Ever since it withdrew its settlements in 2005, Israel has periodically attacked Gaza. This shelling of locations throughout the narrow strip of land gave rise to the Israeli expression “mowing the lawn.” In other words, Israel was bombing Gaza on a regular basis to “maintain order.”
Over the last few months, Israel has gone far beyond its past campaigns of aerial bombardment. It has systematically destroyed Gaza in an effort to wipe out Hamas. In the course of this campaign, Israel has now killed over 30,000 Palestinians. The majority of the victims are women and children. The war has destroyed nearly half of all residential buildings. In the midst of an intensifying food crisis in Gaza, Israel has even bombed a food distribution warehouse.
Thanks to this destruction, an overwhelming portion of the population—75 percent or 1.7 million people—has been displaced. Most of those fleeing people have ended up in Rafah, a city in the south. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that he plans to send Israeli forces into this remaining, overcrowded enclave. The civilian casualties will be catastrophic.
The Biden administration has made a few faint protests, with the president saying that Netanyahu should pay more attention to the lives of Palestinian civilians and that his actions are hurting, not helping Israel. Netanyahu has shrugged off the criticism, adding that he and the U.S. president “agree” on the goals of the war, a comment perhaps intended maliciously to harm Biden’s reelection prospects.
Biden hasn’t spelled out any consequences for Netanyahu crossing the “red line” of sending troops into Rafah. But apparently there is much talk going on within the administration. According to Axios:
U.S. officials say an Israeli military operation in Rafah would likely lead to a significant shift in U.S. policy — including an end to the defense of Israel at the United Nations and restrictions on the use of U.S. weapons by Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza.
That probably doesn’t sound like much, but it could be a turning point that leads eventually to a rupture in the U.S.-Israeli alliance.
Such a rupture is made all the more likely by the actions of Israeli settlers. While all eyes are focused on Gaza, these settlers are expanding their control of territory in the West Bank through a campaign of intimidation and violence. “The U.N. has recorded five hundred and seventy-three attacks by settlers in the West Bank since the war began, with Israeli forces accompanying them half the time. At least nine people have been killed by settlers, and three hundred and eighty-two have been killed by Israeli forces,” writes Shane Bauer in The New Yorker. “Settlers have burned cars and houses, blockaded roads, damaged electricity networks, seized farmland, severed irrigation lines, attacked people in their fields and olive groves, and killed, all without repercussion.”
Even as they acknowledge their harm of their actions, settlers have cited U.S. history to justify their actions. Bauer quotes one settler: “America came with ships and killed all the Indians and made them slaves. It’s terrible,........