outrage,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/03/israel-strike-world-central-kitchen-aid-workers-global-outrage/

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden warns Netanyahu the situation in Gaza is ‘unacceptable,’” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/biden-warns-netanyahu-situation-gaza-is-unacceptable/

Trinidad Deiros Bronte, “The unpunished deaths of other civilians question Israel’s willingness to clarify the attack on WCK,” El País, April 4, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-04/the-unpunished-deaths-of-other-civilians-question-israels-willingness-to-clarify-the-attack-on-wck.html

Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793

Jacob Magid, “Senior Israeli official warns of growing ‘shoot first, ask later’ culture in IDF,” Times of Israel, April 4, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-official-warns-of-growing-shoot-first-ask-later-culture-in-idf/

Kate Sullivan, “Trump says Israel needs to ‘finish what they started’ and said war with Hamas is ‘taking a long time,’” CNN, April 4, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/04/politics/trump-israel-comments/index.html

Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/

Dov Lieber, Rory Jones, and Margherita Stancati, “Israel Says Troops Lacked Grounds for Strike That Killed Aid Workers in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-to-allow-more-aid-into-gaza-after-biden-warning-over-u-s-support-49bc42e4

Michael Tomasky, “Is Biden Really Going to Let Netanyahu Lose Him the Election?” New Republic, April 5, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180481/biden-israel-netanyahu-lose-election

Lazar Berman, “Israel’s begrudging approach to humanitarian aid could cost it the war in Gaza,” Times of Israel, April 6, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-begrudging-approach-to-humanitarian-aid-could-cost-it-the-war-in-gaza/

Karen DeYoung, “Six months into Gaza war, Biden confronts the limits of U.S. leverage,” Washington Post, April 6, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/06/gaza-israel-biden-war/

Emanuel Fabian, “IDF chief says withdrawal of troops from Gaza doesn’t mean war is close to end,” Times of Israel, April 7, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-says-withdrawal-of-troops-from-gaza-doesnt-mean-war-is-close-to-end/

M. J. Lee, “Inside President Biden’s pointed phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu,” CNN, April 7, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/politics/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-phone-call-details/index.html

David Horovitz, “Israel’s major ground war in Gaza is over; the state of war inflicted by Hamas is not,” Times of Israel, April 8, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-major-ground-war-in-gaza-is-over-the-state-of-war-inflicted-by-hamas-is-not/

Katie Polglase et al., “Dying for a bag of flour: Videos and eyewitness accounts cast doubt on Israel’s timeline of deadly Gaza aid delivery,” CNN, April 9, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/09/middleeast/gaza-food-aid-convoy-deaths-eyewitness-intl-investigation-cmd/index.html

Times of Israel, “US Sen. Warren: World Court has ‘ample evidence’ to find Israel guilty of genocide,” April 9, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-sen-warren-world-court-has-ample-evidence-to-find-israel-guilty-of-genocide/

Guardian, “Netanyahu making a ‘mistake’ on Gaza, says Biden, as he urges Israel to push for ceasefire,” April 9, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/10/benjamin-netanyahu-joe-biden-gaza-mistake-ceasefire-israel-war-palestine

Jacob Magid, “Biden urges Israel ‘to just call for’ 6-8 week ceasefire, slams PM’s handling of Gaza war,” Times of Israel, April 10, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-urges-israel-to-just-call-for-6-8-week-ceasefire-slams-pms-handling-of-gaza-war/↩

  • [4]Jacob Magid, “Biden urges Israel ‘to just call for’ 6-8 week ceasefire, slams PM’s handling of Gaza war,” Times of Israel, April 10, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-urges-israel-to-just-call-for-6-8-week-ceasefire-slams-pms-handling-of-gaza-war/↩

    • More words, still no action

    benfell

    Imperialism

    Israel

    Palestine

    07_09:10:47-2
    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.

