More
than two million Palestinians in Gaza are facing an existential threat
at the hands of Israel, a nuclear-armed state with the full backing of
the United States. It is critical that Americans do everything we can to
end the violence and destruction immediately. Silence in the face of
clear evidence of crimes against humanity and stated intent to destroy a
people is complicity. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, for example, has
declared that Israel will break the “backbone” of the “entire nation” in
Gaza and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed that “we will eliminate everything.”
The scale and scope of the damage caused since confirm that these
statements were not hyperbolic or idle threats. This is exactly what is
happening.
The ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza has killed more than 24,000 people and injured another 61,000. According to Oxfam, 250 more Palestinians are killed every day; a far higher death rate than any other conflict in the 21st
century. Seventy percent of those killed are children and women. In the
first month of the assault alone, Israel killed ten times as many
Palestinian children as the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine killed
in its first year. Eighty-five percent of the population of Gaza is
displaced, forced from their homes by Israeli soldiers, tanks, and
fighter jets. Hundreds of schools, health facilities and religious sites
have been attacked, and nearly 70% of the homes in Gaza have been destroyed by what US President Joe Biden and independent United Nations experts have called indiscriminate Israeli bombing.
All of Israel’s actions are enabled by the unwavering economic, diplomatic, and military support of the United States.
Palestinians
in Gaza are also dying of hunger, cold, and disease. According to Human
Rights Watch, hundreds of thousands face famine because Israel is using
mass starvation as a weapon of war. On January 5, United Nations
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator Martin Griffiths stated that “Gaza has simply become
uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very
existence – while the world watches on.” This cannot be dismissed as simply “what happens in war.” Many experts in the field
have characterized the Israeli assault on Gaza as genocide. The South
African government has brought a petition to the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of violating the 1948 Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. South Africa is
seeking a provisional measure that would force Israel to end its
military onslaught in Gaza.
The ongoing Israeli assault came in
reaction to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in Israel that killed
more than 1,100 people, including nearly 700 civilians. No matter the
perpetrator, intentionally attacking civilians—and failing to
distinguish between military and civilian targets—is strictly forbidden
under international humanitarian law. The Hamas-led attack was abhorrent
and clearly violated international law. But we must be crystal clear:
The attack on October 7 does not, and cannot, justify indiscriminate
bombing and intentionally starving millions of civilians in response.
Nothing can justify this. Collective punishment is a war crime.
Moreover,
it is crucial to understand that the October 7 attack, and the
genocidal Israeli reprisal, did not happen in a vacuum. The most recent
escalation is situated in a broader context of repeated Israeli military assaults
on Gaza in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021 that together killed more
than 4,000 Palestinians and injured 20,000 more. According to the
Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, between the year 2000 and
October 6, 2023, more than 10,000
Palestinians were killed by Israel. Around 1,300 Israelis were killed
in that same period. Israel has maintained a near-total blockade of Gaza
since 2007. And Israel has conducted an illegal 56-year military
occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem that began in
1967, during which it has continuously, and illegally, annexed Palestinian land.
As the occupying power, Israel has specific responsibilities under
international law. It is obligated to end its occupation and until it
does, Palestinians have a well-established right to resist.
All of Israel’s actions are enabled by the unwavering economic,
diplomatic, and military support of the United States. Across decades,
the US has sent Israel billions of dollars to fund its military and it
has consistently
stymied efforts to hold Israel accountable for violations of international law. As we speak, American-made and
supplied weapons
are being used to kill and injure tens of thousands of Palestinian
civilians. That means that Americans have an urgent obligation to do
everything that we can to oppose the violence and to work toward an
immediate ceasefire. We need to demand an end to the siege and
longstanding blockade so that critically needed aid can enter Gaza. We
must push for an end to the illegal Israeli military occupation and
support efforts to hold all perpetrators of war crimes and crimes
against humanity accountable. Finally, it is imperative to advance
serious diplomatic negotiations that create just, peaceful, and lasting
solutions that foreground the right to Palestinian liberation and
self-determination that has been denied by Israel for decades.