The Biden administration is pressing Israel to restore telecommunications access to Gaza amid a massive blackout that has stretched a record six days and left millions of Palestinians without power or internet.
Administration officials fear the blackout will make it difficult for anyone to know what is happening between Hamas and the Israeli military as the war in Gaza continues, potentially worsening an already dire humanitarian situation. The U.S. has “been in touch with the government of Israel over this blackout and have urged them to turn telecoms back on,” said a U.S. official at the White House, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
Israel: “No.”
Like, does anyone expect anything else?
Israel is well-aware that they have the US government by the balls. Not because the provide anything of exceptional use to the US government, but because their propaganda efforts and political bribery can make or break a politician’s career.
I wish that this nightmare would allow the US a chance to change that. Establishing Israel like this in the first place was a really bad move, and a lot of Jewish people were even saying as much at the time, I’ve heard.
Of course, I must also emphasize that millions of Israelis have no further sin than being born in Israel, and that though the establishment of Israel was a mistake, Israel also has a right to exist in the modern day under the same terms as any other country.
No Israel state doesn’t mean they all die. It just means a new state that combines Israel and Palestine into one large state where everyone has equal rights and combines resources. Like the Jewish people do fine in every other modern country in the world. That’s the one state solution and it’s the best one.
Functionally, no Israeli state means mass ethnic cleansing. Furthermore, people have a right to self-determination.
If Palestinians and Israelis got together and decided to make a single, non-discriminatory state, that would be wonderful. But neither side is interested in that kind of one-state solution.
Sometimes I wonder: Could a president forcefully standup to Israel and live out a term? I seriously feel that between the insane volume of lobbying by AIPAC and the implication of having caused such a rift in the political paradigm that no politician would ever dare be as firm as I’d hope they would.
And the GOP alternative will say to Netanyahu:
I’m not being an apologist. I just have become really sad about all this. Feeling pretty hopeless since this all started. Not that the feeling is new, just really turned up.