Gaza, The Ghetto

Moving from al Shifa hospital Al Jazeera November 18, 2023

By Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright, World BEYOND War, November 19, 2023

Is this enough for “Genocide Joe,”  the willing enabler of the Israeli criminal genocide on  Palestinians in the Gaza “Ghetto” and terror wrecked upon Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem

The intention of Israel and the United States is now very clear–ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza –as the world watches.

The impunity of Israel and the U.S. is startling and dangerous for the security of the State of Israel and the United States of America as it perpetrates an unforgivable and unforgettable criminal act against Palestinians and all of humanity.  The world will remember forever what Israel and the U.S. have done!

“Genocide Joe” Biden is the willing enabler of Israel as it conducts genocide on Palestinians in Gaza and terrorizes Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Biden’s henchmen-Secretary of State Blinken, Secretary of Defense Austin, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Special Assistant to the President Mike Donilon, Donilon’s sister-in-law, former assistant to the Presidents Obama and Biden and now director of UNICEF Catherine Russell, all are responsible for the 42-day bombing of Gaza and the continuous replenishment of US weapons to Israel to kill Palestinians.  They have the power of the purse over Israel and refuse to use it.

The world watched before as the Nazis attempted the extermination of the Jewish populations of several European countries during World War II.  The world watched and did nothing except chatter as the Nazis turned a section of Warsaw, Poland into the Warsaw “Ghetto.”

Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center located in Jerusalem, has documented that in November 1940, 380,000 Jews were sealed inside the Warsaw ghetto. Over 80,000 Jews died as a result of the appalling conditions, overcrowding, lack of medical care and starvation.

Now, the State of Israel, with the complicity of the Biden administration, is making a Ghetto out of Gaza, doing the same to the Palestinians of Gaza that was done to the Jewish population of Warsaw by the Nazis.

2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom are under 17 and have been under Israeli siege and blockade for their entire lives, are now forced into the “Ghetto,” the southern half of tiny Gaza.  The Israeli military is forcing even patients from hospitals to walk, be carried or be rolled in wheelchairs, from the north of Gaza into the ghetto in the south. The Israeli doesn’t spare those walking from its aerial attacks on the corridors designated for movement. In five weeks, 1.6 million Gazans have been displaced and 42,000 housing units have been destroyed.

What is being done to the Palestinians of Gaza brings memories of holocaust victims walking to the trains that carried them to the extermination camps in World War II.  Look at the photos in the Yad Vashem museum; it’s the same.

Now five weeks into the Israeli attack on Gaza, over 12,000 have been killed, 5,000 of them were children who were not even born when the Israelis put the land, sea and air blockade on Gaza seventeen years ago.

For Israelis, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel.

But in Gaza, it’s shooting elderly in wheelchairs, it’s babies being carried by their parents, its small children trying to walk, falling down and lifted up again and again by their brothers, sisters, aunties and uncles.

It’s the Israeli occupation forces purposeful forcibly stopping of medical care in hospitals by bombing hospitals, shooting medical staff, targeting ambulances, destroying electrical systems that power neo-natal incubators, that produce oxygen for those in ICU, blasting water and sewage systems so there is no clean water in hospitals.

Israeli commandos have forced doctors and patients to leave hospitals; many premature babies and those in ICU have died from lack of medicines and routine therapies due to the Israeli siege of hospitals. 5 doctors refused to leave al Shifa hospital so they could remain to care for 100 immoveable patients.

Schools where hundreds of thousands have sought shelter have no food and no water. Raw sewage is flowing in the streets as there is no electricity to operate the sewage system, and as in the past four Israeli attacks on Gaza, one of the first infrastructure to be bombed is the sewage plant.  But ironies of ironies, as raw sewage from Gaza flows into the Mediterranean, the currents carry the sewage north to the beaches of Israel.

For five weeks only a trickle of food, fuel and medical supplies have been allowed into Gaza by Israel through its proxy neighbor Egypt, while miles of large trucks laden with food, medical supplies and fuel are lined up waiting for permission to bring these critical supplies.

U.S. Participates in Genocide While Means to End the Genocide Floats Offshore

There is no doubt this is a genocide conducted by the State of Israel and its protector in all crimes, the United States.

In contrast to the ultimate actions of the U.S. and other allies including Russia that finally released the captives in concentration camps in World War II, the U.S. is guarding the genocide perpetrated by Israel.

