106 years ago yesterday, Britain issued the infamous colonial Balfour Declaration, giving away land that didn’t belong to them and reducing indigenous Arabs to the label of “non-Jewish population”. Anytime someone tries to tell you this conflict spans thousands of years, remind them that the Balfour Declaration serves as the modern origin of any Jewish claims to the Palestinian land.
“I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet. His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object
-Arthur Balfour, the colonizer with the original plan
Yesterday, at long last, Illinois senator Dick Durbin became the first senator to call for an immediate ceasefire, and all it took was weeks of nonstop footage of children being torn apart by American bombs. But Durbin still has to convince the vast majority of his colleagues that killing kids is not exactly a winning political strategy. For their part, Joey Biden and his administration seem to be perfectly happy with their “humanitarian pause” rhetoric, no matter how moronic it sounds. Earlier this week, John Kirby, the clown mouthpiece/spokesperson for the national security council said the following:
On Monday Kirby said, “What we have said should be considered and explored are temporary, localized humanitarian pauses to allow aid to get to specific populations and maybe even to help with the evacuation of people that want to get out, move more to the south.”
I’m guessing this statement was made before Kirby was aware that “the south” he’s referring to is also being bombed indiscriminately. In fact, just yesterday Palestinian journalist Mohammed Abu Hatab, a well-known TV correspondent, was killed along with 10 of his family members in an airstrike on his home in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. It’s noteworthy that the entire western world lined up (justifiably) to condemn Saudi Arabia for the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but when it’s the apartheid state of Israel, with our financial backing, they’re apparently free to kill as many journalists in Gaza as they please (The Israeli military has already killed at least 36 journalists in Gaza).
Just yesterday, John Kirby doubled down with this instant classic: “What we’re trying to do is explore the idea of as many pauses as might be necessary to continue to get aid in and to continue to work to get people out safely, including hostages.”
The Biden administration’s game plan seems to consist of politely asking Israel to consider dropping their bombs a little nicer. But how do you tell a bomb to be nicer? How can the US realistically expect to reign in the untethered genocidal machine that is the Israeli military? Meanwhile, the house of (supposed) representatives quickly passed a republican-endorsed bill yesterday that would provide billions of additional dollars in aid to Israel, we’ll see how this bill progresses through the halls of power.
Yesterday, Jewish activists in Durham, NC (shoutout to the gang) shut down the highway calling for an immediate ceasefire. Jewish Voice for Peace protesters in Philadelphia shut down the 30th street train station for the same reason. There are plenty of everyday examples of average Americans taking action to be loud and clear in their disapproval of this genocide.
On the flipside, the overwhelming majority of westerners seem content to ignore the topic and move on with their lives. At this point, many Americans would probably be better off just posting the following statement online: “Due to the complex and nuanced nature of the conflict I will not be taking a public position on whether or not it's bad for thousands of innocent people to die choking on blood and concrete because of where they were born. I will instead leave that up to the analysts and experts.”
The scenes from Gaza continue to boggle the mind. A little girl, pulled from the rubble of what was once her home, asks her rescuers if they’re taking her to the graveyard. A child so accustomed to witnessing death around her that her first assumption wasn’t that she might be saved, but rather that she was joining the ranks of so many others killed by Israel.
Things may appear hopeless, but don’t you dare give up hope, even for a second. I’m not asking anyone to be happy with the horrors unfolding in Gaza, but all the negativity, the pessimism and nihilism and apathy, these are all tools of oppression, constantly working to convince us that all hope is lost. But hope is not lost. Hope isn't some misplaced sense that things are going to improve. Hope is an active thing, a stubbornness that says, "I will never give up, I will never stop trying". Hope is the sense that some things are worth our life's work. Hope is a revolutionary thing. Stay strong my friends, we will win.
Side Items
SBF’d: The former crypto king/nerdy computer whiz was found guilty yesterday on all 7 financial charges he faced. A jury in New York convicted young Samuel of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors. Now the sloppy wunderkind faces up to 115 years in federal prison. He probably could’ve learned a thing or two from Ryan Howard, the one on The Office, not the pro baseball player