Weapons’ shipments and ceasefire absurdities

The US, which says it is tirelessly working for a ceasefire, has also tirelessly supplied Israel with military equipment and weapons. Yesterday, the 500th US plane transporting military equipment landed in Israel. Since October last year, 500 transport planes and 107 ships have delivered over 50,000 tonnes in weapons and military equipment from the US to Israel. Israel’s Defence Ministry described the supplies as “crucial for sustaining the IDF’s operational capabilities during the ongoing war”.

Democratic nominee for president and current Vice President, Kamala Harris, will not budge from the Biden administration’s trend of genocidal complicity and support. “Let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and will always ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself,” Harris stated. Palestinians, she conditioned, “can realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination” when the hostages are released, a ceasefire is reached and the “fighting in Gaza” ends. Even before the genocide, Palestinians enjoyed none of these UN conjectures. Does Harris mean that Palestinians will enjoy these conditions after being killed? The US is certainly excelling in the latter.

While US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was making a great show of the latest ceasefire talks, Washington’s commitment to genocide remained as unwavering as ever. Palestinians’ fate lies in the hands of an imperialist power aiding a coloniser to annihilate the indigenous. Only in this way can a genocide-complicit government also transform itself into the emblem for ceasefire negotiations. Instead of blaming Hamas for not agreeing to a ceasefire that favours Israel, for example, why not a simple statement from Blinken saying that, behind the ceasefire charade, there is a new shipment of weapons for Israel? And that the purpose of ceasefire talks is merely a means to not only continue the genocide, but also diminish such a horrendous crime to less than a normalised human rights violation.

After all, did not the UN get used to forced displacement and settlement expansion? Why should the UN not get used to Gaza’s shores becoming one whole tent city? Why not normalise genocide beyond the boundaries of normalisation? Not a big deal for the UN, which puts more emphasis on diplomacy than political action to stop human rights violations. For every war crime Israel commits, the UN ensconces itself further in the spectator role, its statements as detached as ever, while Palestinians are forcibly bathed in their own blood. Killed on land, killed at sea – what dignity is Harris speaking about and what ceasefire urgency is Blinken suggesting? All those weapons being laid to rest would not do for Israel, not when the entirety of Gaza has become a legitimate target in the Israeli narrative.

Speaking about the ceasefire negotiations in Cairo, White House National Security spokesperson, John Kirby, stated that reaching an agreement “really is going to be up to those in the room”. People are not stupid. There should not even be a need for debate to protect human lives, let alone in what way to do it. One either protects or kills. Since Israel and the US chose genocide, it is clearly profitable for all sustaining it.

Weapons’ shipments and ceasefire absurdities