Pressure Mounts for a Cease-Fire in Gaza

Outrage grows over Israeli genocide

Latest

Chicago protest in March, 2024 for a cease-fire in Gaza. Photo/Chris Mahin

The ongoing, relentless campaign of genocide waged by the Israeli state against the people of Gaza has produced shock, anger, and outrage all over the world, including here in the United States.

Israeli military forces have now killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza, many of them children. Water, food, electricity, fuel, and supplies are scare. As a result, many people in Gaza have resorted to eating leaves, grass, and animal feed and drinking contaminated water. Israeli officials have blocked essential humanitarian aid, including flour, from entering Gaza.  

In early March, the world braced for a cataclysm as Israeli forces prepared to attack Rafah in the southernmost part of Gaza, a location where Israel has crammed 1.4 million people into a space the size of London’s Heathrow Airport. A team of expert medical researchers has estimated that an escalation of the war could ultimately lead to more than 85,000 deaths.

The unrelenting cruelty of the Israeli military assault on Gaza has sparked outrage around the globe. Here in the United States, awareness is growing about the key role played by the U.S government in this genocide. The Biden administration has provided the Israeli government with billions of dollars of military support – even bypassing Congressional approval to do so. It has also given the Israeli state extensive intelligence support and diplomatic cover. (For instance, it has vetoed three U.N. resolutions calling for a cease-fire.)

The growing outrage of some voters can be seen in the recent Democratic presidential primaries. A small but significant percentage of Democratic voters has been voting for “uncommitted” in the presidential primaries as a way to show support for a cease-fire in Gaza. In late February and early March, “uncommitted” took significant portions of the vote in the primaries in Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Massachusetts. This means that there will be at least some uncommitted delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August and perhaps the possibility of some debate there over the question of the war in Gaza.

The massive outpouring of outrage at genocide in Gaza has forced the Biden administration to initiate a series of cosmetic measures designed to distance itself from the Israeli government. Token gestures like dropping pallets of food and talking about building a pier do not change the reality that bombs supplied by the United States are killing Palestinian children. These gestures have fooled no one, and the voices calling for a permanent cease-fire refuse to be silenced. The fight for a cease-fire will continue – in the streets and where possible, in the voting booth. We must keep the pressure up!

+ Articles by this author

Chris Mahin is a writer, speaker and teacher on contemporary U.S. politics and history, particularly on the significance of the American Revolutionary War and Civil war eras for today.  He is the Electoral Desk on the People’s Tribune Editorial Board.

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

80 Years After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Are We on the Verge of Another Nuclear War?

Gerry Condon, former president of Veterans for Peace, makes the case that we are now closer to nuclear war than ever, and that the U.S. is primarily responsible.

Labor Law Still Offers Pathway to Resist Abusive, Inhumane Immigration Laws

Local unions are taking leadership by negotiating language into their agreements prohibiting ICE from entering workplaces.

Nebraska Farmers Describe Trump’s Impact

Farmers from Neligh, Nebraska speak on Trump’s policy to round up farmworkers, the effect of the tariffs on farmers, and the resistance.

Gazans Demand ‘Agency, Memory and Hope’

The true number of dead and missing in Gaza may be around 500,000. Another 500,000 face starvation. Palestinians say if there is to be peace, it must begin with respect for their voices, their rights and their humanity.

Trump’s Immigration Theater Ignores Whose Land ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Is

The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma joined Florida tribes in protesting "Alligator Alcatraz. The tribe says it insults their ancestral homeland and threatens ecosystem.

More from the People's Tribune