Well, it’s basically a human rights violator accusing someone else of being a human rights violator.
This is true… but well, do you know of a government that hasn’t committed human rights violations? And I’m not asking that to try to deflect from the US’s complicity in this, but to point out that in basically every case where a government accuses another of human rights violations, the accusing party will also have some such in its past. But it’s still necessary to make the accusations, on a public stage. Nothing will ever change otherwise.
One doesn’t care what the international court of justice says, the other doesn’t even recognize it. While at the same time the one accusing keeps on delivering guns to the accused so they can continue violating human rights.
Politically, the US will ignore the international court, but realistically US foreign policy is absolutely affected by public opinion. If this were not the case, then the weapons deal for Israel would never have been tied to the one for Ukraine in congress. If support for Ukraine were not an issue, then Israel probably wouldn’t have gotten anything.
I will point out that in the past decades there would never have been a question of whether the US would give military support to Israel, it would have just happened. Things have changed substantially over the past 20 years. For the US State Department (the foreign affairs office of the executive branch) to make such a public accusation, in the current situation, is a stronger signal than I think most people realize. As this article says:
The announcement is the first determination of its kind for any Israeli unit by the US government.
It’s basically saying “get your shit together”. I think the reason they made this statement based on events from 2022 and prior (rather than anything since October 2023) is that it’s verifiable and thoroughly investigated - Israel can’t just dismiss it by saying “you have no proof” or otherwise claiming that it was a necessary act of defense.
This is speculative and might go a little too far into reading the tea leaves… but there’s a fair amount of political intrigue here. Biden didn’t make the statement about Israel’s actions himself, which allows him to continue acting friendly with Netanyahu in person (rather than devolve into finger-pointing), but the State Department is directly responsible to him so this still carries the weight of the president’s authority. It’s the political equivalent of a backhand slap. The timing is too coincidental with the passing of the new foreign aid package.
It’s a strange world we live in.
It’s a… complicated world we live in. It always has been, really. Anyone pushing a simplistic take like “the US is evil for continuing to support Israel” or “Palestine is a terrorist state so it’s ok for Israel to do whatever it wants for security” or anything like that is either an idiot or trying to manipulate you. Context matters, and everything is connected. We haven’t even talked about the influence that Iran has over the US’s decision making with regard to Israel - but you know as long as the US-Iran relationship is adversarial, the US won’t completely stop supporting Israel, the strategic position is too important.
This is true… but well, do you know of a government that hasn’t committed human rights violations? And I’m not asking that to try to deflect from the US’s complicity in this, but to point out that in basically every case where a government accuses another of human rights violations, the accusing party will also have some such in its past. But it’s still necessary to make the accusations, on a public stage. Nothing will ever change otherwise.
Politically, the US will ignore the international court, but realistically US foreign policy is absolutely affected by public opinion. If this were not the case, then the weapons deal for Israel would never have been tied to the one for Ukraine in congress. If support for Ukraine were not an issue, then Israel probably wouldn’t have gotten anything.
I will point out that in the past decades there would never have been a question of whether the US would give military support to Israel, it would have just happened. Things have changed substantially over the past 20 years. For the US State Department (the foreign affairs office of the executive branch) to make such a public accusation, in the current situation, is a stronger signal than I think most people realize. As this article says:
It’s basically saying “get your shit together”. I think the reason they made this statement based on events from 2022 and prior (rather than anything since October 2023) is that it’s verifiable and thoroughly investigated - Israel can’t just dismiss it by saying “you have no proof” or otherwise claiming that it was a necessary act of defense.
This is speculative and might go a little too far into reading the tea leaves… but there’s a fair amount of political intrigue here. Biden didn’t make the statement about Israel’s actions himself, which allows him to continue acting friendly with Netanyahu in person (rather than devolve into finger-pointing), but the State Department is directly responsible to him so this still carries the weight of the president’s authority. It’s the political equivalent of a backhand slap. The timing is too coincidental with the passing of the new foreign aid package.
It’s a… complicated world we live in. It always has been, really. Anyone pushing a simplistic take like “the US is evil for continuing to support Israel” or “Palestine is a terrorist state so it’s ok for Israel to do whatever it wants for security” or anything like that is either an idiot or trying to manipulate you. Context matters, and everything is connected. We haven’t even talked about the influence that Iran has over the US’s decision making with regard to Israel - but you know as long as the US-Iran relationship is adversarial, the US won’t completely stop supporting Israel, the strategic position is too important.