Israel and the West refuse to stop death in Gaza

Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Rishi Sunak deal in death (Picture: Flickr/ Number 10)

A report this week warned that 70 percent of Gaza’s population had moved beyond famine levels and now face “catastrophe”. Matthew Hollingworth from the World Food Programme said, “We’re seeing the highest hunger level of anywhere in the world.

“It’s all man-made. It’s a dark mark on the world’s inability to stop this from happening.” The word “man-made” is misleading. Starvation is a deliberate decision by politicians in Israel—and in Downing Street and the White House. We know their names—Binyamin Netanyahu, Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden.

Leaders in the West are hypocrites. With one hand they condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and with the other they gift the terror state weapons and support. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borell stated that Gaza was “no longer on the brink of famine”. “They are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” he said.

He added that starvation “is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine.” Britain’s foreign minister David Cameron added that urgent action was needed to “avoid a famine” in Gaza. But Israel’s starvation of Palestinians in Gaza has only been possible because of  Western policies. 

Britain, the United States and other Western countries did not hesitate to cease aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa). It took only a dodgy dossier from Israel alleging that Unrwa workers were part of Hamas’ 7 October attack for them to cut off funding. 

If the West wanted to force Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, it could. Biden could threaten to cut off support unless Israel lifts its blockade and stops massacring Palestinians. But Israel is a loyal watchdog that remains crucial to Western imperialism. Currently the watchdog is doing things that Western leaders don’t particularly like. 

According to reports, Biden called Netanyahu again on Monday to tell him not to engage in a ground invasion of Rafah.  Biden doesn’t care about the lives of Palestinians. He’s worried that a ground invasion could risk provoking a revolt in the region and further rage from ordinary people in the West. 

Instead Biden wants Netanyahu to evacuate Rafah and engage in a more “strategic” operation to eliminate Hamas. But when he talks of “evacuation”, Biden means ethnic cleansing and for Nakba two. Following the call, national security adviser Jake Sullivan reiterated that the US’s commitment to Israel was still “bone-deep.”

And since 7 October, the US has made more than 100 weapons sales to Israel without approval from Congress. Leaders in the West are as committed to the murder of Palestinians as Israel.