How Did Genocide Become Normalized?

All empires eventually fall. It begins with state-sponsored violence, a soulless leader and a weary populace. (Sound familiar?) But over time overreach begins the decline.

“Since the start of the conflict in October 2023, more than 14,000 children have been killed, over 34,000 wounded and nearly 1 million repeatedly displaced and deprived of their right to basic services.”—UNICEF 4.22.25

We shouted “Free, Free, Palestine!” into the void at the “No Kings” rally. Some of the organizers wore the black-and-white keffiyehs and waved the four-colored Palestine flag. At first I thought this was the wrong emphasis for an anti-Trump protest, but then I realized, what is happening in Gaza is genocide and if we are going to call it that then that is the most important issue in the world at the moment. Besides, my country is complicit.

Photo by Stephen J. Lyons

IDF strike kills Gazan children awaiting food supplements, health officials say—WaPost

I have written several columns condemning Israel for creating a killing field in Gaza, including a report of the IDF’s use of white phosphorus weapons in Dheira, a Lebanese village during this conflict with Hamas, and on civilians in Gaza in 2008 and 2009.

https://thedefensepost.com/2024/01/02/israel-white-phosphorus/

In 2013 Israel pledged to stop using these incendiary weapons. In the wake of its current scorched earth policy against Hamas and the residents of Gaza, it has decided to ignore that promise. During those two years, Israel “exploded white phosphorus munitions in the air over populated areas, killing and injuring civilians, and damaging civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse and a hospital.” These weapons come from “ammunition depots in Louisiana and Arkansas in 1989 and 1992,” according to The Washington Post, December 11, 2003. War remains good business.

The current pictures of the aftermath of Israeli’s scorched-earth bombings are horrifying, recalling the photos of the husks of buildings bombed during WWII in places like Dresden and Tokyo. That war was in part to free the Jews, who were themselves victims of an unimaginable genocide. Never forget? Well, the tables have turned haven’t they? How does the oppressed become the oppressor? Well, obviously with our tax money and weapons shipments. I guess they forgot.

Additionally, Israel is led by a heartless Trump-like leader that only values Israeli lives while wiping out thousands of innocent Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who governs under a cloud of corruption charges, has told his intelligence agency to finds countries willing to resettle displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu said the quiet part out loud: get rid of all Arabs from Gaza and open up the region to more Israeli settlements and/or Trump resorts.

“ethnic cleansing, the attempt to create ethnically homogeneous geographic areas through the deportation or forcible displacement of persons belonging to particular ethnic groups. Ethnic cleansing sometimes involves the removal of all physical vestiges of the targeted group through the destruction of monuments, cemeteries, and houses of worship.”—Britannica

Netanyahu has no plans to rebuild Gaza for its Palestinians. Razing it to the ground is his goal and if that means more senseless deaths so be it. Recent headlines:

More Than a Dozen Killed in Israeli Airstrike Near Gaza Clinic—NYT

Dozens of Palestinians Are Killed While Trying To Get Aid—NYT

Nearly 800 killed at Gaza food hubs and aid convoy routes since end of May, UN says—Guardian

Israeli forces kill 110 in Gaza, including 34 aid seekers—Aljazeera

A father mourns 2 sons killed in an Israeli strike as hunger worsens in Gaza—Independent

Yet, these daily headlines pass by our distracted minds with a waning reaction. This week’s Washington Post story about the slaughter of thirsty children in Gaza, “IDF blames ‘error’ for Gaza strike that killed children collecting water,” was located far below on the newspaper’s website’s front page. The editors must have concluded that stories above it were of more interest among its readers, you know, such helpful pablum as: “The Best Ways to Cook Summer Corn,” “Distance from Critical Mom Come with Guilt for Not Trying Harder” and “Airplanes Are Loud and May Damage Your Hearing.” Classic click bait. The atrocities in Gaza have been so frequent since October 7, 2023, when Hamas unleashed its horrid attack on Israel, that what should be screaming headlines have become so much white noise.

Never again? In my lifetime there have been genocides in Guatemala, Cambodia, Biafra, Bosnia and Rwanda, just to name a few. To be sure there are others that are less obvious: China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and Myanmar’s campaign against the Rohingya come to mind. (In the Florida Everglades, our heartless border czarina has set up a concentration-style camp to house migrants. With billions more of our tax payer monies in the recently passed budget going to lawless law enforcement expect more cruel prisons with inhumane conditions to be constructed.)

What could have stopped the slaughter in Gaza might have been strong condemnations from presidents Biden and Trump with an immediate cessation of all aid to Israel until an agreed ceasefire. It is important to remember that in 2022, some 99.7 percent of the staggering $3.3B in U.S. foreign aid we give to that nation went directly to the Israeli military. The $3.3B is 4.8 percent of all U.S. foreign aid doled out that year. Citing statistics from the now shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development, since WWII Israel has received more U.S. foreign aid than any other nation: $317.9B. In fact, there isn’t even a nation close second to that amount. In second place is Vietnam: $184.B.

Photo by Stephen J. Lyons

The governments of Israel, and its most devoted arms dealer, the United States, have lost their souls. They are led by two power-lusting elderly men who care nothing for the poor and the displaced of the world. With their lack of empathy they are perfect for each other, but they have nothing to offer us except violence and cruelty. Our apathy is not an option.

Yes, Free, Free, Palestine!

The link to my cover of DB Morris’ “That’s How Every Empire Falls” is below. Here is one verse:

“A bitter wind blows through the country

A hard rain falls on the sea

If terror comes without a warning

There must be something we don't see

What fire begets this fire? Like torches thrown into the straw

If no one asks, then no one answers That's how every empire falls.“

—DB Morris, “That’s How Every Empire Falls”