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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The powerful who stand with
Israel</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Vijay Prashad</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">October
28, 2025</div>
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<div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><img
src="cid:part1.fSvyB0eR.zxHsa3ZB@freedomarchives.org"
alt="jd-vance-netanyahu-herzog-2-1.jpg" width="422"
height="237" class=""><br>
<p><font size="1">US Vice President JD Vance meeting with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
President Isaac Herzog in Israel. Photo: US VP JD
Vance/ X </font></p>
<div>
<p>On October 26, Caroline Willemen of Médecins Sans
Frontières <a
href="https://al24news.dz/fr/ghaza-laide-humanitaire-continue-detre-utilisee-par-lentite-sioniste-comme-moyen-de-pression/"
moz-do-not-send="true">stated</a> that Israel
continues to use the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza
as \u201cmeans of pressure\u201d. \u201cThe humanitarian situation in
Gaza has not improved significantly,\u201d she told the
press, \u201cas water and shelter shortages persist and
hundreds of thousands of people continue to live in
tents as winter approaches\u201d. Israel\u2019s armed forces
have now annexed more than half of Gaza\u2019s land and are
<a href="https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/163713"
moz-do-not-send="true">dumping</a> vast amounts of
debris into that zone, turning it into a mountain of
garbage. To move the rubble without experts and
equipment is very dangerous, as about ten to twelve
percent of the Israeli bombs dropped on Gaza have not
exploded.</p>
<p>\u201cEvery Gazan person is now living in a horrific,
unmapped minefield,\u201d <a
href="https://www.humanity-inclusion.org.uk/en/gaza-every-gazan-person-is-now-living-in-a-horrific-unmapped-minefield"
moz-do-not-send="true">said</a> Nick Orr of Humanity
and Inclusion, a non-governmental organization at work
in Palestine. \u201cThe UXO [Unexploded Ordnance] is
everywhere. On the ground, in the rubble, under the
ground, everywhere\u201d. As Palestinians dig through the
hills of concrete, they risk triggering a dormant bomb
\u2013 creating more casualties of the Israeli genocide.</p>
<p>Over the past two years, Israel has<a
href="https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2025/10/08/200000-tonnes-of-explosives-dropped-on-gaza-equivalent-to-6-nuclear-bombs/"
moz-do-not-send="true"> dropped</a> at least 200,000
tons of explosives on Gaza, a tonnage equivalent to
thirteen atom bombs of the scale dropped on Hiroshima
by the United States on August 6, 1945. This is
unimaginable, particularly given the fact that
Palestinians have no air defense systems, no air
force, and no ability to defend themselves from
high-altitude and drone bombing or to strike back in
any comparable way. Genocides are, by their nature,
asymmetrical. But to describe these past two years as
asymmetrical is obscene: this was one-directional
violence, the Goliath-like Israelis using their
immense advantages against the David-like Palestinian
resistance.</p>
<p>The opaqueness of official arms transfers means we
have no precise idea how much of this tonnage came to
Israel from its major suppliers during the war: the
United States, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
However, we have enough evidence to know that most of
the bombs came from the United States, with smaller
supplies from the other countries. A new<a
href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/a80492-gaza-genocide-collective-crime-report-special-rapporteur-situation"
moz-do-not-send="true"> report</a> from the United
Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since
1967, entitled <i>Gaza Genocide: a collective crime</i>
(October 20, 2025), makes it indisputably clear that
the countries supplying Israel with military
equipment, or assisting it in any way \u2013 including
through diplomatic support \u2013 are utterly complicit in
the genocide.</p>
<p>In other words, the obligation to abide by the UN
Convention on Genocide is not discretionary; the duty
to do what they can to stop the genocide is mandatory.
The participation makes them wholly culpable. The
report notes that the Israeli genocide of the
Palestinians in Gaza makes this \u201can internationally
enabled crime\u201d.</p>
<p>The level of complicity is extraordinary. Take the
case of the United Kingdom, whose Prime Minister, Keir
Starmer, is a human rights lawyer and indeed wrote the
textbook on European human rights law (1999). On
August 6, 2025, Matt Kennard<a
href="https://www.palestinedeepdive.com/p/exposed-flight-path-of-secret-british"
moz-do-not-send="true"> told</a> Palestine Deep Dive
about how UK military aircraft left RAF Akrotiri in
Cyprus and escorted an unidentified plane over Gaza.
