[[link removed]]

WHY WE MUST OPPOSE ISRAEL’S DANGEROUS GAMBLE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 
[[link removed]]


 

Kathy Kelly
August 10, 2024
The Progressive
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ A failure to stop Israel’s genocide of Palestinians gambles with
the fate of humanity as a whole. _

, World Beyond War

 

Following World War II, Albert Camus posed
[[link removed]] a
“formidable gamble” to those who had survived a tragedy of immense
proportions. “We’re in history up to our necks,” he observed,
yet we must wager that “words are more powerful than munitions.”

“Leave or die” are the horrid words threatening largely
unprotected Palestinian civilians in Gaza as dismayed populations
around the world demand moral decency, or at least some indication of
sanity, from their non-responsive governments.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. For decades, Israel has flouted
international norms by refusing
[[link removed].] to
acknowledge its nuclear weapons arsenal. Nor has it signed relevant
treaties governing the biological weapons it possesses. For years,
Israel has flagrantly violated
[[link removed].] the
Geneva Conventions and basic principles of customary international law
through its forcible acquisition of territories in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem and through its transfer of Israeli settlers
[[link removed]] into
the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Now, Israel’s genocidal attacks against Palestinians living in Gaza
have cost the lives [[link removed]] of at least 39,677
people. Tens of thousands more are believed to be buried beneath the
rubble, with at least 90,000 wounded and the overwhelming majority of
its displaced 1.9 million population facing starvation.

Israel’s failure to comply with international treaties and
humanitarian law signal an acute need for other countries to organize
weapons embargoes, cease trade deals, and provide support for civilian
peacekeepers to bring about a permanent ceasefire.

Instead of unwavering adherence to international law, the United
States continues to arm
[[link removed]] and
protect Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians, which now
includes using starvation
[[link removed]] as
a weapon of war.

We must try to absorb what it means to live as a refugee in an
open-air concentration camp—already one of the most densely
populated areas on Earth, even before 70 percent of its housing
was destroyed. More than 341 mosques
[[link removed]] and
three churches have been destroyed. 2,000-pound bombs
[[link removed]] have
been dropped on tents in places deemed safe areas.

Innocent civilians are being killed by snipers. Thirty-one out of
thirty-six hospitals
[[link removed].] have
been damaged or destroyed. Escape routes are cut off.
Persistent restrictions
[[link removed]] on
the flow of humanitarian aid into and around Gaza are driving a
desperate shortage of food, fuel, and medicine. As access to
humanitarian relief is deliberately choked off, children are being
collectively punished while Israeli leaders denounce them as animals
[[link removed]].
The world watches in horror as surgeons are forced to amputate the
limbs
[[link removed]] of
wounded children with no available anesthetics.

A new polio epidemic
[[link removed]] emerges
while Israel vaccinates its soldiers
[[link removed](Reuters),areas%20of%20the%20coastal%20enclave.] but
leaves the Palestinian civilian population vulnerable. Newly released
prisoners have said they were subjected to
[[link removed]] torture,
including being waterboarded and raped.

Rather than bring suspects before international courts, Israel has
resorted to assassinations
[[link removed]] of the very negotiators with
whom it purports to be seeking peace, and in a manner clearly intended
to expand the conflict into a global war involving multiple
nuclear-armed nations.

In its July 19, 2024, authoritative _Advisory Opinion on Israel’s
Settlement Policy and Practices_, the World Court clearly declared
[[link removed].] the
Israeli settlement project in the Occupied Territories to be illegal.
The Court outlined the obligation of all parties to the Geneva
Convention and the Genocide Convention to discontinue any economic or
trade dealings with Israel which might help perpetuate Israel’s
occupation and unlawful presence in the territory. Countries that
signed or ratified these agreements are obligated to immediately stop
arms exports to Israel and to use political, military, and economic
influence to stop Israel’s flagrant, escalating violations of
international humanitarian law.

The World Court has provided strong, clear words denouncing Israel’s
genocide against Palestinians. As during the Vietnam War, ordinary
citizens can no longer abide with the lawless barbarism of continuing
assaults against Palestinians.

“Rolling the bones” is a slang expression for gambling. With a
regional war perhaps now unavoidable in the Middle East, the genocidal
derangement of the United States and Europe over Israel’s actions
may well lead to a nuclear war that ends the human species. Failing to
use our words at this most crucial juncture for humanity would be, as
Camus said, a formidable gamble indeed.

_KATHY KELLY is a peace activist, pacifist and author. She is one of
the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and currently a
co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, (www.vcnv.org
[[link removed]]) a campaign to end U.S. military and economic
warfare. _

* Israel-Gaza War
[[link removed]]
* Ceasefire
[[link removed]]
* wider war
[[link removed]]
* nuclear weapons
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]