On Second Thought: A troubling accusation

As if Americans didn't have enough to worry about, our closest ally, Israel, has been dragged into the International Court of Justice on a charge of genocide against the people of Gaza.

Ominously for our friend's defense, not only has South Africa been able to document plenty of criminal action, as specified by the genocide convention, such as “killing members of the group” (as opposed to combatants) and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about their destruction “(as in blockading supplies of food and water, then bombing all the houses), but over the last three months high ranking Israeli officials have provided bountiful evidence of genocidal intent. From the defense minister referring to the inhabitants as “beasts,”to the prime minister referencing a scriptural call to exterminate every man, woman and child of the “children of darkness,” the leadership's frankness is a gift to the prosecution..

Even more troubling, since the United States supplies most of the bombs dropped on Gaza (the Biden administration has skipped Congress to rush special orders twice since the war began), and since the convention specifies “complicity” as a crime, if somebody suspects Israel of the ultimate crime, they have suspicions about America too.

Of course, not everybody is troubled. Some Americans may agree with the Israeli president who proclaimed there are “no innocents in Gaza” since residents elected the terrorist Hamas organization, though the last election was in 2006. Others may agree with Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley that, if the people of Gaza don't want to die, they could just leave, though Haley acknowledges nobody seems to want the refugees, and it should be noted that with Israel controlling all but one exit point, the only possible place to leave into is the Sinai desert.

Many agree Israel has a right to defend itself, but would like to stop passing the ammunition until it figures out how to do the job without killing so many women and children (according to the UN, more children died in the first two months of the war in Gaza than in all other 2023 wars combined). But our elected representatives don't see it that way. A bipartisan majority is ready to say yes to an extra $14.5 billion appears ready to send Israel an extra $14 billion, just as soon as Republicans can get a deal to do something about poor people trying to get into Texas.

Forty years ago, that old softy Ronald Reagan was able to make a phone call to get his Israeli counterpart to stop dropping bombs after enough casualties in an earlier war. Despite some muttering about it being time for fewer civilian deaths, the current president either hasn't figured out how, or doesn't care to make that call. Most of his rivals appear equally unlikely to push Israel. While a majority of Americans say they favor a ceasefire, among likely presidential candidates, only Green Party nominee Jill Stein and Independent Cornel West have called for one.

One piece of good news for anyone with qualms about an invasion that keeps setting civilian death records (children, reporters, UN workers, medical personnel) is, you may be responsible for fewer bombs than you think. In a recent Intercept article, “I Calculated How Much of My Money the Government Sent to Kill Palestinians, You Can Too,” author Jon Schwarz estimates that the $18 billion in military aid already sent or promised to Israel in 2023 works out to four tenths of 1 percent of $6.3 trillion in federal spending for the year. So, for a rough estimate of your own contribution to the war effort, just multiply four tenths of 1 percent by your federal tax bill.

For a lot of us the result is going to be less than $100, which does suggest a route to moral equilibrium. Like a polluter buying carbon credits, a person bothered by the carnage could simply make a charitable donation.

Of course, the whole genocide kertuffle may blow over. In court last week, Israel's attorneys argued that when Israeli officials talk about killing everybody, they are just blowing off steam, and that South Africa had no business hauling Israel into court anyhow without the proper notice. In the days before the trial, Secretary of State Tony Blinken used the same language as Israeli leaders when he dismissed South Africa's case as “meritless.” Besides, what's the worst the Court can do? Suppose the Court grants South Africa's request for an immediate ceasefire order pending an investigation? Under the terms of the Genocide Convention, that kind of order would mean, not only that Israel has to stop dropping bombs, other nations (the U.S.) has to stop shipping them to Israel. But who is going to make Israel or us? The Court ordered Russia to cease and desist in Ukraine while it checked out a genocide charge way back in March 2022, and we all know how that worked.

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Will Rawn of Havre is a retired Montana State University-Northern professor.