    It’s still all words and no action to rein in Israel’s war on Gaza.[2]

    Times of Israel, “Israel acknowledges killing 7 aid charity workers in ‘tragic, unintentional’ airstrike,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-promises-probe-as-slain-aid-workers-home-countries-demand-explanation/

    Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden rebukes Israel over aid workers, but his Gaza policy is unchanged,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/03/biden-world-central-kitchen-tough-statement-israel-policy/

    Hafiz Rashid, “‘Unacceptable’: White House Cancels Event as Biden Struggles on Gaza,” New Republic, April 3, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180409/white-house-cancels-event-gaza-outcry

    Haroon Siddique, Eleni Courea, and Patrick Wintour, “Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law,” Guardian, April 3, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/former-supreme-court-judges-say-uk-arming-israel-breaches-international-law

    Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s ‘unintentional’ strike on aid workers stirs global outrage,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/03/israel-strike-world-central-kitchen-aid-workers-global-outrage/

    Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden warns Netanyahu the situation in Gaza is ‘unacceptable,’” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/biden-warns-netanyahu-situation-gaza-is-unacceptable/

    Trinidad Deiros Bronte, “The unpunished deaths of other civilians question Israel’s willingness to clarify the attack on WCK,” El País, April 4, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-04/the-unpunished-deaths-of-other-civilians-question-israels-willingness-to-clarify-the-attack-on-wck.html

    Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793

    Jacob Magid, “Senior Israeli official warns of growing ‘shoot first, ask later’ culture in IDF,” Times of Israel, April 4, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-official-warns-of-growing-shoot-first-ask-later-culture-in-idf/

    Kate Sullivan, “Trump says Israel needs to ‘finish what they started’ and said war with Hamas is ‘taking a long time,’” CNN, April 4, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/04/politics/trump-israel-comments/index.html

    Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/

    Dov Lieber, Rory Jones, and Margherita Stancati, “Israel Says Troops Lacked Grounds for Strike That Killed Aid Workers in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-to-allow-more-aid-into-gaza-after-biden-warning-over-u-s-support-49bc42e4

    Michael Tomasky, “Is Biden Really Going to Let Netanyahu Lose Him the Election?” New Republic, April 5, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180481/biden-israel-netanyahu-lose-election

    Lazar Berman, “Israel’s begrudging approach to humanitarian aid could cost it the war in Gaza,” Times of Israel, April 6, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-begrudging-approach-to-humanitarian-aid-could-cost-it-the-war-in-gaza/

    Karen DeYoung, “Six months into Gaza war, Biden confronts the limits of U.S. leverage,” Washington Post, April 6, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/06/gaza-israel-biden-war/

    Emanuel Fabian, “IDF chief says withdrawal of troops from Gaza doesn’t mean war is close to end,” Times of Israel, April 7, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-says-withdrawal-of-troops-from-gaza-doesnt-mean-war-is-close-to-end/

    M. J. Lee, “Inside President Biden’s pointed phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu,” CNN, April 7, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/politics/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-phone-call-details/index.html

    David Horovitz, “Israel’s major ground war in Gaza is over; the state of war inflicted by Hamas is not,” Times of Israel, April 8, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-major-ground-war-in-gaza-is-over-the-state-of-war-inflicted-by-hamas-is-not/

    Katie Polglase et al., “Dying for a bag of flour: Videos and eyewitness accounts cast doubt on Israel’s timeline of deadly Gaza aid delivery,” CNN, April 9, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/09/middleeast/gaza-food-aid-convoy-deaths-eyewitness-intl-investigation-cmd/index.html

    Times of Israel, “US Sen. Warren: World Court has ‘ample evidence’ to find Israel guilty of genocide,” April 9, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-sen-warren-world-court-has-ample-evidence-to-find-israel-guilty-of-genocide/

    Guardian, “Netanyahu making a ‘mistake’ on Gaza, says Biden, as he urges Israel to push for ceasefire,” April 9, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/10/benjamin-netanyahu-joe-biden-gaza-mistake-ceasefire-israel-war-palestine

    Neoliberalism

    Banking

    Commercial real estate


    Fig. 1. The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, with the “Golden Triangle” and downtown Pittsburgh. Photograph by author, October 15, 2023.

    San Francisco has been the poster child for a possible “doom loop.” But there, apparently, artificial idiocy is coming to at least a partial rescue as technology firms take up office space. Saint Louis, however, is an entirely different story as a doom loop has taken hold in parts of downtown.[3]

    Konrad Putzier, “The Real Estate Nightmare Unfolding in Downtown St. Louis,” Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/doom-loop-st-louis-44505465

    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]Guardian, “Netanyahu making a ‘mistake’ on Gaza, says Biden, as he urges Israel to push for ceasefire,” April 9, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/10/benjamin-netanyahu-joe-biden-gaza-mistake-ceasefire-israel-war-palestine↩
    3. [3]Konrad Putzier, “The Real Estate Nightmare Unfolding in Downtown St. Louis,” Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/commercial/doom-loop-st-louis-44505465↩

    Hypocrisy and the ‘rules-based order’

    benfell

    I have all but severed my connection with Google. There are remnants left, but as part of my unsubscription project, I have canceled the Voice (phone) and Enterprise (cloud storage and email) subscriptions which I have been working on phasing out. I should no longer be paying them anything.

    Google has been problematic for privacy reasons, especially relating to abortion.[1] And I stopped buying Pixel phones following an absolutely appalling customer service experience.

    Having moved into the Apple ecosystem, I had been maintaining the Google ecosystem while recovering my data. This project was hopefully complete because if it wasn’t, that data is now forever lost.

    Imperialism

    United States


    Fig. 1. “American Progress,” painting by John Gast, 1872, digital version 2006, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

    The truth is that there’s little new in Ishaan Tharoor’s piece today. It’s about western hypocrisy in the so-called “rules-based order” that undermines its appeals to that order on Ukraine and elsewhere.[2] This has been said before.[3]

    More fundamentally, we have a clash between morality and the intentionally amoral ‘realism’ or ‘realpolitik’ theory. The latter posits that countries act according to their own interests with little regard for justice or for moral considerations. The trouble is that this is indeed how the U.S. and other major powers have operated, pretty much forever. So to paraphrase Tharoor (and the scholar he moderated at a conference), smaller countries who are often subject to major powers acting capriciously are less impressed when those same powers appeal to “morality.” But the colonizers refuse to recognize their own hypocrisy, setting up conflict that gets reduced to “the West versus the rest.”

    I don’t argue with any of this. And Tharoor does valuable work in highlighting it yet again. But we need to move toward a solution:

    “Rather than fictionalize the differences between an Enlightened West and a backwards rest around a ‘standard of civilization,’ should we not be pushing for a universal ‘standard of truth’ instead?” [Matias] Spektor asked.

    This would force politicians and wonks to develop “some ability to see the world through the eyes of others,” he said. That may seem now a perhaps uncomfortable and unattainable level of empathy to expect of elites in power in Western capitals.[4]

    The trouble here is in the doing, in the discrepancy between such words and actual deeds. We can say we uphold international law and human rights, but until we actually do it, these are empty words, which amount to, really, the same problem we started with.

    Tharoor mentions Gaza only in passing in this article,[5] but he has previously written repeatedly, eloquently, and at length about the suffering there, and would surely agree that that would be a place to start.

    Ishaan Tharoor, “The fallacy of the ‘West versus the rest’ worldview,” Washington Post, April 9, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/09/liberal-west-versus-illiberal-rest-worldview-analysis-matias-spektor/

    Israel

    Palestine

    07_09:10:47-2
    Fig. 2. 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,[6] fair use.

