Trump and Netanyahu turn to Iran to distract from war crimes

As global attention pivots to Iran, Gaza’s suffering is buried beneath a calculated smokescreen of war, distraction and denial, writes Lyn Bender.

FOR ISRAEL and America, bombing and force are a common language. They both claim to solve wicked problems with forceful repression.

U.S. President Donald Trump once suggested that hurricanes could be nuked. Both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are fighting for their survival.

At least they were until their solution of focusing attention on a bigger, old archenemy: Iran.

Trump’s poll ratings have slumped further since his Iran attacks, ironically. Israel’s attack on Iran has proven thus far to be a successful “look over there” strategy for his threat of no confidence.

Attack on Iran shows Trump's incredible weakness

Trump’s reckless strike on Iran has unleashed chaos, emboldened Israel, and brought the world closer to a catastrophic new war.

Just as the recognition of the starvation of Gaza was proving to be a last straw in the world’s denial of Israeli atrocities, Israel resurrected its old claim of the imminent threat of a nuclear Iran. Despite evidence to the contrary, or at least no clear confirming evidence, Iran was portrayed as now being within a hair’s breadth of being an immediate nuclear threat.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to commit war crimes, including:

targeting and killing Palestinians who have struggled to get to designated food delivery points;
issuing evacuation orders to exhausted displaced Palestinians;
forcibly removing Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank;
military and police support of illegal settlers as they attack Palestinians living on the West Bank;
failing its obligations as an occupying power;
illegally continues its occupation;
dominating mainstream media with blatantly false narratives;
attacking any individual or organisation that criticises the government as antisemitic;
banning legitimate organisations and setting up its ironically named, in Orwellian speak, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation;
using U.S. weapons, Israel's bombing of Yemen, Lebanon and Syria; and
bombing hospitals and targeting and killing medical staff.

There is now no doubt that Israel is committing genocide.

Before the word was actually coined, there had been a history of denying genocide and clearly articulated genocidal intent. Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin founded the concept of genocide post the Nazi Holocaust to describe the intent and implementation of the crime of aiming to destroy a particular group and its culture.

Middle East violence, Gaza genocide, no one safe in USA...BUT Trump 'snubs' Albo

Israel has started a war with Iran while continuing its onslaught in Gaza and the U.S. is turning on its own citizens, but our PM didn't get to meet the U.S. despot, so that's just "abject failure".

Lemkin escaped the Holocaust. His awareness of genocide was stirred by learning of the fate of the Armenians. He tried to get international attention for this crime in the 1930s, before the Holocaust. He had input during the Nuremberg trials, but genocide was not included in the crimes cited at Nuremberg.

It has been almost comical to hear the ABC and BBC deny the naming of a genocide that is happening before their eyes. They have protested that it is a complex legal term that, therefore, apparently cannot be uttered. It can be perpetrated but not uttered unless with a hasty disclaimer should an interviewee allow the words to escape their lips.

In the U.S., you can be discriminated against for uttering this word or words associated with Palestine. Students can be arrested or expelled from university for expressing concern or protesting in support of Palestinians. The ABC fired Antoinette Lattouf for her social media posts supporting Palestine.

But this is such old news that it already seems forgotten.

As the Palestinians in Gaza continue to be exterminated, just for existing and even resisting this, the media has moved on to Iran. Netanyahu has been warning of the imminence of an Iranian nuclear weapon for decades. He is the boy who cried wolf that the U.S. chooses to believe every time.

Iran is a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Israel, which actually has nuclear weapons, is not.

Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was gaoled for 18 years by Israel for revealing that it had nuclear weapons. Eleven years were spent in solitary confinement.

Old news that’s been “forgotten” is the claim of weapons of mass destruction that Iraq was accused of having. These were never found. Hans Blix searched thoroughly but failed to find any. This was cited as proof that they were well hidden. The Coalition of the Willing invaded Iraq in 2003. At least more than a million died and Iraq was rendered a political quagmire with the resultant rise of ISIS.

Nukes don't stop war, they just raise the stakes

From Vietnam to Ukraine, the real-world record of nuclear deterrence suggests it’s better at fuelling arms races than preventing bloodshed.

Two crazy male world “leaders”, Trump and Netanyahu, are playing nuclear chicken. Brinkmanship, ominous, lethal threats and shows of brute strength are toxic masculinity writ large.

Trump dangles his threat of “taking out” Iran’s Ayatollah and Netanyahu threatens a massively destabilising war in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Genocide continues.

But now the media is discussing Iran ad nauseum.

I’m old enough to remember when it was “But do you condemn Hamas?” when there was even a whiff of criticism of Israel. There have been several reports of bias in the media skewed towards Israel.

Even on ABC Australia's prized RN programs.

As I write this, the media is buzzing with the implications of Trump’s claim of having wiped out Iran’s Nuclear sites. Oh, wait, now Iran has perpetrated a missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar. Oh, wait, Trump has declared that there is now a ceasefire in place. Oh, wait, mission accomplished. The President has declared this the Trump 12-Day War. Oh, wait, Israel and Iran have not supported this claim.

Meanwhile, as these political protagonists posture, kill and claim glory and success, ordinary people die and are slaughtered as the international law has been trashed.

Can we glean any hope from all this?

Despite all the propaganda, there are good sources of information and analysis. The much-maligned internet penetrates even the closed environment of Gaza and the West Bank.

Distraction from the truth has a shelf life.