Thoughts on Gaza and the Profitability of Genocide
I sent this somewhat despairing note to a friend this morning:
It remains unclear to me whether the U.S. government kowtows to Israel (for all the reasons we know, like AIPAC), or whether Israel is a sort of cat’s paw for U.S. imperial and corporate interests. Maybe it’s not about nations and borders, as the famous speech from “Network” put it, but rather resources and profit, whether oil, water, weapons, and the like. The people of Gaza are simply in the way and entirely expendable to these larger interests. Naturally, propaganda is skillfully used to portray just about every Palestinian as a Hamas terrorist. Then, as you noted, there’s a media blackout on Gaza in most U.S. mainstream media sources.
Short of revolution, I don’t see any changes coming. The Democrats, of course, are just as happy to serve Israel and corporate interests.
This is the famous scene from “Network” featuring a brilliant performance by Ned Beatty:
If the world is a “college of corporations” (heck, even Harvard is a corporation) and if business and money is the universal lubricant, the Palestinians in Gaza are both good and bad for business. They are “good” in the sense that money can be made from killing them, concentrating them, monitoring them, expelling them, and so on. Speaking and documenting this horrendous truth got Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, sanctioned by the U.S. government, as Lisa Savage noted here.
They are “bad” for business with respect to the gas fields off Gaza. Those marine gas reserves are likely worth $5 billion or more, money that would have done much to alleviate poverty in Gaza. Of course, Israel wasn’t about to allow Palestinians in Gaza to share in this bounty. Getting rid of Palestinians is a means to the end of completely dominating future trade in gas and other commodities in the Levant Basin.
I’ve been wondering why Great Britain is at great pains to help the Netanyahu government—then I noted that British Petroleum is one of the giant corporations that Israel granted a license to for future gas exploration. Coincidence?
Now, unlike Ned Beatty above, I’m not saying everything is explained by money and currency flows as “the primal forces of nature.” But it’s always a good idea to follow the money. It’s a ghastly business indeed when genocide makes money, but there you have it. A large part of the Holocaust in World War II was Germans and their fellow travelers taking everything from the Jews before they killed them. Profit from death factories—a grim truth I care not to contemplate, but it happened. Mass death can be a huge money-maker, and those pulling the strings couldn’t care less about body counts. Quarterly profits—now those they care about.
This suggests a strategy for activism—except efforts at BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) are heavily resisted by the powers that be. Surprise! You can find out more about the BDS movement here.
When protests are bad for business, that’s when the powerful pay attention. Powerful people already know the truth—they do everything in their power to determine what is “true”—so they’re not interested in right or wrong. What’s “right” is what makes money and what’s wrong, very wrong, loses money. You can’t appeal to their collective conscience (Good luck with that!), but you can possibly appeal to or cut into their collective profits.
Too cynical? What say you, readers?
Bracing Views 
Was going to cut and paste my entry at the substack version of Bracingviews, but for some reason the “sign in” tab isn’t working, can’t get in, have tried refreshing, reloading, restarting, to no avail. Will try again later, but in the meantime should you wish to avail yourself of the wisdom of ages, you can catch my 2-cents there.
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That scene had completely left my memory. Thanks for the refresh!
I encountered an IDF soldier on the street today as I demonstrated for liberty and justice for all – the Palestinians. My account of it is at clifbrown.substack.com
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Clif- Yes, I got notice via e-mail of your latest update, post haste went to your substack site, wrote somewhat of a response, and the damn thing wouldn’t take, no “submit” button to push, among other oddities. I tried checking my login status, wouldn’t work either. Tried refreshing the site, no go. It’s been a coupla hours now. In true “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me” mode, I’m beginning to think my substack account has been hacked to prevent me from making comments, as there are other substack authors I follow.
I’ll take this opportunity to get my comments to your IDF soldier encounter here. It’s not all that much (I’m behind in other commentaries and research I have to do) but I think it gets to the heart(lessness?) of the matter:
“She was giving me a dazzling smile throughout and I commented on it as ‘the smile of hate’ which I have received before from female Zionists to the extent that is almost predictable, a smile that is alarming rather than appealing because there is ice rather than warmth behind it.”
You have seen it “up close and personal,” I only from what I have read and extrapolated from those comments in the Boston Globe I often refer to, whatever… your latest experience only underscores that these are ruthless, shameless, soulless existents (I don’t associate them at all being called “people’), certainly without moral boundaries, beyond just a “scorched earth” policy they exhibit no qualms in “razing the moral universe” in pursuit of their “anything and everything for Israel” policy.
Were I in your situation I’m not sure I would have been able to refrain from giving her such a slap across that pretty, disingenuously smiling face of hers that the imprint of my right palm would be indelibly marked in red-blotched skin on it.
“If that worked, some would need it far more than others, but we have all of history to show that prayer is of little use except to make the ones praying feel a bit better.”
Which thus explains Republicans’ such deep reliance on it to block meaningful gun control legislation or any other proposal or measure that contains so much as an iota of a provision to protect or heaven forbid advance “the general welfare” whether domestically or abroad.
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Better wording: “… the imprint of my right palm would be indelibly marked in red-blotched *sunburned-like* skin on it.
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Per the problems with posting, try clearing the browser cache. I have both Edge and Chrome here and when I have trouble I always try with the other browser to find where the problem lies.
As for what to do when encountering opponents, I am never even tempted to do anything physical. I’ve never been tempted in that regard because I have always felt I can express myself well enough to counter any threat far more powerfully that the use of force.
You know the old saying about the pen being mightier than the sword. That certainly is not true on an immediate level as violence clearly works short term. But long term, words reveal what was behind the use of the sword and that has the last say. That is what justice is all about.
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Thanks for the tip on the cache, something to keep me occupied on a Sunday afternoon, can’t do immediately. I use Firefox.
As to the “physical option,” of course we can’t go there, I was expressing my visceral reaction to something viscerally vile. I’ve seen that tactic used before, the smug look inviting a good smack, but that’s exactly the reaction they seek to provoke, then go viral with. Can’t play into their game.
Similarly, profanity and epithets are understandable, but a well-crafted riposte, which can take a bit of time, can win the day and endure.
Fading on this end, the sandman beckons.
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Clif – Thanks, clearing the browser cache seems to have worked, nicely. I was able to post a comment to your “IDF soldier encountered” update. I can lower the “Paranoid DEFCON Level” a few notches (though not take to its lowest level).
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Came across “Führerprinzip” in this July 12th opinion piece in The Forward (https://forward.com/opinion) “This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power.” How reassuring that this should apply to 21st-century America.
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An excellent article that all should read. I was struck by the description of “The Apprentice” where Trump to fire people without hesitation, pure power.
I think many Americans have felt powerless and they love to see Trump not messing around with rules and regulations as he clears his path. Vicariously, the powerless are comforted by this and cheer the dictator on. I think was present in Germany as well with the rise of Hitler. People could say, “wow! He really gets things done!”
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… allowing-promoting mega-wealthy being mightiest force on earth leads only to what … only what is best or the few, at the expense of the many
… have we crossed threshold of absolute-increasing-ruin… every day exposes another truth
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