JOHNSTONE

People often object to criticisms of Israel's ongoing mass atrocity in Gaza by saying, "Well what SHOULD Israel have done in response to October 7 then?" They say it like the question should confound you, as though it's some kind of thought-terminating unanswerable Zen koan or something. 

But it isn't. The question is very answerable, and the most correct answer is that Israel should have done what it always should have done: right the wrongs of the past and make peace.

Reading by Tim Foley.

All they're doing here is trying to wash this administration's hands of the horrors that are being inflicted in the middle east with the direct facilitation of this administration.

Reading by Tim Foley.

In the last few days Israel has assassinated leaders in multiple neighboring nations, assassinated multiple journalists, deliberately destroyed a water facility in Gaza during a polio outbreak, and had riots defending the right of IDF soldiers to rape Palestinian prisoners. Clearly the sort of country we should all want to send our sons and daughters to go fight and die for.

Reading by Tim Foley.

In reality, the US isn't vowing to defend the state of Israel, the US is vowing to help Israel attack other countries. If you're pledging unconditional support to an extremely belligerent aggressor while it commits the most demented acts of aggression imaginable, all you're doing is condoning those acts of aggression and making sure it will suffer no consequences when it conducts more of them.

A kevlar vest stops being a tool of defense when you wear one to prevent yourself from being stopped by police while conducting a mass shooting.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Israel has been on another assassination spree, killing Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh on Wednesday with an airstrike while he was in Tehran for the swearing in of the new Iranian president. Israel also claims to have killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in an airstrike on Beirut on Tuesday evening.

Reading by Tim Foley.

They lied about mass rapes so that they could systemically rape. 

They lied about beheaded babies so that they could kill babies. 

They lied about "human shields" to shield themselves while killing civilians. 

They lied about being victims so that they could victimize others.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Saying a US politician is "bad on foreign policy but good on domestic policy" is like saying "Sure my husband spends his weekends murdering hitchhikers, but he's a good provider and he knows how to fix a flat tire."

Reading by Tim Foley.

One of the dumbest things about US politics today is the way both parties constantly attack each other for holding foreign policy positions they don't actually hold in order to create the illusion that they have meaningful disagreements on foreign policy.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The thing I hate about western electoral politics in general and US presidential races in particular is that they take the focus off the depravity of the US-centralized empire itself, and run cover for its criminality.

Reading by Tim Foley.

"You couldn’t ask for a better example of everything Washington stands for than this. Both houses of Congress rising to feverishly applaud one of history’s worst genocidal monsters dozens of times as he lies over and over again is a much better representation of what the US government is about than anything you’ll see during the presidential race from now until November."

Reading by Tim Foley.

Article version: https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/netanyahus-speech-was-as-american