Some perspective on events in the Middle East, as poorly reported in the U.S. press, is required. First, note how often the Houthis and Hezbollah are referred to as “Iranian-backed.” It’s as if these two groups have no agency of their own, and are under the complete control of Iran, which is a claim the Biden administration admits has no supporting evidence. By contrast, given the unstinting U.S. support for Israel in its war on Gaza, one could accurately preface every news story on the Gaza war with the phrase: “US-backed Israeli Defense Forces.”

The effect of this propaganda technique is to prepare the American public for an attack on Iran itself, which neo-cons have been salivating over for two decades. But any such attack would be disastrous for the U.S., as cooler heads in the Pentagon and State Department know, and would plunge the entire Middle East into a conflagration that the U.S. could not win. Secondly, the International Court of Justice found that South Africa’s claims of genocide by Israel are plausible, and ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope” of the U.N. Convention on Genocide. The Court decision all but ordered a ceasefire, and found that South Africa made a strong claim that genocide is being committed in Gaza. This decision also means that the Biden administration, from the president to Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Victoria Nuland, and others, are effectively complicit in genocide.

Bruce Currie

Concord