Palestine Tet – 47 – Colorado Congressional Delegation Disappoints; U.S. losing its grip over Middle East.

Gaza – Israeli savagery continues

1.

The latest news from Gaza remains gruesome.

By some reports this second round of the Israeli bombing of Gaza, with 2.3 million people now crowded into half the space they were previously, is even more savage than the first round. The air war against Gaza’s Palestinian population continues unabated; if anything it has intensified to levels of horror unmatched in modern times since World War II.

Norman Finkelstein refers to the Netanyahu government as “satanic“. That sums it up. Such a government, no matter their current fire power, is unsustainable certainly in its current form.

The term “war” for what Israel is imposing on Gaza is inaccurate; it is a cruel effort to crush an anti-colonial movement, an ethnic cleansing. a genocide of the Palestinian population of Gaza, half of which are children, and all this laid bare before the world at large. For the Palestinians the current fighting is nothing less than a full blown national liberation struggle of a people fighting for their rights to self determination, fighting against a settler colonial regime and U.S. regional proxy, the latter attempting to crush a rebellion.

Supplied with new stores of U.S. weaponry, billions more in U.S. funding and now another U.S. veto in the U.N. Security Council calling for an all round ceasefire. Amnesty International referred to Washington’s ceasefire veto as “a callous disregard for civilian suffering in face of a staggering death toll, extensive destruction, and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe happening in the Occupied Gaza Strip.”

But it is worse than that as this veto is essentially yet another “green light” to Israel to continue its murderous campaign. Nothing has changed concerning U.S. unbridled support for Israel. Almost twenty thousand deaths and so much suffering later, U.S. policy remains that Washington will continue to send Israel with all the weapons it needs and to support its genocidal operation in Gaza. Despite crocodile tears, words of concern about civilian causalities, the members of Congress from Colorado – both from the House and Senate – continue to support the Biden Administration’s greenlight to Israel.

The  Administration’s stated goal is that by destroying Hamas, that Washington can begin to regain its sagging influence in the Middle East (and throughout the Global South) and that Israel’s role as Washington’s “aircraft carrier” – its military stick in the region can be restored.

2.

Curiously, the same day that United States United Nations’ Ambassador Robert Wood raised his hand to cast the sole “no-vote” veto of a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that would have demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, and immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, I was in a face-to-face meeting  with U.S. Representative Jason Crow.

We, a small group of local Palestinians and Jews, were there to press the congressman to support an immediate ceasefire and to criticize his signing on to House Resolution 894, a piece of disturbing propaganda – political drivel – that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.

While the meeting (December 8, 2023) was cordial enough and one must acknowledge Crow’s frankness (in contrast to some of the other visits with members of Congress the group has undertaken), Crow’s refusal to come out in support of a ceasefire remains as firm as it was at an earlier meeting with him. Despite all the civilian deaths in Gaza and the mammoth destruction of Gaza infrastructure itself, Crow refused to budge on the ceasefire issue.

Echoing U.N. Ambassador Wood, in our meeting, Jason Crow came out clearly and unambiguously came out against supporting an immediate ceasefire and for the same reason of the Wood veto: Hamas cannot be “trusted” as responsible party in any ceasefire agreement. He defended his voting for HR 894 on the grounds that the more important part of that resolution opposes rising anti-Semitism in the United States and that “anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitism” formula was an unfortunate addition he had to swallow.

Neither of these arguments holds water.

In the many armed exchanges between Israel and the Gaza Palestinians, most of the time it has not been Hamas that has unilaterally broken the ceasefire but Israel. Plenty of documentation substantiates this (and Crow knows it). While some sympathy was expressed for Palestinian civilian casualties, no substantial pressure, no pressure of any kind on Israel was suggested or proposed.

Besides the fact that eliminating Hamas, regardless of the beating it might now be taking in Gaza, is quite simply not going to happen. Sooner or later Washington will have to enter into negotiations with a Palestinian delegation of Palestinian – not Washington’s – choosing, a delegation that almost certainly will include, if not dominated by, Hamas.

Not much difference between Jason Crow’s posturing against a ceasefire from that of Bernie Sanders. Sanders is also strongly opposed to a ceasefire on the same grounds – Hamas. AIPAC pressure getting to him? Bernie argues that you can’t have a ceasefire with Hamas because it’s vowed to continue resisting occupation. It doesn’t occur to him to call for ending the occupation. This logic is simply a cover for both Sanders’ and Crow’s support for Israel’s war against Gaza civilians.

For shame.

What is behind Crow’s thinking at present?

A former Special Forces military man who served tours both in Afghanistan and Iraq, he still as a strong attachment to counterinsurgency approaches, so-called “surgical” operations (another name for assassination programs) that can eliminate Hamas’ leadership and thus neutralize Hamas as an armed protagonist against Israel.

Crow’s claims of being concerned about the Gaza civilian casualties – while supporting Israel’s Gaza campaign in the name of targeting Hamas – rings hollow. His criticisms of Israeli savagery are mild to non-existent; while he expresses concern for Palestinian civilian casualties he closely follows – tails – the Biden Administration’s policies of giving Israel a green light on its Gaza rampage.

He knows that while anti-Semitism exists in the United States it is largely limited to rightwing racist extremist groups and what is “growing” on college campuses is not anti-Semitism but anti-Zionism, opposition to Zionist racism and U.S. support for it.

Frankly, Jason Crow is a disappointment as are most of his other colleagues, members of Congress from Colorado. Supporting a bilateral ceasefire is a minimal gesture for turning the conflict around. Colorado’s congressional delegation can’t even show that little courage, principle.

Instead they tail the Biden Administration’s war policies, a dead end.