Our Blind Support of Israel is Going to Come Back to Bite US.
I have always viewed the State of Israel with a sense of fait accompli. Its formation took place long before I was born, was signed off by a valid US president for whom I have respect, and, of course, I’ve been swimming in a sea of pro-Israeli propaganda since day one, via both the mass media and the religions to which I was exposed.
There are events, and comes a time, however, when some things become simply to glaring to miss. One such event took place many decades ago, when a dorm mate of mine at university jumped out of skin when the question of Gaza came up. “They’re animals! Subhuman!” He proclaimed, a look of pure hatred on his face. I was blown away. Where I come from, see, that’s Nazi talk and never acceptable. No humans, no member of the human family, is “subhuman.” Quite simply, that’s an evil mindset. I backed away from him and it and tried to put the event out of my mind.
In the past few years, I studied the Gaza situation a bit, as best able, and often came away with a feeling of profound helplessness. The roots of the conflict went so deep, the mutual hatred was so great, the chaos so beyond my comprehension, I couldn’t imagine how to even start to approach a solution.
I did come to one conclusion, however, and that was the centrality of water and power, which if provided to Gaza would in theory raise living standards and help make for better lives there. It was then I found out that (reportedly) whenever folks in Gaza dug a well, the IDF would show up to fill it with concrete. I have about 65 percent confidence this is a true report. I also learned that Israel tightly controlled all water, power, and food that was allowed into Gaza. That didn’t seem right, at all. Now most recently, I have learned about the Israeli concept of “mowing the lawn,” which is was there way to describe heading into Gaza on a periodic basis to kill and imprison people. Dudes. That’s not cool. At all.
Then came the attack on Oct. 7th by Hamas, and I was justifiably outraged. Taking civilians as hostages and harming non-combatants is a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions—a war crime—and Hamas was guilty of that.
Shortly thereafter, however, from Israeli news sources themselves, key questions were asked, later shown to have legs, such as “why the security stand-down and a 7 hour delay in formal response? Was the Hannibal doctrine activated (first person tank and helicopter crews report it was)? Why were warnings given not just days and weeks but months and years ahead of this operation played down or ignored by Israeli authorities?”
With the Israeli response to Gaza and Hamas since Oct. 7th, we appear to have our answer. To put it bluntly there are already plans in the works to turn Gaza into a seaside wonderland for Israelis. None less then the son of Mr. Trump put forward this idea (100 percent confidence), and many a marketing and architecture firm are all on board, shopping the notion to Israelis (20 percent confidence).
More to the point, however, a military operation clearly animated by hate rather than tactical requirements or strategic necessity has been engaged in by Israel, violating several aspects of the Geneva Conventions and at this point far exceeding the crimes by Hamas committed on Oct. 7th, even though those do, in fact, remain crimes.
It’s here I have to give a shout-out to Karim Asad Ahmad Khan and the ICC. There’s a guy doing his level best—even if I sometimes still differ with him. On the question of Gaza, I think he, the ICC, and the ICJ are getting it right. Credit where credit is due.
This brings us however to the events of last weekend, and the Israeli attack upon Lebanon that took place in the shape of exploding common consumer products. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that many were killed, thousands have been maimed, and majority of the victims were non-combatants by any definition outside a Hitlerian one.
Booby traps and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), according to Article 51 and Article 52 of the First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions (1977), are considered indiscriminate attacks that target civilians or civilian objects and are explicitly prohibited. Booby-trapping objects that civilians are likely to use, such as radios or cell phones, would qualify as such a violation.
Protocol II on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps, and Other Devices (1996), part of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), specifically prohibits the use of booby-traps against civilians. Article 3 prohibits the placement of booby traps in objects or places where civilians are expected to be present, including on common consumer items.
Geneva Convention IV (1949) and its Additional Protocols protect civilians during wartime. Article 32 of Protocol I states that acts intended to cause unnecessary suffering, including attacks on civilians or indiscriminate attacks, are considered war crimes.
In addition, acts that intentionally harm civilians indiscriminately can also be classified as terrorism under international law, especially if the intent is to spread fear or coerce a population.
The International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997) criminalizes bombings targeting civilians or civilian objects, including acts committed during wartime that are meant to cause death or serious injury.
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which defines war crimes, includes attacks on civilians, indiscriminate attacks, and acts intended to spread terror among the civilian population (Article 8), specify that terroristic actions intended to instill fear in the civilian population through the use of explosives, including booby-trapped devices, would fall under this statute.
To be blunt, the following key legal texts classify what Israel has done to Lebanon as war crimes and potential acts of terrorism:
Geneva Conventions (1949) and Additional Protocols (1977)
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), Protocol II on Booby-Traps (1996)
Rome Statute of the ICC (1998)
International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997)
Any deliberate targeting of civilians through the use of improvised explosives hidden in civilian objects do indeed violate international law, constitute war crimes, and are potentially acts of terrorism due to the indiscriminate nature of such attacks.
The damage the United States is presently doing to its moral standing in the world through blind and unquestioning support of Israel, despite gross violations of international human rights laws, is profound and dangerous. I believe that key figures within the State Department and Biden’s administration—many of whom may hold dual citizenships—are driving these decisions, blinded by tribal allegiances rather than national interests. This reckless path is not only undermining U.S. credibility but eroding the principles we claim to uphold. We must stop this—not only in the Middle East but in Ukraine as well, where similar dynamics of unchecked support and moral blindness are at play. More on that to come.
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