American Bombs, Israeli Slaughter

CrossFireArabia
Opinion
May 25, 2024

Congressmen Bernie Sanders Tells Joe Biden ‘You Can Stop This War’ right now, just don’t provide Israel with any more weapons.

Congressmen Bernie Sanders said the US government needs to stop financing the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. He was speaking on the X platform, stressing the fact there are thousands of children who are being starved in Gaza.

He told CNN the weapons used by the Israeli army in the latest “flour massacre” that killed 112 people and upwards to more than 700 people through Israeli snipers and tanks, was paid from the pockets of the American taxpayer. He stressed Washington needs to stop financing the Israeli army.

Sanders, a US Senator for Vermont, is one of the strongest critics of the stand of the American government supporting Israel and he is not a lone voice in America.

Washington has been the main financier and military supplier in this Israeli war against Gaza. At the start of the third month of the war on Gaza, the US already supplied Israel with 10,000 tons worth of arms to Israel through 200 cargo planes. Today, and six-month into the war, the military supply chain is still going strong with more of the same.

In the initial stages of the war following 7 October 2000 so-called military “advisors” were sent to Israel with US warships – USS Gerald Ford USS Dwight D. Eisenhower – scurrying to the east Mediterranean Sea. Today, these advisors are being beefed up by US mercenaries.

An American war

It would appear that most of the bombs dropped on Gaza are US made. In addition to the bunk busters which borrow deep into the ground before exploding turning Gaza into a graveyard, Washington has allowed itself to be an active participant in this war by supplying different types of bombs and shells that are too numerous to mention and name like the MK 82, MK 84 bombs, dumb bombs, air-to-surface munitions as well as thousands and thousands of ammunitions.

In terms of mass destruction Israel has been dropping two- three- and even four-ton bombs on Gaza. This has never been the case even when the US has been bombing ISIS-strong holds in Syria and even Afghanistan. The devastation of 2000-pound-bombs dropped have been analyzed on CNN.

This is certainly an American war on Gaza, but throughout this conflict, Washington has also tried to look reasonable. While supplying weapons to Israel through the White House and bypassing the US Congress, US President Joe Biden and his team have said they are for the status quo in Gaza, against the expulsion of the Palestinians into neighboring Sinai and want to see the revival of a two-state solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

But this has fallen on deaf ears despite the daily contact between US and Israeli officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long ignored such utterances and even recently introduced a draft law against the two-state solution that was passed by the Knesset making such recognition of a two-state solution as a illegal. This is seen as an snub to the American administration that refuses to increase pressure on Israel despite the mass onslaught and the “plausible genocide” as termed by the International Court of Justice that is being committed by Israel in Gaza.

Israel is riding roughshod on the Americans precisely because of the fact Biden keeps reiterating the fact he is a committed “Zionist” and refuses to stop the flow of weapons into Israel while the US Congress continues to support Israel with direct aid and monies even though a sizable group in the Democratic Party are criticizing the actions of the American president.

‘You can’t beat the resistance’

Meanwhile the American president continues to watch the murderous actions of the Israeli army and the refusal of Netanyahu to stop the war against Gaza and his insistence on eliminating Hamas. But in his heart, Netanyahu must feel, as everyone else, including the US administration he can’t do that, after six months of bombing the living day light out of Gaza.

What the Israeli army is doing now, is continuing to kill civilians on the ground – the figure dubbed currently at over 30,000 with more than 70,000 injured. As well, rather than combing Gaza from the north to the south and working, Israeli soldiers are finding out that Gaza is a tough series of battles.

Instead of concentrating in the south which they have promised to do in the stages they planned, they are bogged in below-center areas like Khan Younis and are having to go and fight in northern areas like Al Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City, Jabalia and Biet Lahia where the Palestinian resistance is putting up stiff resistance and where Israeli tanks are dying by the die in their thousands and their tanks continue to be destroyed in their hundreds.

Ninety percent for instance, of the underground tunnels are intact. These Hamas and Jihad fighters are still below ground and keep come up for the kill and battle despite the fact Israeli politicians and military keep saying they are destroying the “terror infrastructure.” But by their own admission also, Palestinian resistance fighters keep coming up and destroying.

Meanwhile, bombs and munitions in a constant stream, continues to be provided by the Americans as they talk of the necessity of peace to all good men and satisfying themselves with making the first American food airdrop on Gaza whilst determined not to be outwitted by other countries like Jordan, Egypt, France and Italy. But rather than moaning about Netanyahu, America can stop this war rather than be engaged in this new campaign to attempt to save Gaza from starvation imposed by its very good friend and strategic partner Benjamin Netanyahu who fears jail if he stops bombing Gaza because of his corruption accusations.

Everyone is hoping still there would be some kind of a ceasefire come the Muslim month of Ramadan shortly. If Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are not convinced, the blood bath will likely continue because of the expected onslaught on Rafah and with the Israeli hostages held in Hamas tunnels be ever more in peril. Their number, originally thought at 136 are down much lower according to Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida who says at least 70 of them have been killed so far by Israeli bombs.

