One of the clear goals of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s current whirlwind tour of countries across Southwest Asia, is to try to deflate South Africa’s charges against Israel for genocide, which the International Court of Justice (ICF) will hear on Jan. 11-12. He told reporters in Tel Aviv yesterday after meeting with top Israeli officials, that “we’re working urgently to forge a path toward lasting peace and security in this region,” and that “we believe the submission against Israel to the International Court of Justice distracts the world from all of these important efforts. And moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless,” he said. “It’s particularly galling, given that those who are attacking Israel—Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter, Iran—continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.”
The Biden Administration’s sophistry regarding Israeli genocide in Gaza was unmistakeable, however, in Blinken’s non-response to a question about the recent statement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, characterizing all the people of Gaza as Nazis who must be eliminated. A reporter asked Blinken about Smotrich’s refusal to turn tax revenues that Israel has collected over to the Palestinian Authority, arguing that “there are 2 million Nazis in Gaza, and I won’t give money to Nazis.” Blinken replied that those are the PA’s revenues and “They should have them,” but he ignored the Nazi statement by Smotrich.
Otherwise, Blinken’s defense of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza was nothing but a rehash of Israeli propaganda about how Hamas supposedly hides behind children and in hospitals and so forth.
