ISRAEL HAS COMMITTED A WAR CRIME
Early this morning, EDT, while those of us in the Midwest were sheltering from the storms, seven members of chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen were murdered by an Israeli air strike. DESPITE HAVING COMMUNICATED APPROPRIATELY WITH ISRAELI AUTHORITIES, the caravan was leaving a warehouse where they had just delivered more than 100 tons of food via maritime routes. The workers killed include a Palestinian and citizens from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, and a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.
The organization’s CEO, Erin Gore, put it this way: “This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,”
Enough with US tolerance of Israel’s fucking war crimes. World Central Kitchen has found ways to peacefully deliver food all over the world, including war-torn Ukraine, without any issue. They are a highly effective and respected organization that takes to heart the need to address the tragedy of hunger and famine in hard-to-reach places around the world. And who the fuck ends up bombing them? Israel, whom the US refuses to recognize as a serial war criminal.
Israel issued a statement saying they would investigate the matter, but good money is on getting back a statement saying something to the effect that “This was a horrible tragedy as sometimes happens during war. Oops, we’re sorry, but we’re not going to stop.”
Please understand, I’m not antisemitic. I’m anti-Zionist. There’s a difference. I believe Jewish people, as well as everyone else, have the right to live wherever the fuck they want to live.
What is Zionism? According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.” In short, skipping over several thousand years of history, it is a group dedicated to the formation and protection of the Jewish homeland as defined before an ancient Babylonian captivity.
Why is Zionism wrong? Because nationalism is wrong. Let me be very clear, for those in the back:
Everyone has the right to live peacefully wherever the fuck they want to live regardless of pretend borders, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
If you disagree, please kindly step the fuck off the planet. Humanity would not exist today were it not for multiple, free-roaming migrations of our ancestors, all of them, looking for hospitable and reasonable places to live without fear of the danger posed by natural resources or greedy idiots. The freedom to exist and the freedom of movement is an inherent right that no country has grounds for limiting. Telling a people, “You cannot live here and we’ll kill you if you try,” is anti-human and in violation of international law. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO EXIST.
What no one has is a right to govern where that government is not wanted. “The consent of the governed” is an extremely powerful clause. No one is obligated to recognize the authority of a government that actively denies the individual right to exist.
Yet, here we are, not only telling Palestinians to get out of Gaza and then killing them when they try, but now we’re killing the people who are simply trying to make sure no one starves to death in the process. Please, someone, reset that courtroom in Nuremberg. We have some crimes that need to be addressed.
The support of these activities by the US government is critical as well. While Israel is doing its best to exterminate all of Gaza, US states such as Florida and Texas are putting limits on who can travel in/out of their states in search of medical care such as abortions. We’re just as bad, if not potentially worse, than Israel so no wonder we’re supportive of the crimes they’re committing.
Wait, don’t we inherently have the right to travel between states? Sort of, but not really. The right to travel is generally covered under the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The specific portions reads: “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” Since 1823, that has generally been taken to include freedom of movement. However, since then, throughout the 19th century, the Court continued to let the states have the authority to decide who could move back and forth across state lines. So, if a state decides it doesn’t want people traveling to a “safe” state for medical care, precedent would indicate that they have the right to limit that travel and impose penalties.
In case you’ve not been keeping up, Texas is willing to impose the death penalty.
All of these actions are anti-freedom, anti-human, and grossly immoral by any standard. We’ve put up with far too many of these crimes and we’re past the time when people like you and me need to object and flood both the Internet and the halls of Congress with the noise of our opposition.
Consider this my first volley. ENFORCE A CEASE-FIRE IN GAZA NOW! Let’s make humanity more important than anyone’s nationalism.
No Mistake: They Were Targeted
Benjamin Netanyahu is lying through his ugly mug. After Israeli drones murdered seven aid workers yesterday, the Prime Minister did exactly what I predicted: He said it was an accident and that these things happen in war.
If these things happen in war, it is because someone made them happen.
Late yesterday, US time, World Central Kitchen’s founder, Chef Jose Andres’, told Reuters in an exclusive interview that it was, in fact, no accident at all. He said that the vehicles in the convoy were targeted, “systematically, car by car.” Furthermore, he said that this was not the first time! This was the THIRD time that the drones had targeted the convoy! This repeated targeting makes it exceedingly clear that Tuesday’s event was not an “accident.”
“This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” Andres said.
“This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo that we are obviously very proud of,” he said. It’s “very clear who we are and what we do.”
“They were targeting us in a deconflicting zone, in an area controlled by IDF. They knowing that it was our teams moving on that road … with three cars,” he said.
“Even if we were not in coordination with the (Israel Defense Forces), no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians,” he added.
What’s worse than being inexcusable? The attack was inexcusable two days ago. Now that we find that the attack is part of a repetitive chain, of deliberate and unprovoked attacks on unarmed international aid workers, the only designation left is to recognize this as a WAR CRIME.
I’m furious that the US is believing Netanyahu’s bullshit about it being an accident. The time has come for the UN, led by the US, to stand up to the litany of lies that Netanyahu is telling and DEMAND that this war be brought to an end NOW. There is no room for any level of tolerance at all. The war must stop and the US must take the lead in making it happen because Netanyahu is a ridiculous buffoon making a dangerous and deadly power grab.
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