The Israeli government has been dragging Western weapons and militaries into wars for far too long, putting all of the world — and its global institutions — at risk. The move into Lebanon, creating more dead, injured, traumatized, and homeless already in huge numbers ought to snap some war supporters out of their trance.
The danger of a catastrophic war on Iran that is joined by the United States and NATO on one side, and additional nations on the other, looms horrifically on the horizon.
It is high time for the world’s governments, including that of Israel’s top supplier, the United States, to begin complying with the International Court of Justice, the United Nations General Assembly, and each of the treaties and domestic laws violated by each arms shipment.
While the UK and Canada have stopped some weapons, that is far from sufficient. While a handful of U.S. Senators anti-democratically plan a vote weeks from now after a U.S. election, on halting illegal arms shipments to Israel, that is far from sufficient, and yet more than we see in the U.S. House of so-called representatives.
Western governments have emboldened the Israeli government with weapons supplies for so long that Israel understands there are no limits. There is nothing it can do that anyone could reasonably expect the U.S. and allied governments not to support, not to protect with propaganda assistance, Security Council vetoes, and yet more instruments of mass killing. That has to change.
Public pressure in the West has prevented western governments from going to war with Iran for decades. But Israel is now expanding an existing war in an effort to create a wider war without any debate or decision. Western media is already using the passive language of “being dragged into” a war — as if no decision need be made at all. This could not be more dangerous, more dishonest, more opposed to the supposed ideal of democracy.
The good people who have raised their voices and taken nonviolent action against the genocide in Gaza for a year and more, and those who have been silent, must all rise up together now and declare that nothing permits wider war, nothing justifies these outrages, no election season puts a pause on our moral duty to protect all life.
David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie and When the World Outlawed War. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. This originally appeared at WorldBeyondWar.org.
Totally right on!
Utter waste of time. The US electorate has zero control of its government – and will elect in a month one of two front people who will continue the current policies and probably invigorate them.
The only way this stops is when the Axis of Resistance destroys Israel and drives the US out of the Middle East permanently.
It may not have to come to that.
Perhaps if the decent citizens of Israel or the United States just…left. Found a different, better country and emigrated there, stopped being a taxpayer and servant of their former State and didn't participate any more in what it did.
You know, the way half of Hollywood claims it'll do if Not Their Guy becomes President, then NEVER follows through on when he does.
Israel is just a small scale version of the US empire which it is modeling its actions upon by aggressively waging war against the entire rest of the world. This expression of pathological hubris by both countries should preferentially be restrained from those outside the ambit of their intended hegemony but the more likely prospect is that they will eventually confront each other in a contest of power-mad dominance and destroy the whole planet. This is the predictable end-game consequence of the practice of rulership, which has always and everywhere only ever excelled at delivering chaos and death.
The Israeli and US governments must be stopped. China has a strong military without carrying out genocide all over the world (no, I don't agree to their treatment of Uyghurs).
ASG's been updated to include more comprehensive thoughts on Ukraine. Some good parts on Zionism and 9/11 as well, if you haven't read in a few weeks. Control + F "July 4" is easiest to skip ahead:
https://roninhardjan.substack.com/p/americas-shadow-government-behind