Israel has continued to bomb the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Palestine. That’s in spite of, and perhaps in response to, global outcry. Israel has shown no sign of changing course as they, gleefully and with impunity, turn the sky in Rafah red with bombs and blood.
People are currently inside their homes because anyone who moves is being shot at by Israeli drones.
A civil defence official in Hamas-run Gaza said an Israeli strike on a displacement camp west of Rafah on Tuesday 28 May killed at least 21 people.
It came after a similar strike over the weekend sparked global outrage and prompted an emergency UN Security Council session. But, after months of Israel unleashing hell on Palestine, what’s the point?
International culpability
In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) made an interim ruling which stopped short of calling for a ceasefire, but did warn Israel against its path to genocide, and call for more aid. As Al Jazeera reported:
While the court itself does not have the power to enforce the interim ruling, or indeed the final verdict it delivers in the case, its directives on Friday could influence the war in Gaza, said analysts.
Just this month the ICJ issued another ruling which found that Israel should:
Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
Again, the ruling cannot be enforced.
When the UN Security Council met last month, the majority of member states were in favour of recognising Palestine as a state.
The move was, predictably, vetoed by the US. All these high and mighty institutions are sending a message to Israel, sure. Unfortunately, the message is wearing thin after months of Israeli impunity that have caused destruction in Palestine.
Ruling after ruling, meeting after meeting comes to pass, and Israel’s actions are not impacted one jot. Governments aren’t sanctioning Israel, boycott and divestment movements are community run rather than state sanctioned, and states continue to manufacture and trade arms with Israel – including the UK.
What’s the point then? Moral grandstanding won’t save anyone.
Israel’s lies
On Sunday 26 May, an Israeli strike outside Rafah ignited an inferno in a displacement camp. They torched tents and killed 45 people. Horrific images circulated of the scenes on social media, including a Palestinian baby beheaded by the attacks and held aloft by his distraught father. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said many people “burned alive” in their tents.
The Quds News Network shared harrowing images:
Rafah has seen one of the most horrific massacres carried out by the Israeli regime since the outbreak of the ongoing aggression on Gaza. Here's the story. pic.twitter.com/B4dHWRAyLY
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) May 28, 2024
Al Jazeera reported on the hellish footage from Rafah:
Israeli forces have bombed a tent camp housing displaced people in a designated safe zone in Rafah. Even as outrage grows, Israel continues its attacks across the Gaza Strip.
🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage: https://t.co/DxOXPdGeYp pic.twitter.com/o8cY0RcMtK
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 27, 2024
Journalist Hind Khoudary noted that the site of the attacks was a designated safe zone:
A lethal massacre is unfolding against displaced civilians near the UNRWA logistics base in Tal Al-Sultan, located in the western part of Rafah. Israeli aircraft have shelled several tents in this area, resulting in numerous martyrs and casualties. Many have been transported to…
— Hind Khoudary (@Hind_Gaza) May 26, 2024
Israel, as usual, put forward a pack of lies for their heinous actions.
Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a “tragic accident”, while the army said it had targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members of the group. Was the beheaded baby a Hamas operative? What about the people burning to death in tents? Who went to Rafah after Israel told them it would be a safe zone?
Israel’s despicable excuses call to mind a popular commentary on the genocidal state’s relations:
Like clockwork https://t.co/UugKEAWidh pic.twitter.com/pDeZpuyo0S
— Sam Hersh (@SamHersh01) May 27, 2024
American culpability
Opposition and grief at Israel’s siege on Palestine is growing – but not from politicians. The White House insists that it is not turning a “blind eye” to the plight of Palestinian civilians. Remarkably, they also said they have no plans to change its Israel policy following the deadly weekend strike in Rafah.
US president Joe Biden has warned Israel against launching a major military operation in Rafah, but his administration insisted Tuesday that Israel had not yet crossed its red lines.
What’s it going to take, Genocide Joe?
In fact, analysis from CNN found that US-made arms were used in the attack on Rafah:
Munitions made in the United States were used in the deadly Israeli strike on a displacement camp in Rafah on Sunday, a CNN analysis of video from the scene and a review by explosive weapons experts has found.
The reality is, there’s nothing Israel could do that would stop the US from handing over money, arms, and endless support. As usual, mainstream media journalists manufacture consent for the horrors in Palestine. Journalist Sana Saeed showed the implicit and explicit support that props up Israel:
propagandists for genocide masquerading as journalists pic.twitter.com/aaSpRPiQar
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) May 27, 2024
The shit stains over at The Atlantic referred to a “legally killed child”:
https://twitter.com/hanoooonz/status/1794787183007809992
What the fuck is that? We saw the charred, broken remains of a beheaded Palestinian baby held up across a raging inferno filled with melting tents and bodies. And what does The Atlantic have to say? A callous contortion about how children can be legally killed?
As one person said, these journalists are nothing of the sort, but stenographers:
The person who wrote this despicable paragraph is @Matt_Murphy15 btw.
Stenographers, not journalists. https://t.co/EojKwjGYrv
— Fatima (@fatimazsaid) May 27, 2024
Whether it’s useless security councils with unenforceable rulings, morally corrupt journalists, or the settler colonial violence of Israel and the US one thing is clear: Palestine will not be free until the people make it so. We cannot rely on anyone else to do so.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Channel 4 News
