GAZA casualties, live statistics
On Wednesday, Benjamin Netanyahu received a standing ovation after his speech to US Congress. It was a moment that seemed to usher in a new phase of the war in Gaza – one in which it is not only tolerated as an unfortunate necessity, but is seen as something for which unquestionable support will continue without limits, without red lines and without tactical discretion. Israel’s relentless erasure of families, homes, culture and infrastructure – without end or indication of when any of it will satisfy its goals – is now just a part of life.
At the same time, the presumptive Democratic contender, Kamala Harris, makes a nonsensical appeal that “we cannot allow ourselves to become numb” to what is happening and that she “will not be silent”, when the only thing that matters is that the US continues to arm and fund Israel.
It all represents a dissolution not only of international law, but a fundamental human law. Of the transgressions that upend everyday life, death by murder, as has been alleged, is perhaps the worst, most degrading crime. The sanctity of human life, the notion that it cannot be terminated without the highest justification, is what separates us from barbarism. And so as the past nine months have unfolded, with each landmark episode of killing, there were many moments when you thought: surely this is it?
When the first grey children were pulled out of the rubble. When unarmed civilians were captured on camera being picked off by drone missiles. When the five-year-old Hind Rajab died, waiting for help among her dead relatives, and when the ambulance workers dispatched to help her were killed. When World Street Kitchen workers were struck by precision missiles. When a man with Down’s syndrome was attacked by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dog in his home, and then left to die after soldiers removed his family and prevented them from returning. But the war didn’t stop.
There have, of course, been attempts to preserve and enforce the fragile rules of international and humanitarian law. And again, you hoped that, as the judgments came, they would usher in the end of the assault. When the international court of justice (ICJ) declared that Palestinians had a plausible right to protection from genocide and asked Israel to halt its Rafah offensive. When the international criminal court (ICC) made an application for an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. And when the ICJ found Israel responsible for apartheid.
In that effort, they were joined by millions of protesters around the world whose actions roiled their domestic politics in a way that suggested the situation was not tenable. But the war has found its place again, nestled within the status quo. The issue of Gaza played out through our parochial politics and overlapped with its discontents. It produced protest votes that helped to send a record number of independents into parliament in the UK and delivered electoral upsets for establishment politicians. University campuses in the US witnessed historic scenes of protest and heavy-handed policing….
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lancet warns Gaza death toll could be over 186,000
Serial Criminals Rule Israel. That’s Where the Collapse Begins
India is firing the engine of war while preaching peace
Gaza and the End of Western FantasyYuval Noah Harari’s odyssey into a parallel Zionist universe
Why is Bella Hadid in the headlines? Because it distracts from the hell on Earth that is Gaza
The Brutalization of Israel Is Well Underway. If we do not act, collapse is only a matter of time
Seth Anziska on Dominant Orthodoxies
Ralph Nader: The Mutually Reinforcing US and Israeli Empires
Automated Murder – Israel’s ‘AI’ in Gaza
Israel wants to slay the monster next door, but with this lethal bombardment, it is feeding it
The west’s complete contempt for the lives of Palestinians will not be forgotten
After the truth-shower 