https://sputnikglobe.com/20231212/ex-cia-officer-ceasefire-veto-and-white-phosphorus-shells-for-israel-show-us-isolatation-1115541630.html
Ex-CIA Officer: Ceasefire Veto and White Phosphorus Shells for Israel Show ‘US Isolation’
Ex-CIA Officer: Ceasefire Veto and White Phosphorus Shells for Israel Show ‘US Isolation’
Sputnik International
The US’ decision to continue arming Israel and Ukraine with weapons banned by international law only shows how isolated and desperate its international position has become, a former senior CIA officer told Sputnik.
2023-12-12T17:21+0000
2023-12-12T17:21+0000
2023-12-12T19:31+0000
analysis
ray mcgovern
israel
white phosphorus
un security council (unsc)
veto
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Israel has been accused of using white phosphorus munitions several times since the conflict with Hamas began on October 7 - as well as in previous conflicts with the Palestinians and other groups in the region. These accusations have come from locals who witnessed the strikes as well as NGOs like Human Rights Watch. One recent report in particular from a prominent US newspaper shed light that one attack in southern Lebanon in late October included white phosphorus artillery shells supplied to Israel by the United States.The day before the report dropped, the US used its veto power to block a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where more than 18,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7. It was the only country to vote against the resolution, and hours after the vote, US Congress used a special emergency power to circumvent normal approval processes and rush $106 million worth of weapons to Israel.Ray McGovern, a former CIA officer who prepared the president’s daily brief during the Ronald Reagan administration, told Sputnik that Washington’s willingness to arm its partners with internationally-banned weapons showed the level of desperation and isolation it has on the geopolitical stage.“Now, I expect that the [UN] General Assembly to take this up in another day or two, that's a little different. The General Assembly has less teeth in it, less enforcement, less directive power. But it will be very interesting, because I would expect that if some 185 people vote for a ceasefire, and you have the United States and Great Britain and Fiji and the Marianas Islands and maybe Albania voting against the ceasefire - what more need I say about how isolated the United States has become?”He said that there would not be accountability for the use of weapons like white phosphorus “unless Israel loses.”McGovern said he “wouldn’t put it past” men like US Secretary of State Antony Blinken or White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to dare to try and give Ukraine “mini-nukes” if the situation became dire enough.“We'll show how strong we are and we won't lose, at least not until after the election,” he said. “That's how bad it is. So when you talk about white phosphorus, it's awful. So when I was in the army, you could use that for illumination, but everyone recognized you can't possibly use that if there were human beings beneath that. "So this is really bad and it shows the lengths to which the Congress will acquiesce in the Zionist-dominated administration - let's be very clear about that, self-proclaimed Zionists, going from Joe Biden to Blinken to Sullivan, to [Under Secretary of State Victoria] Nuland - what they're prepared to do to help their friend [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu.”
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231211/how-team-biden-defies-own-human-rights-rules-in-israel-weapons-supplies-1115518899.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231212/netanyahu-says-israel-received-full-us-support-for-ground-operation-in-gaza-strip-1115540099.html
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us sending weapons to israel, did israel use white phosphorus, ray mcgovern
us sending weapons to israel, did israel use white phosphorus, ray mcgovern
Ex-CIA Officer: Ceasefire Veto and White Phosphorus Shells for Israel Show ‘US Isolation’
17:21 GMT 12.12.2023 (Updated: 19:31 GMT 12.12.2023) The US’ decision to continue arming Israel and Ukraine with weapons banned by international law only shows how isolated and desperate its international position has become, a former senior CIA officer told Sputnik.
Israel has been accused of using white phosphorus munitions several times since the conflict with Hamas began on October 7 - as well as in previous conflicts with the Palestinians and other groups in the region.
These accusations have come from locals who witnessed the strikes as well as NGOs like Human Rights Watch. One recent report in particular from a prominent US newspaper
shed light that one attack in southern Lebanon in late October included white phosphorus artillery shells supplied to Israel by the United States.
While legal to use in warfare for purposes of target illumination or marking, the use of white phosphorus rounds against “soft” targets such as buildings or soldiers, and especially against civilian targets, is considered a war crime and banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty either ratified or acceded to by all but a handful of countries.
The day before the report dropped, the
US used its veto power to block a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where more than 18,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7. It was the only country to vote against the resolution, and hours after the vote, US Congress
used a special emergency power to circumvent normal approval processes and rush $106 million worth of weapons to Israel.
11 December 2023, 09:44 GMT
Ray McGovern, a former CIA officer who prepared the president’s daily brief during the Ronald Reagan administration, told
Sputnik that Washington’s willingness to arm its partners with internationally-banned weapons showed the level of desperation and isolation it has on the geopolitical stage.
“That vote on Friday was shameful,” he said. “You had 13 countries, of the 15 on the Security Council, voting for a ceasefire. You had one veto, one ‘no’ vote, that was the United States, and then the US vassal called the United Kingdom abstained.”
“Now, I expect that
the [UN] General Assembly to take this up in another day or two, that's a little different. The General Assembly has less teeth in it, less enforcement, less directive power. But it will be very interesting, because I would expect that if some 185 people vote for a ceasefire, and you have the United States and Great Britain and Fiji and the Marianas Islands and maybe Albania voting against the ceasefire - what more need I say about how isolated the United States has become?”
He said that there would not be accountability for the use of weapons like white phosphorus “unless Israel loses.”
“It's possible that that might happen. In other words, Hamas is not being defeated, Israel is way out on a limb; its only supporter, the United States, is taking a real black eye for supporting them. And so what's likely to happen now? If the United States has given white phosphorus to the Israelis, well, that's just as bad as giving cluster munitions - again, banned by 110 countries in the world, phosphorus as well - to the Ukrainians. And when they ran out of 155-millimeter shells, they gave them cluster munitions, and then when they ran out of those, they've already given them depleted uranium shells for their tanks. And now what's next?”
McGovern said he “wouldn’t put it past” men like US Secretary of State Antony Blinken or White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan to dare to try and
give Ukraine “mini-nukes” if the situation became dire enough.
12 December 2023, 15:35 GMT
“We'll show how strong we are and we won't lose, at least not until after the election,” he said. “That's how bad it is. So when you talk about white phosphorus, it's awful. So when I was in the army, you could use that for illumination, but everyone recognized you can't possibly use that if there were human beings beneath that.
"So this is really bad and it shows the lengths to which the Congress will acquiesce in the Zionist-dominated administration - let's be very clear about that, self-proclaimed Zionists, going from Joe Biden to Blinken to Sullivan, to [Under Secretary of State Victoria] Nuland - what they're prepared to do to help their friend [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu.”
