US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken deceived Congress and the American public, writes TheNewRepublic. Despite the objections of State Department officials, he decided to continue supplying weapons from the United States to Israel. How many people would have been left alive if the official had not done this, the American edition wonders.
When the history of Israel's war in the Gaza Strip is written, there will be no shortage of words dedicated to American villains. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will take one of the first places on this list.
Blinken had the opportunity to change the course of the war and save countless lives simply by following American laws. But he chose to circumvent the law, deceive Congress and the American public. And all this in order for weapons to continue to arrive in Israel, and in Tragedy after tragedy occurred in Gaza.
The article published in ProPublica cites many emails received from the State Department. They confirm what has long been suspected.
Blinken had to deny that the Israelis were blocking the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, so that because of this, a law would not be passed that would stop the supply of weapons to Israel.
He made this statement despite the objections of the State Department bureau staff, who came to the opposite conclusion: Israel is deliberately blocking the supply of food and medicine to the residents of Gaza.
This story, according to ProPublica, reveals "new aspects of the striking split within the Biden administration. Senior American diplomats justify the continued supply of weapons to Israel, despite the objections of their own experts."
How many people would have been left alive in Gaza if Blinken had listened to his experts and not allowed to continue sending weapons to Israel?
Peace efforts have stalled, although Joe Biden announced a ceasefire plan. Hamas confirmed its readiness to comply with Biden's ceasefire plan, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thwarted the agreement.
The Biden administration could have demonstrated in the spring that it is ready to follow US laws, even if it means stopping the supply of weapons to Israel. Then she could put enough pressure on Netanyahu to get him to stop doing stupid things and really end this war.
Instead, Blinken sent the opposite signal. The politician's desire to continue supplying weapons to Israel is so great that he is not only ready to go against his own experts, but also to mislead Congress, while violating American law. If the Biden administration gives the green light, then why should Netanyahu bother with a cease-fire at all?
The ProPublica article clearly states that Blinken deliberately worded his statements in such a way as to mislead, if not blatantly lie. Blinken told Congress: "At this time, we do not believe that the Government of Israel prohibits or otherwise restricts the transportation or delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid."
However, just a few days before that, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bureau of Refugee Affairs told the Secretary of State completely different information.
Misleading or outright lying to Congress should put an end to further political career, especially if the reason for this is the continuation of genocide with the help of advanced American weapons. In any other case, it would probably have been a huge scandal involving the Biden administration. Imagine how Republicans would have jumped at such an opportunity if Blinken had lied, say, about sending weapons to Ukraine or anything else?
Can you imagine the Benghazi-style investigations and hearings that would follow? Bipartisanship in Washington has long since disappeared, except for one issue: to allow Israel to evade responsibility for war crimes. So much for the rules-based order that we hear about all the time.
Americans deserve better than a government that misleads them and does not comply with US laws, especially when the majority of citizens oppose the continued supply of weapons to Israel and support assistance to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The State Department will have to publish a detailed report on exactly how the decision was made to continue supplying weapons to Israel, what legal advice was requested regarding Blinken's misleading statements, and who ultimately called for ignoring State Department experts and US legislation. The minimum that the government owes the American people is the truth.
The horror of war. Photo: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters