1y ago

Joe Biden has done more than arm Israel. He’s complicit in Gaza’s devastating famine

www.independent.co.uk

President Joe Biden and his administration have been accused of being complicit in enabling a famine in Gaza by failing to sufficiently act on repeated warnings from their own experts and aid agencies.

The former officials say the US also provided diplomatic cover for Israel to create the conditions for famine by blocking international efforts to bring about a ceasefire or alleviate the crisis, making the delivery of aid almost impossible.

“This is not just turning a blind eye to the man-made starvation of an entire population, it is direct complicity,” former State Department official Josh Paul, who resigned over US support for the war, told The Independent.

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Because this is politics, and the US has only two possible options in November, it is good to remember that Trump told Israel that it should "end the problem" of Gaza.
Even if you don't like Biden on this issue, it is imperative to vote for him in November. A non-vote for Biden is almost as bad as a vote for Trump.
I can guarantee MAGA will have no qualms voting for Trump despite his genocidal tendencies. If you don't vote for Biden and Trump wins, you will be responsible for a lot of suffering.
- Kushner has already drawn up plans for the condos they’re gonna build in Gaza after they bulldoze it. People are so fucking stupid if this is the reason they don’t vote for Biden. It will literally get much worse
- Even if you don’t like Biden on this issue
  No one should like Biden on this issue.
  
  Don't worry, when Trump wins we won't have to worry about Gaza or palestinians in general!
- We are so gonna see a pickachuface moment, aren't we?
  I am so sorry for you all over there.
  But hey, at least you will have the privilege of Schadenfreude! Gotta stay positive, am i rite?
- Seems likely that if Biden wins he'll drop all pretenses of giving a shit about Palestinians at all, since he won't have another election to worry about
- Why isn't Biden responsible?
  
  They literally didn’t say that, but ok.
  
  he is. and I am completely fine with his impeachment and removal from office...
  ...after trump is locked out.
The majority of Palestinian deaths came after the last ceasefire. The UN Security Council demanded another ceasefire exactly like the armchair diplomats demanded, and yet it made no difference at all. At what point do people realize that foreign policy is complex as fuck and that knee jerk solutions, however well intended, are not the real answer?
We don't need a ceasefire, we need a peace. That requires careful application of power and influence across multiple warring cultures with a crazy web of often contradictory alegences. That's the goal that the Biden administration has been working towards, and abandoning Israel would be a disaster for everyone.
With or without US support, Israel can destroy Gaza. Israel has twice the population of Palestine, is far better armed already, and their people are better educated and have access to food and medicine. Israel also has a right wing Prime Minister who's entire political image is based on anti-Palestinian racism. Throw in the fact that he might face trial as soon as he leaves office, and it becomes clear he is not backing down.
The new shipments recently announced are for some time in 2026 at the earliest. They are of no assistance to Israel until then and, until that time, they are leverage.
I make no defense for Israel's actions in this conflict, the illegal settlements, or the apartide system they benefit from. I also disagree with a whole lot about the Biden administration's response to this conflict, and to the protests within the US. However, it's a far more complicated situation than many understand. People should also keep in mind that foreign policy strategies often collapse if talked about publicly.
- abandoning Israel would be a disaster for everyone.
  How would this be a disaster for anyone but Israel? Worst case scenario, it's a disaster for Zionists, the US military industrial complex profitting off them, and whatever portion of Israel's population opposes Israel's apartheid ethno-state, and I've only got sympathy for the last of them. At worst, it's an inconvenience for the US with Iran. Other than that, let Israel get rocked by sanctions and smacked around by their neighbors they've been antagonizing for decades with US support. Let Israelis go be refugees if necessary and there's an actual threat of loss of life. Otherwise, whoop dee doo, cutting off Israel means they get what they're due for. Israel is not some essential nation that the world would fall apart should it cease to exist in its current form.
  
  The US abandoning Israel would throw the whole region into turmoil. Iran and/or it's proxies would become far more hostile and Israel would no longer be willing to even pretend to tolerate a hostile force within its own boarders. Both Gaza and the West Bank are just gone. Israel would start cutting deals with US rivals which would have global implications.
  US pulling out of Israel would be the most chaos inducing event in world history.
  
  Well they do have nukes... So if a bunch of crazy religious folks get backed into a corner conventionally with their neighbors it could end very badly.
- [Peace is] the goal that the Biden administration has been working towards
  Yeah totally, the guy who has shipped 300,000 bombs to a genocidal warlord is actually working for peace! And anyone who disagrees just doesn't understand the complexity of the situation. /s
  
  I don't know where you got that 300k number from, but I clearly said that I disagree with much of Biden's response.
  Saving Palestinian lives is sadly not a strategic goal of US foreign policy. This is true for Biden, his election opponents, and every US President since WWII. However, general stability in the Middle East is very much a strategic goal, and that is not well served by Israel's recent actions. So yeah, the US is going to support it's ally Israel while working towards peace. This is not out of altruism, it's in service to it's own strategic interests. Everything in foreign policy eventually comes down to competing interests and power, and that's not just an American thing.
- However, it’s a far more complicated situation than many understand. People should also keep in mind that foreign policy strategies often collapse if talked about publicly.
  How utterly convenient for pro-genocide centrists.
  
  But I'm not either, as I made quite clear.
- Nuanced and well-thought-through thoughts instead of Populism? On Lemmy?
  Seriously, It made me really happy to see that there are still people that actually inform themselves, sit down and think through stuff.
  A rarity sadly.
  
  Trump's gang has given populists a bad name. The only requirements for being a populist are that you believe there is a wealthy class that dominates our politics to serve their own class purposes, and you think that is a bad thing. I consider myself a left wing populist.
Meanwhile, Biden tried to stop arms shipments to Israel and Biden got vetoed by the Republicans in Congress
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-votes-force-weapons-shipments-israel-rebuking-biden-2024-05-16/
Horrific. What can we as individuals do to help alleviate this situation?
- The college protests actually seem to have raised the pressure on Israel, and have started to spread in Europe. I think that joining with that effort is probably the most impact that average citizens can have. That and donate to charitable organizations bringing aid to Gaza, even if that aid is currently being blocked.
  
  The boycott movement on tiktok and other social media seem to be doing something as well. Considering McDonald's is starting to issue statements bemoaning the boycott and how they have never supported Israel, or something like that.
  
  The college protests actually seem to have raised the pressure on Israel
  How have they changed the way Netanyahu pursues genocide?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said: “Since the beginning of this conflict, president Biden has been leading efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza to alleviate the suffering of innocent Palestinians who have nothing to do with Hamas.”
The same day Mr Ryan described Gaza’s grim outlook, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby defended the Biden administration’s decision to suspend aid to UNRWA.
“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine,” he said, adding that the coordinates for the facility were shared with the Israeli army.
In an opinion piece headlined “Let People Eat” published in The New York Times in the days after the killings, Mr Andrés said the strike was “the direct result of a policy that squeezed humanitarian aid to desperate levels”, and accused Israel of “blocking food and medicine to civilians”.
A separate memo written by USAID officials for Mr Blinken and leaked to Devex found that Israel may be violating a White House directive requiring recipients of US military assistance to permit the unimpeded delivery of US-funded humanitarian support.
Yet another memo leaked to Devex by food security experts was titled “Famine Inevitable, Changes Could Reduce but Not Stop Widespread Civilian Deaths.” It said that “Israel-imposed administrative challenges are preventing the delivery” of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.
The original article contains 4,912 words, the summary contains 242 words. Saved 95%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Yikes. Have they released the hostages yet?
- They can’t Hitler 2.0 included them in his genocide of palestineans.

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