1. Killing civilians and especially children is wrong.
2. Cutting off water, food, electricity, and fuel to millions of vulnerable people is wrong.
3. Forced mass evacuations of hundreds of thousands of people in preparation for a destructive invasion is wrong.
4. Dropping thousands of bombs and killing thousands of innocents is wrong. So is launching hundreds of unguided rockets and killing scores of innocents.
5. Holding hostages and threatening to slay them is wrong.
Whether Hamas or Israel are doing these things, they are wrong. Putting an end to such wrongs through a ceasefire is right. Certainly, it's less wrong.
In going to Israel and embracing Netanyahu, President Biden is obviously choosing one side, that of Israel, and empowering it to do whatever it wants in Gaza. Interestingly, Biden claimed that yesterday’s destruction of a hospital in Gaza was done in his words by the “other team,” meaning Hamas.
The terminology here is striking. Israel and Hamas are not sports “teams” in which we choose to root for one side against the other. Israelis and Palestinians are people equally deserving of human dignity and human rights.
I’ve written about the invasion (so to speak) of war terms into sports and vice-versa. Biden’s dismissal of Hamas as the “other team” that’s allegedly responsible for the hospital’s destruction and the deaths of hundreds of innocents trivializes a deep human tragedy.
Are we ever going to move beyond this “team” mentality where we root for the total victory of one “team” over another?
I think if I was Biden at this Pt. the next first thing I would do would be to send a few Hospital Ships for the Humanitarian & Medical needs...
Courtesy of Rethink Roundup and offered without comment:
"Representatives Tom Tiffany (R-WI) and Andy Ogles (R-TN) introduced the Guaranteeing Aggressors Zero Admission, or GAZA, Act on Friday. The act would bar anyone who holds a passport issued by the Palestinian Authority from entering the United States and is intended to block displaced Gazans from fleeing to the U.S. Republican presidential hopefuls, including Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and Vivek Ramaswamy, have expressed similar sentiments. According to officials, there are currently no ongoing discussions of Gaza refugees coming to the U.S."