The U.S. has a virtual armada of two aircraft carriers and associated forty ships floating off Gaza to protect the Israeli criminal acts on Palestinians.

If the Biden administration decided and if President Biden doesn’t want to have the moniker “Ghetto Joe” during the upcoming presidential campaign, the U.S. should use its medical facilities on board each of the aircraft carriers that served over 5,000 sailors on the ships to give lifesaving medical treatment to injured Palestinians.

Each aircraft carrier has food and water for 3+meals a day for 5,000 people and can at sea for months without replenishment.  The U.S. Navy could save the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians who will be dying in the next week by sending food by helicopter into Gaza.

But, President Biden will have to make a huge decision…to stop protecting and giving a green light to Israel’s war crimes by his weak protestations of “be careful not to harm civilians,” as he sees the brutal assault.

If Biden were really concerned about Israeli crimes, he would end the U.S. weapons stream into Israel and cancel his request to Congress for an additional $14 billion in weapons deliveries to Israel for the purpose of killing Palestinians.

West Bank Attacked by Israeli Military

But no, “Genocide Joe” is the willing enabler of the Israeli abuser that terrorizes Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank and East Jerusalem where in this year alone, 2023, the Israel military has killed 243 Palestinians and Israeli settlers have stolen more land and homes from Palestinians.

The current rampage of Israeli military bulldozers in the streets of towns and villages in the West Bank has destroyed road, water and sewage infrastructure and numerous homes. 

Citizens of World Rally, March, Protest, Get Arrested, Block Bridges, Stop Weapons Cargo Shipments, Close down Israeli Weapons Businesses, Organize Convoys and Flotillas to Break the Siege of Gaza

While governments chatter about the horrors they see unfolding in front of them, citizens all over the world have taken to the streets, to the rail stations, to the bridges, in millions to protest Israeli actions. Numerous protests have occurred in virtually every major city in the world.

Highways and bridges have been blocked, train stations have been occupied, political headquarters have been locked down, weapons shipments have been delayed by actions on docks, Israeli weapons businesses have been shut down, Congressional offices have been occupied.

Billions of dollars in donations have been raised by United Nations and civil society non-governmental organizations for medical and food relief.

Flotillas are being organized to bring medical and food supplies by sea.

Convoys of Conscience and land delegations to the region have been mobilized to put pressure on the Egyptian government to open immediately the Rafah border with Gaza to allow food, medical supplies, water and fuel into Gaza.

Israeli Attacks on Gaza over the past 15 years

It is instructive to see the disproportionate level of actions that have killed civilians on both sides over the past 15 years, without counting the Nakba of 1948 in which Israeli militias forced over 800,000 Palestinians from their homes.  They and their descendants are still living in refugee camps in Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

In 2009, the 27-day Israeli attack on Gaza killed 1417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

In 2012, the Israeli attack on Gaza killed 105 Palestinians. 4 Israelis were killed.

In 2014, the 50-day Israeli attack on Gaza killed 2310 Palestinians.  73 Israelis were killed.

In 2015-2016, the clashes in the West Bank killed 235 Palestinians and 38 Israelis.

In 2018, the Israeli attack on Gaza killed 19 Palestinians. 3 Israelis were killed.

In 2021, the 11-day Israeli attack on Gaza killed 284 Palestinians.  15 Israeli were killed.

In 2022, the Israeli attack on Gaza killed 49 Palestinians. No Israelis were killed.

From 2009 through October 6, 2023, 4,419 Palestinians and 145 Israelis have been killed in the occupation and blockade.

Since October 7 to November 18, 2023, over 12,000 Palestinians, including 4500 children, It is estimated that over 4,000 Palestinians remained buried in the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli warplanes. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been wounded. 1200 Israelis of which 300 were soldiers and 328 from other nations were killed on October 7.

Keep the Pressure Going

As people of conscience, we must continue the pressure on our governments.

In the U.S., rallies and protests at the White House, State Department and Congress are critical as are the tons of emails and phone calls that those who cannot come to Washington make.

Every action is important to stop U.S. complicity in the genocide of Gaza!

About the Author: Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel.  She was a US diplomat for 16 years and served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia.  She resigned from the US government in 2003 in opposition to the US war on Iraq and wrote of the “unbalanced” policies of the US government in the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.