A Ceasefire in Name Only

The Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported, “Only minutes after Trump’s post [‘Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer’] an Israeli drone ?strike killed one person ?in southern Lebanon.”

To prove Trump’s words were performative, Washington continues its daily weapon shipments to Israel— well-aware how Israel will use US weapons. The New York Times reported, “Amid the 10-day truce between Israel and Lebanon, Israel has continued strikes.”

This is the pattern with US-brokered ceasefires. For instance, our supreme international crime, the US war of aggression against Iran, continues under a new phase: the US blockade. Despite a ceasefire in name only, the US free press focuses on possible failure and fleeting success in Iran, while ignoring our victims.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) wrote, “Across Iran, children are already bearing the brunt of conflict.” Al Jazeera reported “At least 3,375 people have been killed in US-Israeli attacks on Iran,” including 376 children, while “More than 26,500 people have been injured.”

UNICEF reported, in Iran, “up to 3.2 million people have been displaced, including up to 864,000 children.” The New York Times wrote, “at least 763 schools and 316 health care facilities had been damaged or destroyed.”

Death and destruction caused by US-manufactured missiles (and fighter jets) spreads to Lebanon. UNICEF reported “a staggering 600 children [were] either killed or injured in Lebanon since 2 March.” Save the Children wrote, “Almost 20 children a day have been killed and injured by Israeli forces airstrikes.”

Without Washington’s daily weapon shipments to Israel, “Children in Lebanon” would not “have faced a 45-day nightmare.” A nightmare that continues to get worse. On Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel is once again bombing Lebanon “with full force,” and with Washington’s approval. Haaretz admitted, Israel continues “the demolition of houses in Lebanese border villages,” with “IDF plans for a prolonged Israeli [occupation] in southern Lebanon.”

Washington is also an accessory to the crime of crimes in Gaza. Doctors Without Borders wrote “Six months on, the ceasefire has failed to end the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, with Israeli authorities continuing to impose conditions intended to destroy conditions of life.” In Gaza, under the so-called ceasefire, “733 people have been killed and 1,913 have been injured.”

Save the Children wrote, “At least two children a day have been killed or injured in the six months since the ceasefire for Gaza was agreed.” Today, in Gaza, Palestinians face a “daily struggle to survive… going to bed hungry in flooded tents… All while the government of Israel drops bombs and cuts off vital, life-saving?assistance?with U.S. support.”

Washington continues to approve Israel’s deliberate blocking of humanitarian aid. For that reason, UN Women reported, “nearly 790,000 women and girls [are] experiencing crisis-level or catastrophic levels of food insecurity.” It’s our “profound lack of humanity that has allowed this horror in Gaza to continue.”

Our taxpayer money provides the US-made missiles and US-made fighter jets that destroy Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. We are responsible.

-Anton Porcari

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