Did you know the US is complicit in genocide RIGHT NOW?

Did you know the US is complicit in genocide RIGHT NOW?

If not, don’t feel bad. American mainstream media have not covered this news very well. It’s entirely possible that many millions of Americans are unaware of this horrifying fact. But since it is being done with our tax dollars ($10 million a day), we ought to know about it – and if we disagree with this use of our hard-earned money, we ought to make some noise.

As a public service, here is a crash course for you on this genocide. People of faith ought to be know if something like this is happening.

You may be aware that Israel is fighting right now with the Palestinians of Gaza. Many news outlets call it an “Israel-Hamas war,” but in reality, all the people of Gaza – not just members of Hamas – are involved. It’s also not a proper “war”: Israel has one of the most powerful militaries in the world and is backed by the United States, while Gaza has only small groups of militants; its army vehicles are pickup trucks and motorcycles, its air force consists of a hang glider or two.

Israel forces have killed 30,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of which are women and children. Thousands more are buried under the rubble of 360,000 damaged and destroyed homes. Almost the entire population of 2.3 million are starving. Children and infants have already died of malnutrition.

About 1,400 Israelis have been killed – 240 were Israeli soldiers who died in battle. The rest were killed on October 7th when Hamas fighters broke through the fence that surrounds Gaza and raided several military installations and kibbutzim. Many of the deaths that day were at the hands of fellow Israelis.

(The context behind Hamas’ attack is critical to understanding the situation – read about it here and here.)

Because of the incredibly high death toll in Gaza, along with Israel’s cruel destruction of hospitals and other critical infrastructure, its refusal to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid, and the genocidal statements that Israeli leaders have been making, Israel was tried recently in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

That is pretty huge news, but it wasn’t carried widely in mainstream media.

Because genocide is something of an emergency, the ICJ gave a provisional ruling – which will be in place until a final ruling is made (which could take years). The ruling: Israel was found by the highest court on the planet to be plausibly meeting the standards of committing genocide.

In simple English, the evidence presented was convincing enough to merit an exhaustive inquiry, and while the ICJ digs deeper into the case, Israel is on notice that its actions look enough like genocide that it needs to change tactics.

The court took into consideration the context of the October 7th massacre and ruled that, horrific though that incident was, it did not justify Israel’s enormous – and potentially genocidal – response that had killed, at that point, over 25,000 Gazans.

Close to 5,000 more have been killed in the four weeks since the ICJ’s ruling.

This is important: the United States, hearing the court’s decision, stood with Israel – the ostensibly genocidal country. What that means in practical terms is that while the US continues to supply Israel with weapons (which it is) and money (which it is trying to do), we are aiding and abetting genocide.

Do you find that disturbing? I hope we all find it deeply disturbing.

How disturbing? Enough to do something about it?

If you want to do something about it, I have some suggested actions below.

If you are not willing to act against Israel’s killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, remember this truism:

The only thing necessary for evil to triumph in the world is that good people do nothing.

That is to say, by not condemning Israel’s slaughter – you are, by default, enabling it.

To put it another way, if you are not taking a side against genocide – you are taking a side for genocide.

It’s that simple. We’re not talking about some vague problem, or a political issue. It’s not theoretical or philosophical. This is genocide. This is the killing of people because of who they are. That is not something to be hands-off about.

Especially as people of faith, genocide is something we must care deeply about – deeply enough to at least take some of these small actions:

Email your Representative here 

Email your Senator here.

Email President Biden here.

These people (allegedly) work for you. Tell them, “Enough. Ceasefire now. No more weapons to Israel. Stop the genocide now – or you’re fired.”

Tell people about this issue.

Share this post.

Learn more (you can start here and below).

I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter. I write about the Palestine-Israel issue regularly, and other issues relevant to progressives or those considering becoming progressive. If you would like to comment on this post, please pop over to my Facebook page. All of my posts are there and open to constructive comment. I welcome your thoughts.

READ MORE ABOUT PALESTINE:

Posts about my Gazan family (in chronological order):