Note: Shift the Country supports Democrats and Democratic party values and of course American values. One of those values is freedom of speech. We haven’t previously published criticism here of specific Democrats in leadership, yet we also advocate for championing moral courage and speaking up for our values. This piece is a moral response to specific US government action in reaction to the emerging war in Israel including in Gaza.
Let's have a quiet talk about war crimes and the US' actions this week.
By quiet I mean in a conversational discourse tone, not aggressive, hopefully with low bias, and without specific anti-human sentiments of any flavour (on the Facebook version of this post, it’s gone pretty well so far).
What Hamas did over this past weekend and continues to do this week to Israel includes war crimes. It's a massacre. It's terrorism. It's heinous. It is the most god-awful stuff. We should condemn it and we are. It's spectacularly terrible. There are no words.
We have loudly proclaimed our outrage over Russia's very many public and hidden war crimes in country after country but most recently in Ukraine. It's massacre. It's genocide. It's heinous. It's also been spectacularly terrible. Once again there are no words.
Why is it that when Israel very publicly declares its intention to commit war crimes, that the United States' response is to declare absolute backing of Israel without conditions?
Maybe we should have at least one condition: that Israel not commit war crimes.
Israel should retaliate against Hamas. I don't think that's debatable.
But Israel could retaliate in ways that follow international war protocols at the very least.
It's a pretty freaking low bar when you're regulating how to commit war. But yet on earth we do have that very low bar. Israel has made its declaration to violate even that low bar clear.
I wouldn't comment on Israel's declarations and intentions except that the United States has declared that we will back Israel without condition.
Now I'm involved... and so is every United States citizen.
What will happen to Palestinians in the hellscape that is Gaza in the next few days... when the effects of Israel's war crime of cutting off water, food, electricity, and fuel begin to take effect?
It sure looks like the United States is endorsing whatever happens. From this unfortunate example of a press conference Tuesday, it also looks like the US is also being defensive about it:
It’s not okay. The US should not endorse or enable war crimes; even bearing in mind our own violent history. We can aim to do way better and this is an opportunity to do so.
There are things we should just be against. War crimes are one of them.
We shouldn't commit war crimes.
We shouldn't back war crimes.
As far as that goes, the US should actively join and participate in the International Criminal Court (their normal website is slow). We haven't. Perhaps because we have committed some war crimes here and there ourselves. Israel is also not a member of that court. Russia isn't either. Hamas isn't as they are a terrorist group and not a state. Palestine actually is a member. Here’s a good article on the ICC’s identified war crimes that may already be relevant in this escalating war.
President Biden has been talking about the rule of law.
But when we don't play by the rules or join the groups upholding international law... what is that rule of law exactly?
Where are the lines? Where is our moral high ground?
We cede moral territory when we do stuff like this. When we give unconditional support to a country pledging to commit and actively committing war crimes.
We could give conditional support requiring Israel to not commit war crimes... and our remaining support would still be enormous, spectacular, and extremely powerful.
We could give conditional support that could perhaps even stop Israel from committing additional war crimes. We have that kind of leverage.
We're backing and enabling Israel doing absolutely everything at this point.
Why not draw a line?
We're capable of it.
I think this unconditional support decision is a mistake and a poor moral choice.
What hell on earth will unfold in Gaza as the essentials for life are cut off in an already tough place that's being actively firebombed? Just today, the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations asked the UN for humanitarian aid for Gaza given this unfolding situation along with other requests:
What hell on earth will unfold in Israel and the rest of the Middle East as this war blossoms and grows? As tragedy spreads? How much worse will it get given these decisions?
We don't know. Nobody can.
But our country could have some hard lines even given this complicated, traumatic, tragic catastrophe. We could.
What's your take?
POST-SCRIPT… US media is doing a very sub-optimal job of reporting on this unfolding war; often leaving out so, so, so much of the complexity. Tracking the BBC, Al Jazeera English, or other international news sources can be helpful; some have near-live coverage via YouTube. This piece gets into some of the complexities of US media shortfalls — “The double standard with Israel and Palestine leaves us in moral darkness.” Linked from that story is the astonishing news that Israelis attacked a Jerusalem mosque last week. That story hasn’t gotten US coverage, but then the US media also leave out all kinds of history and abominable behaviour from all sides when it comes to this very complicated region.
Sharon Astyk did a great informal summary of it all this week in this post on how lots of tough things about Israel, Gaza, Palestine, Hamas and all of the people related to each can all be happening and true at the same time. On the subject of just having tough talks about all of this yet recognizing our humanity, this post on my personal wall went reasonably well this week. Be safe & be well out there.
Excellent.