By Professor Hossein Askari
PORTLAND - Yes, we know the official Hamas count of Palestinian deaths as of August 23—a little over 41,000 and counting, with about 70 percent of the carnage women and children.
Some observers estimate the associated deaths as of now could be at least another 100,000—those already killed and under the rubble and in those in the throes of death from lack of basic medicines and care, malnutrition and disease with Gaza reporting its first case of polio in twenty-five years on August 26.
There are tens of thousands of children who are struggling as orphans and on a constant move when Israelis command them to evacuate every few days. The sub-par existence and infrastructure that Gaza had before the war is now 80-90 percent destroyed with Gazans surviving in a state few humans faced even a century ago.
In revenge for the Hamas attack and hostage taking of October 7, Netanyahu vowed to annihilate Hamas, an impossible task as Hamas is a movement for liberation after years of Israeli oppression, an idea that cannot be expunged unless its aspiration is fulfilled. Instead of obliterating Hamas, Israeli forces wanting to minimize their own casualties from close combat have cowardly bombed and bombed, dropping 2,000 and 1,000 pound bombs designed to kill indiscriminately and destroy blocks of buildings.
Israel’s carnage of Palestinians has been enabled by the United States. Bombs and every weapon imaginable have been rushed to Israel’s war machine. Yes, the U.S. has publicly highlighted its pressure on Israel to minimize civilian deaths while it has stepped up Israel’s supply of weapons of massive destruction. The U.S. has given financial aid too. The U.S. has defended Israel in all fora. It has vetoed resolutions that would condemn Israel’s atrocities, murderous acts that no human being with eyes, a brain and a dose of honor could justify as self-defense. The United States, a country that professes upholding the rule of law, has undermined lawfulness in a number of ways. It has threatened countries not to initiate or enjoin cases against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Further, the U.S. has even stooped so low as to threaten judges and prosecutors—reminiscent of Mafia tactics that it has abhorred and outlawed at home. No matter how you look at it, the United States is complicit in all that Israel is doing and has done and Washington will ultimately be held accountable.
“The U.S. has defended Israel in all fora. It has vetoed resolutions that would condemn Israel’s atrocities, murderous acts that no human being with eyes, a brain and a dose of honor could justify as self-defense.”
To ensure the support of Americans, the U.S. government has worked overtime to misinform and deceive its own people. It has said over and over again that it is working tirelessly to minimize civilian deaths and to achieve a ceasefire to free the Israeli hostages, yet it supplies more untargeted massive bombs to Israel and defends Israel behind the scenes. It hunts for the Hamas leader Sinwar and shares intelligence, maintaining that it is not involved in Israel’s war. It mentions Israeli hostages in every breath and hardly ever acknowledges the thousands of Palestinians that have been killed, arrested and tortured without charge by Israeli forces (IDF) since October 7 in the West Bank. After all, a hostage is not only those taken by Hamas on October 7 but also a Palestinian incarcerated without charge by the IDF. One is somehow portrayed as acceptable and the other beyond the pale because Hamas is labelled a terrorist organization by the U.S. and its allies whereas the IDF is portrayed as a “humanitarian army.” The U.S. Secretary of State is portrayed as tirelessly going to the Middle East in search of a ceasefire, yet his missions are more designed to deceive Americans and the world than to bring about a just ceasefire and peace. The United States could dictate a ceasefire as Israel’s backer in chief with one telephone call, yet it pretends that its hands are tied. The ceasefire plan that President Biden proposed was accepted by Hamas and we were told it was accepted by Israel too but then Netanyahu started tinkering with it as to the withdrawal of Israeli forces, most noticeably on the border with Egypt, commonly referred to as the Philadelphi Corridor, and the Netzarim Corridor, allowing the Israeli army to bisect and control the Gaza Strip. It is Israel that has reneged, yet the United States will not say so! This is not the behavior of an “honest” broker. The U.S. media is also all in with these deceptions and continues to refer to Hezbollah and Houthis as Iran-backed, never referring to Israel as American-backed with Israel receiving much more from the U.S. than do the others from Iran. After all, the Houthis and Hezbollah are labelled terrorists by the U.S. and its allies, so anything goes!
The bias and deception go far beyond the White House. While Donald Trump has been all in with Israel, the Democrats have been more cagey and advertised themselves as the “all-inclusive tent,” presumably embracing all Americans regardless of race, creed or color. Jews are reported to be 2 percent of the U.S. population and Muslims 1.3 percent, with Pew Research predicting that the number of Muslims will exceed the number of Jews by 2040. Yet at the recent Democratic Convention, the DNC (obviously with Harris’ blessing) did all it could to silence even a moderate 2-minute speech request in support of Palestinians. A blunder of epic proportion! Those in the uncommitted bloc had proposed any of three speakers for the two-minute slot— Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, Illinois state Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid and Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric care physician who has treated patients in Gaza. After intense negotiations they were all excluded and yet the mother and father of an American-Israeli hostage (Hersh Goldberg-Polin), were invited to speak at the DNC. American political parties and the vast majority of American lawmakers are in the service of presumed Israeli interests and AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) or the Israeli-Zionist-Jewish lobby. Palestinian captives in the thousands from the West Bank and Palestinian deaths in the tens of thousands in Gaza cannot get two minutes and yet the less than one hundred Israeli hostages get a mother and father and numerous Jewish supports at the DNC.
The U.S. Secretary of State is portrayed as tirelessly going to the Middle East in search of a ceasefire, yet his missions are more designed to deceive Americans and the world than to bring about a just ceasefire and peace.
An immediate step that might temper pro-Israeli bias in the United States would be to ban dual citizenship for all Americans, no matter the country of duality. Today, there are thousands of dual and triple citizens in our country. There are many who have served in foreign armies, such as the IDF, and now work at very high levels of the U.S. government in the White House and in intelligence. Why should we tolerate the threat of conflict of interest and all that it could lead to? People must choose. Who are they and where is their heart and loyalty? Make all such citizens choose. Also we should put an end to all the financial and military aid to Israel now. Can any lawmaker make a credible argument in support of this vast aid we have showered on a country that is richer than France while Americans are in need?
The U.S. designates a group terrorist at will and then feels free to do what it wants. Yes, the attack and hostage taking of October 7 were horrific, committed by an organization that the U.S. labels as terrorist, Hamas. No discussion of the label. But just look at what the IDF has been doing in Gaza and in the West Bank. Look at some of the horrific posts, showing true war crimes, that IDF soldiers have put online, on Instagram. If we label Hamas terrorist, what should we call IDF? And on top of that, look at the massacre that Israel has carried out in Gaza, could this be state terrorism? Is it any “better” than the acts of Hamas? Why does the media label Hamas terrorist at every opportunity but give Israeli forces a free pass and no harsh labels? Why is every attack on Jews labelled terrorist and everyday settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank hardly ever characterized as terrorist or even widely mentioned? These designations and the biased reporting of facts are clearly designed to brainwash Americans into buying into the Israeli-Zionist narrative—whatever Israel does is justified as a “defense” of their homeland, land that they have grabbed and illegally occupy, and whatever Palestinians do to resist ceding more of their land and homes to Israelis is “terrorism.” This false and distorted narrative must be carefully examined if we are to deliver a balanced picture of what has happened since 1948 and from even earlier in the Twentieth Century. Only by doing this could we look forward to more balanced U.S. policies in the Middle East.
Whatever Israel does is justified as a “defense” of their homeland, land that they have grabbed and illegally occupy, and whatever Palestinians do to resist ceding more of their land and homes to Israelis is “terrorism.”
Is AIPAC so powerful that America’s elections and its national interests have to be subservient to Israel’s? I often hear the words “we are helpless and there is nothing we can do to change the dialogue on Gaza and Palestinian rights” from prominent American friends and my former students, some of whom are very successful. Yes, AIPAC is very powerful, but we can affect the dialogue if we are willing to sacrifice and persist in the cause of justice. In almost every walk of life—academics, business, media, government, healthcare, law, finance, consulting—voices in support of Palestinians and criticism of Israeli and American policies are reportedly silenced with the usual reprimand of “antisemitism” along with threats of loss of employment, promotion and contracts. Americans are still not helpless if they have the courage to persist. The easiest thing we can all do is to inform our families, friends and neighbors of the simple facts without bias and emotion—call them, write to them, send them well-researched articles, videos, podcasts and engage them whenever and wherever our paths cross. We forget that most Americans are badly informed, bombarded by social media with distorted facts and figures.
It is important to set everything in context from 1948, Israeli and Palestinian behavior and America’s support of Israel. We should emphasize that our Congress passes billions of dollars in funding for Israel, while we have millions of children going to bed hungry every night here in America, children who lack decent healthcare and receive sub-par education. If Americans are better informed and stand up and are heard, we can overcome. Hopefully in the process, wealthy patriotic Americans and foundations will support the movement to inform Americans as others have done for AIPAC for years. Wealthy Palestinian-Americans, Arabs and Muslims of whom there are a number in institutions such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, BlackRock and Bank of America, should lead the pack—to fund non-profits, online activists, influencers and podcasters to get the Palestinian tragedy across to a wide audience. Yes, they need courage!
There also needs to be a legal fund in the U.S., run by highly qualified lawyers, to take on cases of discrimination against individuals espousing Palestinian rights. This would send a message to organizations, universities and companies acting in contravention to First Amendment rights and discriminating in other ways. At the same time it would give backing and a measure of comfort to those standing up for Palestinian rights and in reality for all Americans.
Our Congress passes billions of dollars in funding for Israel, while we have millions of children going to bed hungry every night here in America.
It is not only Americans that must be informed or confronted, Arab strongmen of the Persian Gulf and indeed many Muslim rulers, if they were united, could readily steer U.S. policies onto a more balanced path. The rulers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) control vast amounts of money and are critical to the world economy, having significant influence over resources such as oil and natural gas. Yet these rulers are scared to do anything. On the one hand, they are afraid to oppose U.S. policies because the United States might then mount a coup and overthrow them as they did the legitimate Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. On the other hand, they are afraid of Palestinians, especially Hamas and its distant connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that they and other Arab rulers (strongmen not endorsed, much less elected by the people) fear could overthrow them with the message of the Quran about illegitimate rulers. Still, activists from abroad could reach the citizenry in these countries to put popular pressure on their rulers urging them to stand up to the United States.
To be successful, what is needed is a multi-pronged campaign aimed at Americans, American politicians and companies, the media in the United States and abroad, across all channels of communication to reach young and old, rich and poor. The message must be persistent and repeated to permeate brains and dislodge the lies perpetuated by AIPAC over the years.
Let me end by saying that we should continue to support Israel as an important ally, akin to France, the UK or Germany, no less but no more. There is no good reason to finance and arm Israel, a richer country than these allies, while we have dire needs at home. At the same time, we must erase the shame of our benign neglect of Palestinians rights, in Israel’s illegal annexation of Palestinian homes and land and in our complicity in the carnage and destruction in Gaza. This is our chance to right all that we have done wrong. If we don’t act now, conditions will only deteriorate, hurting Israelis, Palestinians, others in the region and ultimately America’s long-term national interests throughout the world.
Hossein Askari is an emeritus professor of business and international affairs, George Washington University
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