NoW UPDATES: GAZA: YES, VIRGINIA, IT REALLY IS A GENOCIDE: STAGE THREE

 

IN A HEARTFELT INTERVIEW (at the 1:02 mark of the YouTube podcast) on Monday with Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar (Ret.) discusses why he became a whistleblower and reveals how the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is complicit in war crimes in the Gaza Strip. Aguilar, a 25-year combat veteran and Green Beret with the American military, who had worked for GHF since late May, said Gaza was like nothing he’d ever seen in all his deployments to war zones in Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordon and elsewhere. He said that the former ISIS stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq, a city that had been mostly destroyed by Russian and American bombardments, even it still had remnants of a functioning civic and social “life” available to its remaining population.  

Not so in Gaza, Aguilar points out, where the links and nodes making for a viable society, from farmland and orchards to apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, pubic buildings, mosques, churches, businesses, power stations, roads, water and sewage facilities, even graveyards*, have been systematically turned to rubble by the IDF (Israeli Defence Force), forcing most of the 2.1-million Palestinian inhabitants to live in tents or out in the open, with only four GHF distribution sites currently operating to provide them with food where, in the past, there had been four-hundred aid centers run by UNRWA.¹

The deaths from starvation we have witnessed these past months have increased with grim frequency in recent weeks and are now daily occurrences. And the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is woefully inadequate in addressing the humanitarian crisis. But then, it was never meant to provide Gazans with food aid and humanitarian supplies commensurate with their needs. Its inability to even remotely supply Palestinians with their basic needs is not a failure of the system. Rather, it is a feature.

 

Aguilar soon realized he was witnessing the weaponizing of aid in the guise of so-called ‘humanitarian’ assistance, the protocols of which Google’s AI helpfully summarizes as: “…a set of principles and guidelines that govern the delivery of aid during crises, ensuring it is delivered effectively, impartially, and with respect for human dignity.” [It seems even a set of algorithms has more empathy and respect for human life than GHF and its site-boss subsidiaries UG Solutions and Safe Reach Solutions!²  Just sayin’. Ed]

 

👉I REFER the reader to a study I posted earlier by Israeli academic Yaakov Garb, here, that analyzes the physical layout of the GHF aid sites and concludes they were designed for military purposes and crowd control, not for humanitarian aid services. For example, Aguilar noted that all the sites have CCTV cameras stationed around the perimeter to monitor the crowds with one camera per site dedicated to collecting facial recognition data on Palestinians accessing the aid centres. Early on, he was puzzled by how narrow the entrance was to the food distribution  arena, funneling Gazans, as it did, into a narrow band that allowed through only one person at a time. He thought it was inefficient and stressful to the hungry crowds waiting in line. Then he noticed how the camera recording facial recognition scans was pointed at the receiving entrance where people's faces were momentarily framed, making for clearer identification of each  and every Palestinian as they entered. Thus, the physical layout of the aid centers, recalling the Garb study, is neither effective, impartial (how many will be screened and deemed ineligible for aid in such a system?), nor is it respectful for “human dignity”. Not by a long shot! The aid sites are designed to serve the needs of the Israeli military. 

 

IN ADDITION, Aguilar was puzzled by the size of one GHF aid centre near Rafah. The footprint of the place was so large that all the GHF sites could be put inside its borders with room to spare. He discussed this with co-workers and concluded it was to be the location of the first “concentration camp” that would eventually hold several hundred-thousand Palestinians who must enter the camp to get food, but are not allowed to leave (unless they leave Palestine altogether). The rest must either live out their lives behind barbed wire, monitored 24/7 with hi-tech screening and guarded by thousands of IDF troops and mercenaries civilian contractors, or else they must die. 

👉Aguilar calls the evolving Rafah camp system as "Stage Three". The first stage was the destruction of Gaza's infrastructure. (Only Gaza City remains mostly intact with Israel recently calling up 60,000 reservists to lay seige to it.) The second stage was the displacement of the population to the southern tip of the enclave. The third, imprisoning the entire population in concentration camps in what was the city of Rafah along the Egyptian border. The fourth stage, the "Final Solution", would be expelling or otherwise eliminating all Gazan Palestinians from Palestine.

 

ONE OF THE MOST COMPELLING  and disturbing observations Aguilar made during his time as a UGS contractor was during a rotation when he was stationed in the control room monitoring the live feed from the site's CCTV cameras. The cameras showed the line of Palestinians as they entered the ‘funnel’, packed tightly together in the narrowing entryway to the central food distribution arena. One Palestinian father lifted his two young sons up to sit atop the berm that formed one wall of the funnel so his children wouldn’t be crushed by the crowd. Inside the control room, the Israeli liaison officer told Aguilar to tell his UGS guards to remove the children from atop the berm. Aguilar said they were handling the situation and to let his guards do their work. The liaison officer then phoned his IDF counterparts, speaking in Hebrew, so Aguilar didn’t understand what he was saying. A UGS staff member who spoke Hebrew told Aguilar the officer called for military snipers to target the two boys. Fortunately, in the meantime, they climbed back down to join their father, but Aguilar was shocked that the Israeli officer would call on snipers to shoot children. This made a great impression on him, causing him to reflect on what kind of outfit he was involved with and whether he should leave. Shortly afterward Aguilar had a conversation with his supervisor who said he should not go against the wishes of "the client". When Aguilar asked him what he meant, his supervisor said the IDF was the client and UGS took their marching orders from them! A 'charitable' organization running its operation at the behest of an occupying army....hmmmm? A conflict of interest, one would think. Humanitarian aid? Nuh-uh.

