US Politics |OT|

[SvennoJ]

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will push Israeli officials to define milestones for the war with Hamas during a visit Monday, a senior defense official said.

Austin will press the Israelis on "what metrics they're looking at in order to transition to the next phase of their campaign in Gaza," the official said, noting he will also work to "drill down" on efforts to increase humanitarian aid to civilians.



Nobody believes it will lead to anything anymore, the opposite actually

People in Gaza have shown little enthusiasm over the visit of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Israel, saying multiple past visits by US officials have not made their lives any better. “This visit will not change anything in the Gaza Strip,” Huda Hijaz told Al Jazeera, adding that the amount of humanitarian aid that has entered Gaza was not up to par with expectations. “People will continue dying.”

Another resident, Ashraf Shannon, said Austin’s visit brought him “more fear” that Israel would further escalate the crisis.

“The US has been the strongest supporter of Israel since its establishment in 1948. I think with this visit we should expect more Israeli violence towards us Palestinians in Gaza, more destruction and maiming,” he said.



While the IDF is blaming the UN for not being ready to deliver aid...

Martin Griffiths (Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations) says he has seen no evidence that Israel’s assault on southern Gaza is more precise than that carried out in the north. “I’ve been disappointed . . . We were promised this. The Americans did a lot of diplomacy on this. The truth of the matter is we have not seen it at all in the south. On the contrary, we’ve seen it grow more,” the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs told the Financial Times.

He said that last month, he had worked on a 10-point plan that included the creation of relief distribution centres and was based on greater Israeli restraint. “I just threw it in the bin,” he said in the interview.  ”I was a fool to even think that it was sensible . . . We turn around and find out the truth: the war ain’t over yet, it ain’t half over . . . I don’t think we’re halfway through this yet. We’ve got weeks and weeks to go of this savage war.”

Griffiths also said “impunity” has been rampant in the war and said special tribunals have the best record of bringing accountability. “Maybe there is a need for a special tribunal [for Gaza],” he added.

Also more CNN double standards on display. While most non US news networks report the Pope condemning the church shootings as terrorism

https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-francis-deplores-israeli-killings-civilians-gaza-church-2023-12-17/

VATICAN CITY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday again suggested Israel was using "terrorism" tactics in Gaza, deploring the reported killing by the Israeli military of two Christian women who had taken refuge in a church complex.

CNN does report on the incident yet refuses to actually publish Francis' remarks

The sniper shot and killed a mother and daughter and injured seven others inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza on Saturday, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in an incident also condemned by Pope Francis.

Pope Francis on Sunday addressed the deaths at the Holy Family Parish, lamenting that “unarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire” in Gaza.

Why is CNN even censoring the words of Pope Francis.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-12/pope-francis-holy-family-parish-gaza-appeal-civilians.html

Pope condemns attacks on civilians in Gaza: ‘It is war; it is terrorism’

Pope Francis launches a heartfelt appeal for an end to the “terrorism” of war, and condemns an Israeli military attack on Gaza’s Holy Family Catholic Parish, which killed two Christian women and destroyed a convent of the Missionaries of Charity.

“Some say, ‘This is terrorism. This is war.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said. “That is why the Scripture affirms that ‘God stops wars… breaks the bow, splinters the spear’ (Psalm 46:10). Let us pray to the Lord for peace.”




I'm guessing it's because the US doesn't want to lose support from Christian Zionism?

At the 41 minute mark War Expert Prof. Paul Roger explains where the support in the US for this war comes from

41:03 (you tube transcript)

"people are surprised at is why is Biden still supporting Israel so much yeah yeah it's not the Jewish Lobby it's the

Israel Lobby and what one has to remember is that many American Jews probably proportionately more than in

Britain are bitterly opposed to what the Israeli government is doing what you're forgetting about them people always

forget about that other phenomenon Christian Zionism yeah and Christian Zionism is that branch of Evangelical

Christianity which believes that God gave the land of Israel to the Jews to

protect until the final days and it goes back 120 130 years in fact probably 160

years to the 1820s and essentially it is supported by far more people in the United States than the Jewish Ry I mean

there are seven million or so Jews in the United States you're talking about 20 to 30 million Evangelical Christians

who basically take this View out of the 100 million plus Evangelical Christians

U um they tend to vote Republican and they tend to vote more than the average and we have a a presidential election

coming up in less than a year one has to factor that in in terms of understanding where Biden is coming from domestic us

politics plays quite a role in this I know it's apart from what we were talking about it's a point that people constantly

miss that is it's a really excellent point which I I'm glad you made and actually what's so striking is the

number if you look at the United States obviously there a much bigger Jewish population than here in Britain but some of the often the the new generation of

the left that's emerged in the US many of the leading figures are drawn from um

the Jewish Community historically of course the left has always been disproportionately shaped by the contributions of Jewish people which is

partly which the the anti-semites of course the early 20th century seized upon and talks about International

Jewish bullsh conspiracies the Nazis Etc that happen didn't it there hatred of Jews the disproportionate always

contribution of Jewish people to movements against oppression against Injustice um and it's really heartening

a younger generation of Jewish people I mean it's interesting younger Generations in America and elsewhere the most Pro Palestinian ever but that does

also include of course that that next generation of of young Jews so it's a very very important point to make"

Excellent interview, draws a lot of parallels with (extended) Iraq war and the bombing of Mosul.