Will they be any left by the time the war is put to an end?

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

News Opinion

Free Hussam Abu Safieh: 600 Days in Israeli Jail

marwan
July 20, 2026

By Ismail Al Sharif

‘This is the last time you’ll see me. They brought me here to kill me’ – Dr. Hussam Abu Safieh.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safieh, a pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, has been detained by the Israeli occupation forces for nearly 600 days without trial or charges.

His only crime was trying to save the children of Gaza, condemning the crimes he witnessed, and documenting the suffering of the injured children who arrived at the hospital. He shared their images and testimonies with the world; these sparked a wave of outrage and solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza.

The occupation has not only bombed hospitals and cut off their electricity, causing premature babies to die in their incubators, and not only prevented medicine from reaching the wounded and denied them treatment, but it has also targeted doctors, paramedics, aid workers, journalists, and anyone who reached out to save the victims.

It doesn’t want witnesses to its crimes. But wants a fully-fledged crime committed in secret, then justified with a ready-made accusation: Belonging to Hamas, or being present in a place allegedly used by members belonging to the organization.

Dr. Abu Safieh was abducted while on duty and subsequently subjected to torture and ill-treatment. His lawyer, Nasser Odeh, documented severe injuries, difficulty breathing, and repeated episodes of unconsciousness during a visit to him on 2 July this month. He was brought to the meeting handcuffed and shackled, surrounded by masked soldiers who concealed their faces, as their actions constitute a crime.

More than 200 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza, many as a result of direct targeting, while more than 300 doctors and healthcare workers remain detained without trial or charge; as if saving children has become a crime.

Similarly, the Israeli occupation forces abducted Palestinian surgeon Khaled al-Sir from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis while he was working and detained him for six months before releasing him from Ofer Prison. His family remained unaware of his fate throughout this period.

The thirty-two-year-old doctor described his arrest as a “nightmare,” after he was subjected to torture, humiliation, and denied medical care. He considered himself lucky to have emerged unscathed, while some of his colleagues lost limbs due to being denied medical treatment.

No war has ever claimed so many victims among those who dedicated their lives to saving others. Despite appeals from international, human rights, and grassroots organizations, Dr. Abu Safieh and his colleagues have not been released.

Appeals are no longer enough; what is needed is genuine political pressure, and the issue of detained doctors must be at the forefront of the priorities of Arab leaders and politicians. Remaining silent about the detention of those who gave their lives to save people is not merely a sign of weakness, but a dereliction of the most basic human and moral obligations.

This is a translated piece written by Ismail Al Sharif and published in the Arabic Addustour newspaper in Amman and appears in crossfirearabia.com

Opinion

‘Dad, What’s a Ballistic Missile?’

CrossFireArabia
July 19, 2026

By Firas Al Nassan

Suddenly, I realized that the war with Iran had changed the words we use every day, adding a new vocabulary to our lives, along with the sarcastic lexicon that accompanied footage of people staying up all night watching missiles, hearing air raid sirens, and brazenly dragging missile debris behind them.

My son surprised me with this question just a few days ago. He wasn’t looking for information for a homework assignment, nor was he watching a documentary; he was watching the news with me. I paused for a moment before answering him. Not because explaining the term was difficult, but because I realized that the war hadn’t just changed the political and military landscape, but also the words and semantics now echo in our homes.

Months ago, most of us couldn’t distinguish between a ballistic missile and a cruise missile, and words like “hypersonic,” “drones,” or “air interception” weren’t part of our daily conversations. Today, however, they’re on everyone’s lips. From children to the elderly, from taxi drivers to office workers who start their day by browsing the news.

Even the word “intercept” has changed its meaning. It no longer refers to interrupting someone while they’re speaking, but rather to the success of an air defense system in shooting down a missile before it reaches its target. “Barrage” is no longer associated with rain, but with the number of missiles launched simultaneously. As for “de-escalation,” it has become the most frequently used expression, and perhaps the least achievable.

Remarkably, the war has not only changed military vocabulary, but has also redefined the very concept of place. The Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, and the Red Sea are names that, for many, were merely locations on a map. Now, they have become headline news, determining oil prices, shipping traffic, flight paths, and even market sentiment.

Years ago, anyone who spoke about ballistic missiles or air defenses was considered a military expert or a security analyst. Today, these terms have become part of the general culture, used by people with ease, as if they were words they’ve known for ages.

After I finished explaining the meaning of “ballistic” to my son, it occurred to me that every war has consequences that cannot be measured solely by the number of missiles or the extent of the destruction. There is another, less noisy, impact that lingers with us for a long time: Words.

Wars not only impose new realities on the ground, but they also add new vocabulary to our language. Some of these words disappear with the end of the fighting, while others remain for years, bearing witness to an entire era.

I hope that one day my son will ask me about the meaning of a new word, one unrelated to missiles or air defenses, but rather to travel, exploration, or peace.

The author originally wrote this piece in Arabic and published in Ad Dustour daily in Amman, Jordan