Six days later, Iain Overton at <i>UK Declassified</i><a
href="https://www.declassifieduk.org/us-flew-spy-flights-for-uk-months-before-mod-admitted-it/"
moz-do-not-send="true"> revealed</a> that amongst
these planes was an RAF Shadow R1 surveillance plane
flying alongside a Beechcraft Super King Air 350 owned
by the Sierra Nevada Corporation (from the United
States) with a call sign CROOK 11. What were these
aircraft doing? Who had sanctioned them this work? Who
is CROOK 11?</p>
<p>In December 2024, Starmer<a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/starmer-visits-gaza-spy-planes-air-base"
moz-do-not-send="true"> told</a> troops at RAF
Akrotiri: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different work that goes
on. I\u2019m also aware that some, or quite a bit, of what
goes on here can\u2019t necessarily be talked about all of
the time\u2026We can\u2019t necessarily tell the world what
you\u2019re doing here\u2026because although we\u2019re not saying it
to the whole world for reasons that are obvious to
you\u201d. The obvious reason is that this is a genocide,
and the UK is complicit, so they cannot talk about it.</p>
<p>The record for the United States is even more
ghastly. One paragraph from the Special Rapporteur\u2019s
report is damning enough:</p>
<p>Since October 2023, the US has transferred 742
consignments of \u201carms and ammunition\u201d (HS Code 93) and
approved tens of billions in new sales. The Biden and
Trump Administrations reduced transparency,
accelerated transfers through repeated emergency
approvals, facilitated Israeli access to US weapons
stockpile held abroad, and authorized hundreds of
sales just below the amount requiring congressional
approval. The US has deployed military aircraft,
special forces and surveillance drones to Israel, with
US surveillance purportedly being used to target
Hamas, including in the first raid on Al Shifa
hospital.</p>
<p>In November 2024, the International Criminal Court
(ICC)<a
href="https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges"
moz-do-not-send="true"> filed</a> a warrant for the
arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. Based
on this recent UN report, the ICC prosecutor, Karim
Khan, should be obliged to file warrants against Rishi
Sunak, Starmer, Olaf Scholz, Friedrich Merz, Joe
Biden, and Donald Trump \u2013 at a minimum. Anything less
makes a mockery of the rules-based international
system, namely the United Nations Charter.</p>
<p><b><i>Vijay Prashad</i></b><i> is an Indian
historian, editor, and journalist. He is a writing
fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter. He
is an editor of</i><a
href="https://mayday.leftword.com/"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <i>LeftWord Books</i></a><i>
and the director of</i><a
href="https://thetricontinental.org/"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <i>Tricontinental:
Institute for Social Research</i></a><i>. He has
written more than 20 books, including</i><a
href="https://smile.amazon.com/Darker-Nations-Peoples-History-Third/dp/1595583424/?tag=alternorg08-20"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <i>The Darker Nations</i></a><i>
and</i><a
href="https://smile.amazon.com/Poorer-Nations-Possible-History-Global/dp/1781681589/?tag=alternorg08-20"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <i>The Poorer Nations</i></a><i>.
His latest books are</i><a
href="https://thenewpress.com/books/on-cuba"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <i>On Cuba: Reflections on
70 Years of Revolution and Struggle</i></a><i>
(with Noam Chomsky),</i><a
href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1869-struggle-makes-us-human"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <i>Struggle Makes Us Human:
Learning from Movements for Socialism</i></a><i>,
and (also with Noam Chomsky)</i><a
href="https://thenewpress.com/books/withdrawal"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <i>The Withdrawal: Iraq,
Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of US Power</i></a><i>.
Chelwa and Prashad will publish How the
International Monetary Fund is Suffocating Africa
later this year with</i><a
href="https://inkanibooks.co.za/"
moz-do-not-send="true"> <i>Inkani Books</i></a><i>.</i></p>
<p><i>This article was written by</i><a
href="https://globetrotter.media/"
moz-do-not-send="true"><i> Globetrotter</i></a><i>.</i></p>
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