Grassroots: Food as a War Weapon
An Advance Version of My Progressive Populist column
Famine is being used by the Israeli government as a tool in its war against Gazans, part of a concerted effort at ethnic cleansing that is consistent goals long sought by the county’s rightwing parties and underscored by the expansion of its military assault.
Already, more than 50,000 have been killed by the Israeli war, and a large portion of the 2.3 million residents have been displaced. Tens of thousands face starvation, including children.
As the AP reports, “Thousands of children have already been treated for malnutrition. Exhausted, displaced and surviving on basics for over a year and half of war, parents … watch their children waste away and find there is little they can do.”
And now the government has approved a plan “to significantly broaden the military offensive,” endorsing a plan “for the ‘conquering of Gaza’ and retaining the territory.’”
The goal, reports Haaretz reports, is “relocating the population of the Gaza Strip to the south of the enclave.”
Displacement. Annexation. The echoes of Nakba and occupation, for Palestinians, are frightening, as is the violence being inflicted. The proximate cause, the Israelis say, was the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and others, most of whom were civilians. This, for many Israelis and Americans, is enough of a justification for the war, which they argue is being waged against Hamas and with the purpose of wiping out the organization.
The death toll, ongoing humanitarian crisis, and Israeli blockade — aid groups say they have little to no supplies — belie these arguments and have driven protesters into American streets and onto American campuses.
What we are witnessing is genocidal, if not a genocide, with food being used as a weapon of war.
Already, according to the United Nations (via Al Jazeera), “Israel has restricted Palestinians’ access to 70 percent of Gaza, either by declaring large areas as no-go zones or issuing forced displacement orders.”
In southern Gaza, much of Rafah governorate has been declared a no-go zone, placed under forced displacement orders by the Israeli military since late March. In the north, nearly all of Gaza City is under similar orders, with only small pockets in the northwest still exempt.
This is consistent with the desires of the settler movement. Middle East Monitor reports that Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, has “reaffirmed his insistence on starving Palestinians in Gaza,” forcing them out and annexing the strip as part of “Greater Israel.” That means, he said that “the only aid that should enter Gaza is for the purpose of voluntary migration.”
“Voluntary migration” — like DonaldTrump’s “self-deportation” — is euphemism for removal. If you leave, we will allow you to eat; if not, you starve. It is coercive — and a war crime. Israel, Foreign Affairs reports, is
imposing a total blockade on the territory, including a cutoff of all deliveries of food, medicine, fuel, and electricity. The aim, according to Israeli cabinet officials, was to make life unbearable for Gaza’s two million citizens to force Hamas to accept Israeli demands in talks on a cease-fire extension.
The goal, Israeli officials say, is a “way to open the ‘gates of hell . . . as quickly and deadly as possible.”
This is happening with U.S. complicity, which has been bipartisan and is built on a racist foundation that equates Palestinians and Muslim Arabs with terrorism and terrorists. This allows for their dehumanization and eases the way toward elimination.
There needs to be an immediate and permanent ceasefire, with the remaining Israeli hostages and Palestinian political prisoners released and the Israelis pulling their military back from both Gaza and the West Bank. Settlements, which Israel has tacitly endorsed and uses to expand its footprint, must be rolled back, and israel must reverse its decades-long practice of apartheid (reserving full rights and citizenship to Jewish Israelis). The United States needs to facilitate this by pulling all military aid to Israel and making it clear that the Israeli government will be on its own in the region if it continues its genocidal assault. The Nation-State law
From there, the two sides can discuss what a peaceful Israel-Palestine might look like, whether that be a single democratic and multi-ethnic state (my preference) or two independent states.