Video: Has Israel Gone Rogue?
Even after nearly two years of carnage in Gaza, it came as a massive shock to the international community when Israel carried out airstrikes on Hamas negotiators in Doha, Qatar. IPS Middle East expert addressed the attack on a series of recent Al Jazeera appearances.
On UpFront, Phyllis Bennis said the attack should be viewed as a massive escalation by the U.S. as well as Israel. “The reason this was such an important escalation is precisely because of that giant [U.S. military] base that exists in Qatar,” Phyllis explains. “It has complete access to the airspace — they know exactly what’s going on there — and could have stopped the [Israeli] missiles from going in.” She says that makes it likely the U.S. “knew about this and greenlit it.”
But Phyllis reminds viewers that the biggest impact is still in Gaza, where U.S. weapons continue to enable the killing. Washington “is still continuing to send the weapons that make the genocide possible” while continuing to “prevent the UN Security Council from acting to hold Israel accountable.”
“The Genocide Convention calls on all member states to work to prevent and stop genocide,” she concludes. “So, something like an arms embargo that could be called for by the Security Council, even if there’s a veto, to call on international support to say that there should be no more arms.”
Watch all four of the interviews below:
