"When the Israeli army can do these things and get away with it, it can only then do more of it knowing that it will not meet any punishment," said one analyst.
Video footage broadcast Wednesday by Al Jazeera shows Israeli soldiers gunning down two Palestinians on the coast of northern Gaza, even as one of them waves what appears to be a piece of white fabric. The video then shows Israeli soldiers burying the bodies with a bulldozer.
Richard Falk, former United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, toldAl Jazeera that the footage provides "vivid confirmation of continuing Israeli atrocities" and spotlights the "unambiguous character of Israeli atrocities that are being carried out on a daily basis."
"The eyes and ears of the world have been assaulted in real-time by this form of genocidal behavior," said Falk. "It is a shocking reality that there has been no adverse reaction from the liberal democracies in the West. It is a shameful moment."
..Biden doesn't want to support the genocide of Palestinians, he is just forced to given the fact that if he looks weak to independent voters from not unconditionally backing Israel's genocide of Palestinians than he is going to lose the election. Do you honestly think he would be supporting a genocide if it wasn't a smart political strategy?
Ok fine so maybe even independents think what Israel is doing is awful in Gaza, but can't you people be patient and wait until the dust settles after the election, and after all the Palestinians are dead and removed from their land? We can have a discussion about whether the Palestinian genocide was right or wrong then! Stop sabotaging Biden in the meantime, he is trying real hard to swoon those independent voters and they clearly are rabid supporters of the IDF committing genocide which is definitely a fact I didn't contradict a second ago!
“It is a shocking reality that there has been no adverse reaction from the liberal democracies in the West.
Not that shocking, really. Liberalism would be self-determination everywhere, not the west protecting the world and instituting its own values. If someone somewhere else wants to operate under a different set of values where human life is not considered important, a liberal does not go over there and fix them.
Liberalism is not inherently "good", it's inherently hands-off. Like the Swiss. This is partly why its become somewhat out-dated as an ideology post-WW2. Expecting someone who believes in liberty to control the fates of lands and peoples not their own is misunderstanding it though. That's not liberty, it's the spreading exertion of power and influence--the opposite of liberty.
Liberty doesn't defend anything except itself. This is the root of US isolationism tendencies, and why hating the UN is so common here.
But then you can't call the US a liberal democracy in any way as they aren't hands-off at all. Time and time again they meddle in other countries' business to exert influence and power and to advance their interests.
Israel itself was created by the West as Palestine was a British colony before and the US has since given more support to Israel than they would usually grant an ally. The continuous protection (political and militaristic) makes Israel almost a vassal state of the US. This is the real reason why "liberal democracies" have not reacted much (yet, hopefully).
Before we low-key split from Pakistan, they had a similar symbiotic/parasitic relation as the US does with Israel. Seen as a good ally/possible partner diplomatically and with military utility for bases and CENTCOM power projection. And though Pakistan was never really ‘on side’ for a couple of reasons, they kept themselves under the radar and out of our ire - until we found Taliban militants regularly getting refuge and medical care over the Afghan-Pak border, and capped off with discovering Bin Laden in Pakistan.
Israel is hardly a ‘vassal’ or even protectorate. The US has significant leverage, but Israel has remained cordial with Russia and China even if that means snubbing the US - Israel refused to export anti-ship and cruise missiles to Ukraine, in deference to Chinese and Russian interests. Israel has options now to split from the US (painful as it may be) unlike in the 60/70s when the Soviets were funneling weapons to Egypt and Syria, and Israel required US support.
All that to say, Israel can (and may yet) tell the US to kick rocks again, and I don’t think the west is ready for the reality of what enforcing a ceasefire/no-fly zone would mean.
This "vassal state" nonsense is a common meme, but that's about it. If it really was one, they'd listen to us.
And agreed, which is why I said that post-WW2, liberalism has been growing out-dated. It doesn't make much sense in a world of global communications, trade and warfare, so some evolution was, and continues to be, required. Otherwise it risks exchanging military imperialism for economic imperialism, where instead of conquering other lands you simply profit off of their people and resources.
Liberalism is not inherently “good”, it’s inherently hands-off
It is absolutely not 'hands-off', it just denies the existence of externalized power structures inherent in capital and neo-colonialism and uses them to exert influence instead of (or in addition to, rather) the old imperialist tools of direct violence. It hides behind the rhetoric of self-determination while exerting its corrupting influence through capital and soft-power.
Liberalism is a delusion of neutrality and a scourge to liberty everywhere.
No, that's just communist ideology trying to demonize everything that isn't itself.
Actual liberty does not inherently guarantee freedom from all oppression, as that would be an institution from a higher authority. It gives a certain liberty to oppress, which is why it so often exists hand-in-hand with capitalism. To do otherwise would require some form of authority to prevent oppression, which contradicts the core idea.
This is another facet of the post-WW2 reasons it has become somewhat out-dated. Also, note, I'm talking about the core of the ideology, not its history of implementation by flawed men. Similar to how I would not try to criticize Marxist ideology by looking at everyone who has claimed to be a communist.
Sometimes, yes. Genocide prevention is not the job of military alliances, unfortunately. If it was, there'd be far less organized killing in the world.
Oh, look, another one parroting of the Nazi propaganda that an entire people are responsible for and hence can be killed as reprisal for the acts of a few amongst them.
Whilst conflating Palestinians with Hamas is merelly pure racist "logic", using that to justify mass murder of Palestinians is Nazi-level cruel violent racism.