Just one day after the Israeli bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza that killed 500 Palestinians shocked the world, President Joe Biden arrived in Israel to provide its government with unconditional support.
The U.S. president even backed Israel’s outrageous claim that a misfired Palestinian rocket, not an Israeli explosive, hit the hospital and caused the deaths. Experts have pointed out that the resistance does not have rockets that can do that kind of damage. Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the explosion at the hospital was “done by the other team … not by you.”
Anger in Arab street forces summit cancellation
Biden was originally scheduled to meet with Arab leaders in Jordan, but the anger in the Arab street against Israel and the United States caused King Hussain to cancel the meeting. In Jordan’s capital Amman, thousands attempted to storm the Israeli embassy.
The United States is giving Israel unprecedented support while it is committing in Gaza what many call another Nakba — the name of the genocidal campaign waged by settlers to establish Israel in 1948. This is the first time a U.S. president had visited Israel in a time of war. In addition to rushing weapons to Israel to carpet bomb Gaza, the Pentagon is deploying two aircraft carrier battle groups to the coast of Gaza to threaten possible direct U.S aggression on this tiny enclaved packed with 2 million people. It is also a threat to other countries in the region, especially Lebanon and Iran.
This extraordinary visit of a U.S. president to a war zone is a full endorsement of Israel’s decision to cut off food, electricity and water to Gaza; of its bombings of several medical facilities and ambulances, schools, mosques, bakeries and UN food storage facilities; and its repeated bombing of the Rafa border crossing with Egypt, making it impossible for Gaza to retrieve 1,000 tons of supplies waiting there to be picked up. It is a green light for whatever else Israel chooses to do.
In their official statements, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin referred to “a level of cooperation that is truly unprecedented in the history of the great alliance between our two nations,“ and told Biden and that “You’ve rightly drawn a clear line between the forces of civilization and the forces of barbarism.”
Biden, in turn, accused the Palestinian resistance of “slaughter” committing “atrocities,” and promised Israel all the weapons it wants.
Doctor blames massacre on Western support for Israel
The Ministry of Health in Gaza held a news conference at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital amid the rubble, with staff holding the corpses of dead children. In addition to patients, many Palestinians fleeing bombings in other areas had taken shelter in the hospital’s courtyard in the belief that it the medical facility would not be bombed. They were among the at least 500 dead, according to the Ministry.
Ghassan Abu Sitta, a surgeon with Doctors Without Borders, called the bombing a “massacre” and a “war crime that the world has seen coming.”
“Israel has been warning the entire world that it was going to attack Palestinian hospitals and did exactly that. Every western politician who has declared unconditional support for Israel’s war efforts on the Palestinian people has the blood of these children on their hands. That unconditional support is what led us to this massacre. The impunity that Israeli believes it has from this support is what has led to this massacre.” He added that, “if the Israelis get away with it … more war crimes will be committed and more hospitals will be targeted.”
Such targeting is already taking place. Prior to today’s attack on Al Ahli hospital, the World Health Organization had documented 57 attacks on health care facilities, resulting in 16 fatalities of health care workers and 28 injuries, damage to 26 hospitals and other health care facilities, including 17 hospitals and 23 ambulances. Four hospitals, all in northern Gaza — Beit Hanoun, Hamad Rehabilitation, Al Karama, and Ad Dura — had to be evacuated and are no longer operational.
National protest planned in Washington on Nov. 4
Huge demonstrations opposing the bombing and supporting Palestinian rights have taken place around the world including in the Western countries whose governments’ support makes Israeli aggression possible.
Here in the United States, protestors have taken to the street coast to coast. On Oct. 17 alone, thousands gathered in New York City and Washington, D.C., to express outrage at the hospital bombing.
There will be a National March for Palestine in Washington, D.C., in front of the White House on Saturday, Nov. 4. For more information click here.