    CNN’s analysis of dozens of videos from the night [February 29, 2024] and testimonies from eyewitnesses’ casts doubt on Israel’s version of events [in the ‘flour massacre,’ killing more than 100 Gazans and injuring more than 700]. The evidence, reviewed by forensic and ballistic experts, indicated that automatic gunfire began before the [Israel Defense Forces] said the convoy had started crossing through the checkpoint and that shots were fired within close range of crowds that had gathered for food.[7]

    Most of the people that were killed were rammed by the aid trucks during the chaos and while trying to escape the Israeli gunfire.”[8]

    Times of Israel, “Israel acknowledges killing 7 aid charity workers in ‘tragic, unintentional’ airstrike,” April 2, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-promises-probe-as-slain-aid-workers-home-countries-demand-explanation/

    Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden rebukes Israel over aid workers, but his Gaza policy is unchanged,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/03/biden-world-central-kitchen-tough-statement-israel-policy/

    Hafiz Rashid, “‘Unacceptable’: White House Cancels Event as Biden Struggles on Gaza,” New Republic, April 3, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180409/white-house-cancels-event-gaza-outcry

    Haroon Siddique, Eleni Courea, and Patrick Wintour, “Former supreme court judges say UK arming Israel breaches international law,” Guardian, April 3, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/former-supreme-court-judges-say-uk-arming-israel-breaches-international-law

    Ishaan Tharoor, “Israel’s ‘unintentional’ strike on aid workers stirs global outrage,” Washington Post, April 3, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/03/israel-strike-world-central-kitchen-aid-workers-global-outrage/

    Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser, “Biden warns Netanyahu the situation in Gaza is ‘unacceptable,’” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/biden-warns-netanyahu-situation-gaza-is-unacceptable/

    Trinidad Deiros Bronte, “The unpunished deaths of other civilians question Israel’s willingness to clarify the attack on WCK,” El País, April 4, 2024, https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-04/the-unpunished-deaths-of-other-civilians-question-israels-willingness-to-clarify-the-attack-on-wck.html

    Michael R. Gordon and Nancy A. Youssef, “Biden Ties Support for Israel to Civilian Protection in Gaza, ” Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/biden-netanyahu-set-to-talk-as-gaza-aid-worker-deaths-add-to-pressure-on-israel-9dee3793

    Jacob Magid, “Senior Israeli official warns of growing ‘shoot first, ask later’ culture in IDF,” Times of Israel, April 4, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-israeli-official-warns-of-growing-shoot-first-ask-later-culture-in-idf/

    Kate Sullivan, “Trump says Israel needs to ‘finish what they started’ and said war with Hamas is ‘taking a long time,’” CNN, April 4, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/04/politics/trump-israel-comments/index.html

    Adam Taylor, “Biden’s ‘red line’ on Gaza is nowhere to be found,” Washington Post, April 4, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/04/biden-wck-world-central-kitchen-israel-policy-change/

    Dov Lieber, Rory Jones, and Margherita Stancati, “Israel Says Troops Lacked Grounds for Strike That Killed Aid Workers in Gaza,” Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-to-allow-more-aid-into-gaza-after-biden-warning-over-u-s-support-49bc42e4

    Michael Tomasky, “Is Biden Really Going to Let Netanyahu Lose Him the Election?” New Republic, April 5, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/180481/biden-israel-netanyahu-lose-election

    Lazar Berman, “Israel’s begrudging approach to humanitarian aid could cost it the war in Gaza,” Times of Israel, April 6, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-begrudging-approach-to-humanitarian-aid-could-cost-it-the-war-in-gaza/

    Karen DeYoung, “Six months into Gaza war, Biden confronts the limits of U.S. leverage,” Washington Post, April 6, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/06/gaza-israel-biden-war/

    Emanuel Fabian, “IDF chief says withdrawal of troops from Gaza doesn’t mean war is close to end,” Times of Israel, April 7, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-says-withdrawal-of-troops-from-gaza-doesnt-mean-war-is-close-to-end/

    M. J. Lee, “Inside President Biden’s pointed phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu,” CNN, April 7, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/06/politics/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza-war-phone-call-details/index.html

