The sky of Gaza is witnessing a weird and sad story these days, the American bombs and food pallets fall, delivering death and life at the same time.
The U.S. in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah. The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to a report in the Washington Post.
There is no doubt that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. That has been made clear in a report by Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, which has been presented under the title “Anatomy of a Genocide” the UN Human Rights Council.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) is the first international instrument that codified this crime and it was the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1948 that signified the international community’s commitment to ‘never again’ after the atrocities committed during the Second World War.
The adoption of this convention marked a crucial step towards the development of international human rights law and criminal law as we know it today. But this step is becoming sterile because the United States of America, after creating disaster in Vietnam and some other areas, now is providing weapons to kill nearly two and a half million of the world's most oppressed people who are living in Gaza.
The United States acts on two levels, it provides weapons to Israel at the military level while at the political level, it has vetoed ceasefire resolutions in the UN Security Council on four occasions. US authorities have also described a recent ceasefire resolution (2728) adopted by the Council as non-binding. Paradoxically, in the Security Council’s meeting on March 25, the US ambassador said her delegation “fully supports” the critical objectives of the draft!
Since the founding of the UN, the United States has vetoed 85 Security Council resolutions, half of which, or 48 resolutions, were related to and in support of Israel’s genocidal regime. According to Article 3(e) of the Genocide Convention, “complicity to genocide” is within the genocidal actions, and who can deny the fact that the US military and its political aid to Israel is an explicit violation of the Convention?
In such circumstances, is the food airdropped to Gaza’s people considered true aid, or is it the same as explosive dolls in the Vietnam era that killed children in the form of aid? They are aids meant to ridicule humanity.
So far, food airdropped to Gaza refugees has caused death and injury. Hamas has asked for a halt to airdrops due to several deadly incidents that they have caused.
That comes as the Spanish military planes airdropped 26 tons of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip last week while Madrid called on Israel to open land border crossings to prevent a famine in the enclave.
Therefore, there is no doubt that this dangerous and humiliating way of helping should terminate and take another form. More importantly, it is the hypocritical and false practices of the US in Gaza that must come to an end. It is not possible to kill people with bombs while posing with a gesture of compassion with airdropping humanitarian aid.
* Seyyed Mohamad Mahdi Ghamami leads citizenship rights issues at the Iranian Presidency’s Department of Legal Affairs.