On Monday, confusion between the US and Israel appeared to continue as the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted ceasefire resolution for Gaza based on a proposal that was outlined by US President Joe Biden. The US claimed that Israel accepted the proposal, however Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected it and maintains little to no possibility of a ceasefire.
Radhika Desai, an author and professor in the Department of Political Studies and the director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, sat down with Sputnik's The Critical Hour on Tuesday. Desai told the show’s hosts that since the war first unfolded in October, one has at “every stage been at a loss for words”.
“So on the one hand, the UN has passed this resolution. The US says that Israel supports it, Israel says it doesn't support it,” said Desai. “I would say that one thing that has not changed in this situation is the US continued and dogged support for Israel no matter what. But what has changed is that there are now the beginnings of cracks within the coalition in Israel. Benny Gantz has resigned because he thinks that Netanyahu is not being aggressive enough.”
“Meanwhile, I think the right-wing parties are probably even worse than him, are only hanging on because they figure that if they lose this government, they may lose the war. [...] But Netanyahu is not in control of the situation,” she added. “The US, Israel, in particular - are pulled apart by different directions. They themselves don't know what they're doing. But there's one thing they seem to be agreeing on, which is that no matter what the continued murder of a genocide of civilians in Gaza can continue.”
“[And] the US makes all sorts of biased statements about how it wants Israel to stop murdering civilians. Meanwhile, we read in various papers and sources that they are aiding and abetting Israel all along, including in its most recent strike where it has managed to kill over 230 civilians in Gaza,” said Desai of Israel’s recent hostage rescue.
US officials who publicly resigned over the Biden administration’s Gaza policy are now working together in an effort to support ongoing dissent, and to put pressure on the US government, CNN reported on Sunday.
More than half a dozen people had left their jobs as a form of protest, with many officials saying they would pursue further action outside the government. Officials who spoke with the news outlet said they still have colleagues within the government who agreed with their decisions to leave.
“When you do something so wrong, you are going to generate a moral crisis within your own society, among your own people. And you are beginning to see that again. It's a moral crisis of two different sorts,” the author explained. “In the US, people are resigning because they are horrified. In Israel, Benny Gantz has resigned because he thinks that Netanyahu is not doing, murdering enough Palestinians and bringing victory closer, faster.”
“Inevitably, when you have this scale of carnage and even these resignations, by the way, began a long time ago,” she added. “And the fact is that essentially what's new about this is that the scale of the carnage is prompting an unprecedented scale of resignations from various agencies of the US government.”
“And they're now saying they're going to coordinate,” Desai said. “They realize that this is something very big, that this represents their own country doing something far more wrong than they have been [...] trained to look away from a considerable amount of wrong.”
Desai then drew a comparison between the US’s actions in the Vietnam War to that of their actions in Gaza; citing campus protests as one major similarity. A “veil” had been placed around peoples’ eyes at that point, during which voters had been told that what the US was doing was “liberating Vietnam” up until the point when the “veil” was suddenly torn off and people could see the “horror” of what the US was doing to Vietnam, she explained.
“If you look at the sheer number of bombs that had been dropped on this tiny strip of land called Gaza. It is now increased and beyond is now surpassed the level of all the bombs used in World War II. Just consider that,” said Desai. “[Israel says] that Hamas is using civilians as human shields. You left hardly any space for Hamas. Of course, Hamas and civilians are all going to have to take shelter in the same place.”
“Gaza itself was a tiny enough place that you could practically bomb anywhere and say that this is where Hamas is and there are civilians there. So, it really is, the sheer madness is spiraling itself out of control.”
On Saturday the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they had rescued four of their hostages, including a Russian national, who had been kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7.
While news of the rescue was welcomed by the US - who helped aid the mission - many condemned Israel’s actions after the Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 274 Palestinians had been killed as a result. Benny Gantz, an Israeli war cabinet member, residened from his position following the assault. In a message to the families of captives who remain in Gaza, he apologized and said Israel had “failed”, and blamed Netanyahu for standing in the way of victory.
“Even before the Netanyahu government was started on this genocidal madness, Netanyahu was already deep in trouble. Remember that they were all the so-called liberal sections of Israeli society who were up in arms because he was threatening to change the constitution in ways that would compromise their freedoms,” said Desai. “And Netanyahu is therefore at the head of a coalition that is already exceedingly right-wing, even by Israeli standards.”
“If this war continues its infighting then Israel is losing legitimacy internationally, everywhere. So, I just don't see any way out other than for Israel to say, we cannot win, we have to negotiate,” she added. “So far the seed has all been behind killing Gazans. It has not been about rescuing the hostages. If it had been, we would have seen the cessation of hostilities a long time ago. So the zeal has been all behind killing civilians in Gaza on the pretext that they are going to destroy Hamas, which they know they are not going to do.”
Sputnik’s Wilmer Leon asked their show’s guest how it would be possible for Hamas to coordinate with a government they don’t trust.
Desai explained that with the current "extent of the demonization of the opposite side" Hamas can't "trust anybody in the West to negotiate with”, stating that such approach is rational.