    David Horovitz, “Israel’s major ground war in Gaza is over; the state of war inflicted by Hamas is not,” Times of Israel, April 8, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-major-ground-war-in-gaza-is-over-the-state-of-war-inflicted-by-hamas-is-not/

    Katie Polglase et al., “Dying for a bag of flour: Videos and eyewitness accounts cast doubt on Israel’s timeline of deadly Gaza aid delivery,” CNN, April 9, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/09/middleeast/gaza-food-aid-convoy-deaths-eyewitness-intl-investigation-cmd/index.html

    Times of Israel, “US Sen. Warren: World Court has ‘ample evidence’ to find Israel guilty of genocide,” April 9, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-sen-warren-world-court-has-ample-evidence-to-find-israel-guilty-of-genocide/

    1. [1]Meghan Bobrowsky, “Google Says Maps, Searches Will Identify Clinics That Provide Abortions,” Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-says-maps-searches-will-identify-clinics-that-provide-abortions-11661457587; Darryl Coote, “N.Y. AG to Google: Stop directing people seeking abortions to anti-abortion centers,” United Press International, June 30, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/06/30/New-York-Google-Maps/9871656579373/; Jennifer Gollan, “Websites Selling Abortion Pills Are Sharing Sensitive Data With Google,” ProPublica, January 18, 2023, https://www.propublica.org/article/websites-selling-abortion-pills-share-sensitive-data-with-google; Poppy Noor, “Google targets low-income US women with ads for anti-abortion pregnancy centers, study shows,” Guardian, February 7, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/07/google-targets-low-income-women-anti-abortion-pregnancy-center-study; Runa Sandvik, “How US police use digital data to prosecute abortions,” TechCrunch, January 27, 2023, https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/27/digital-data-roe-wade-reproductive-privacy/; Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, “Facebook and Google are handing over user data to help police prosecute abortion seekers,” Business Insider, March 4, 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/police-getting-help-social-media-to-prosecute-people-seeking-abortions-2023-2↩
    2. [2]Ishaan Tharoor, “The fallacy of the ‘West versus the rest’ worldview,” Washington Post, April 9, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/09/liberal-west-versus-illiberal-rest-worldview-analysis-matias-spektor/↩
    3. [3]Adam Taylor, “The United States and ICC have an awkward history,” Washington Post, March 16, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/16/icc-us-cooperation-international-criminal-court-history/; Ishaan Tharoor, “20 years later, U.S. invasion of Iraq hangs over war in Ukraine,” Washington Post, March 17, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/03/17/iraq-invasion-ukraine-history-shadow/; Ahmed Twaij, “Bush did what Putin’s doing — so why is he getting away?” al Jazeera, March 28, 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/28/putin-should-be-punished-so-must-bush↩
    4. [4]Ishaan Tharoor, “The fallacy of the ‘West versus the rest’ worldview,” Washington Post, April 9, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/09/liberal-west-versus-illiberal-rest-worldview-analysis-matias-spektor/↩
    5. [5]Ishaan Tharoor, “The fallacy of the ‘West versus the rest’ worldview,” Washington Post, April 9, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/04/09/liberal-west-versus-illiberal-rest-worldview-analysis-matias-spektor/↩
    6. [6]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/↩
    7. [7]Katie Polglase et al., “Dying for a bag of flour: Videos and eyewitness accounts cast doubt on Israel’s timeline of deadly Gaza aid delivery,” CNN, April 9, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/09/middleeast/gaza-food-aid-convoy-deaths-eyewitness-intl-investigation-cmd/index.html↩
    8. [8]Khader Al Za’anoun, quoted in Katie Polglase et al., “Dying for a bag of flour: Videos and eyewitness accounts cast doubt on Israel’s timeline of deadly Gaza aid delivery,” CNN, April 9, 2024, https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/09/middleeast/gaza-food-aid-convoy-deaths-eyewitness-intl-investigation-cmd/index.html↩