The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1887.
EDITORIAL
The Killings in Gaza Must Stop
by Wilson R. Correa
From a state originally with some socialist characteristics expressed in the organization of kibbutz in rural areas, Israel became a state with the far right in power, a colonialist, ethnic and terrorist state that, when it was founded, violently expelled the people who had occupied Palestinian territory for millennia, around 800 thousand people, took their lands and imposed life in camps in the Gaza Strip on them, for decades up until the present day.
Since then, Israel has been continuously slaughtering the population of Gaza for years on end, with the perverse objective of expelling them to the Sinai desert through secret negotiations with the Egyptian government, whose authorities have so far not allowed this, in this most recent Israeli war move, to the point that the Egyptian government has deployed a large military contingent to protect its border with Israel. The Egyptian government's claim is that its country already hosts around 4 million refugees on its soil and that there would be no way to add another 2 million refugees that Israel may have expelled from Gaza in recent days.
It is also worth remembering that the Knesset, the unicameral Israeli parliament, has withdrawn the right to citizenship and related social benefits from Palestinians born and living in the entire territory of Israel, Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. Furthermore, during this phase of the conflict, it has failed to transfer to the Palestinian Authority the share of taxes collected that belongs to the Palestinian people, which now has no resources to provide assistance to the population.
In addition to the widespread destruction of the cities of the Gaza Strip, their schools, hospitals, health centers, official administrative facilities, homes and residential and commercial buildings, streets and avenues etc., as of August 2024, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been murdered in the Israeli military incursion into the population of Gaza, counting this number as of October 2023, including children, women, the elderly and civilian workers, students, doctors, teachers etc. Fighter-bombers, howitzers, MBT tanks, troop transport vehicles and missile launchers are used extensively by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) in this insane work.
This genocide will never be acceptable, as it is undisguised by the scale of this tragedy that billions of people around the world are spectators of on social media, despite the pro-Israel rhetoric and the control of information in the mainstream media. Humanity rejects the lie that Israel is only defending itself against terrorists and recognizes that Israeli society is responsible for keeping in power a man who, in addition to being admittedly corrupt, is creating conditions for the resurgence of anti-Semitism, which humanity had removed from the political spectrum.
If this situation continues, the pretense of being a "chosen people" by God and of Israel's military action being the object of divine approval is vanishing every day. On the contrary, Israel is becoming a pariah state in the concert of nations, since it not only refuses to comply with the recent determination of the International Criminal Court to cease bloody hostilities against the Palestinian people, but has also disregarded all UN determinations regarding territorial occupation since its foundation as a state, in 1948.
The Israeli people have their share of responsibility for this calamity, by tolerating and maintaining Bibi, as prime minister, and his fascist rabble. In addition to this gigantic number of murders, around USD 60 billion would have already been spent by the Israeli government on this insane war, by the end of August 2024, according to experts, which in itself greatly compromises Israel's economy, not to mention the scaring away of investments and the decline of Israeli trade, industry and tourism.
Furthermore, the relentless action of Yemen's Houthi militia in the Red Sea, in support of the Palestinian people, has had a major impact on Israel's economy by bombing ships bound for Israel carrying goods, foodstuffs and oil. This has forced vessels to make costly journeys around the Cape of Good Hope, south of Africa, to reach Israel and Europe, an uneconomic trade route that has been abandoned since 1869, when the Suez Canal began operating.
The killings have continued in Gaza, largely due to the supply of war material and financial support from the US government. At the moment, the Pentagon keeps 1/3 of its naval fleet in the Middle East to support and protect Israel. And the slaughter of Palestinians will only stop when the US financial resources to Israel also cease, putting an end to the connivance with this slaughter and the hypocrisy of its rhetoric.
As the US politician who has received the most resources from the US Jewish community throughout his career, Joe Biden has added to his own image, during his term as US president, the fetid slime of unconditional support for this slaughter.
Biden's withdrawal from the presidential re-election race, under pressure from the Democratic Party, served the purpose of presenting voters with a younger candidate with greater physical and mental vigor, Kamala Harris. It also sought to disassociate her from the massacre against the Palestinians. However, after the initial phase, the initiative proved unsustainable for this purpose, since, as vice president of the United States, Kamala is also president of the United States Senate, the state body responsible for approving budget bills submitted by Joe Biden for approval. Kamala was and is responsible for defining the Senate's voting agenda, which seals her personal commitment to approving the granting of funds and military equipment to Israel in support of its fight against Hamas and the massacre of Palestinians.
It is also worth noting that both US presidential candidates have expressed their support for Israel's military initiatives. While Kamala Harris, for the Democratic Party, has stated that she will maintain Joe Biden's policy of support for Israel, Donald Trump, for the Republican Party, has stated that he would support the expansion of the State of Israel's territory, considering it to be too small in terms of territory to face so many larger enemy bordering countries.
In this scenario, the horizon will tend to remain bleak under a new presidency from 2025 onwards, even with the eventual electoral choice of Kamala Harris as the next US president, along the lines of the new identity ideal of women's empowerment, as a solution to the world's problems and those of each country.
Given the concrete inaction of the United States in favor of peace, the only option left for the people of Israel will be to rebel against Benjamin Netanyahu, remove him from power and promote the renewal of the Knesset, the Israeli unicameral parliament, currently dominated by the warmongering ultra-right, fascinated by the myth of the renewal of the ancient kingdom of Israel, cruelly conquered with the sword of King David and consolidated by the wisdom of King Solomon. This kingdom would extend from the Euphrates River to the "land of the Philistines" (which is the southern coast of Palestine, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and which includes the present-day Gaza Strip), to the borders of Egypt, incorporating the region of the Sinai Peninsula (OT II Chronicles 9-26).
Needless to say, Israel's attempt to expand its territory over other countries in the region could lead to a major regional war that could very possibly extend beyond the Middle East. It is worth remembering that the map of this 'kingdom' has already been seen on the current uniform of some Israeli soldiers in the IDF, Israel Defense Force, on the shoulder of their uniforms.
The solution may lie in Israel transforming itself into a true democracy, which is an important step in ceasing to be an ethnic state and becoming inclusive. To do so, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli far-right in the Knesset must be stopped. Bibi must be deposed by the Israeli people or the Israeli Judiciary must authorize the Israeli Federal Police to arrest him for corruption.
This must happen, even if it is not for humanitarian, moral, ethical reasons or for the maintenance of a civilizing pact to be maintained so that we do not destroy Humanity and the Planet in a nuclear war or with traditional weapons, territorially extended beyond the Middle East. Let it be, even hypocritically for economic reasons of interest to big capital, because no one in their right mind could be interested in or favor the devastation of cities and countries.
If the Second World War killed an absurd 75 million people, the current global arsenal could certainly lead to the death of billions of people and the devastation of nature and life.
And there is an important aspect to be remembered: if the continental United States was spared from devastation during the two World Wars, in a new major war it certainly will not be.
Well, some countries already have hypersonic missiles with multiple nuclear warheads and the ability to reach any point on US territory in a few minutes ... for which the US does not have the defense capability or equivalent missiles yet.
And so the question remains: when will the Americans finally abandon stupidity, warmongering and irresponsibility in the practice of foreign policy under the motto slogan of self-deception: “Yes, we can ... Make America Great Again"?