 

👉Finally, I think for Anthony Aguilar the straw that broke the camel’s back and made him decide to become a whistleblower, exposing the the policies and practices of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, its sub-contractors, and IDF soldiers guarding the sites' perimeters, came when  a 10-year-old Palestine boy named Amir, who'd walked 10km barefoot to get a few scraps of food, came forward and kissed his hand, thanking him for the tiny amount of aid he’d gotten. Tragically, Amir was killed a short time later when IDF soldiers fired into the crowd near the distribution site that, presumably, failed to disperse quickly enough. [Naughty! Bad crowd! Bad! Ed.]

 

IF ONLY our political leaders had such moral courage to stand up like Anthony Aguilar and say: “I will abide this no longer!” And then shun (in the fullest sense of the word) this half-mad, pariah  state called Israel.

 

FUN FACT: Switzerland has ordered the dissolution of the Swiss branch of GHF because the foundation did not fulfill its duties and obligations under Swiss laws of incorporation. And here the word “sketchy” should come to mind! The short-lived ‘charitable’ organization’s duties were taken up by its Delaware, USA incorporated partner of the same name and tasked with raising funds to staff and run the day-to-day operations. The on-the-ground work would ultimately be done by two private contractor companies  UG Solutions (Aguilar's former employer) and Safe Reach Solutions.

 

Aguilar was hired by UGS to be part of the security team at the four food distribution sites in southern Gaza. Point being, that UGS is there to make money and has no experience in running humanitarian aid distribution centers, and the same goes for the foundation side of things, that Aguilar suggests is little more than a shell company.

BTW: Just who funds GHF is apparently a secret. Wanna bet a good chunk of change comes from the Israeli government, Zionist billionaires, the CIA, leftover USAID slush funds and perhaps an EU state or two that wants to continue supporting Israel, but on the down-low (wink-wink), so as not to rile their populations that are increasingly critical of the "Jewish state". 😉

 

FUN FACT: Nearly 2,000 Palestinians seeking food aid have been murdered by IDF soldiers at or near GHF food distribution sites and over 13,500 have been wounded. One commentator suggests the much larger “wounded” figure indicates a deliberate policy on the part of the Israeli military to stress Gazan health services by causing mass casualty events. Nice touch. 👌

 

FUN FACT: 266 people so far have died of starvation since the Gaza genocide began on 7/10/23, including 122 children.

 

FUN FACT: Since October 2023, over 230 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Israeli bombardments and targeted assassinations, including six Al Jazeera journalists killed last week. And over 1,500 medical services personnel have been killed during the same period. [Fun new word: "Medicide"]

 

CHEERS, JAKE. ____________________________________

 

* ANUDDER FUN NEW WORD: "Necroviolence”—“Violence performed and produced through the specific treatment of corpses that is perceived to be offensive, sacrilegious, or inhumane by the perpetrator, the victim (and her or his cultural group), or both.” - Jason De Leon in The Land of Open Graves, p.69 [2]

 

1. There are other charitable organizations operating in Gaza, but not nearly at the scale they were at prior to October 7/23. They are hampered by desperate Palestinians looting vans and trucks, criminal gangs, the same, and by the destroyed transportation infrastructure making access to Palestinians in need difficult. But the plan is for GHF to scale up to feeding the entire Gazan population. HOWEVER, the real ‘plan’ is to lure Palestinians into southern Gaza using food aid as bait, to corral them in one area until such a time as they emigrate, ‘voluntarily’ or otherwise, or else die in the giant concentration camps the Israeli government is building on the ruins of Rafah City. Not to put too fine a point on it but using food as a weapon and deliberately starving a civilian population are war crimes. They are against the Geneva Conventions and just about any international law you’d care to mention and, as a crime against humanity, those who perpetrate such heinous acts should be given the same sentences dished out at the Nuremberg trials following the end of WWII.

 

2. UG Solutions (UGS) is a private military contractor that provides guns for hire armed personnel to various hot spots around the world. It, along with Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), provide security at the various distribution sites in Gaza. And they are set to expand operations when Israel finishes building its hellscape concentration camp system in Rafah, something former American diplomat Chas Freeman scathingly calls: "Auschwitz on the Mediterranean." 

 

[1 phoney "shell" foundation + 2 guns-for-hire sub-contractors = 0 humanitarian aid. It's just math! You can't argue with the math, damn it! 😖] 

 

 

 

 

RANT: YOU’RE UNDER ARREST FOR…WORDS?

 

SOMETIMES, YOU DON’T KNOW WHETHER to laugh or cry. Last weekend over 532 people were arrested for conducting a peaceful protest outside the Parliament buildings in London, England. The reason for the mass arrest was simple: The protestors  carried placards stating their support for the pro-Palestinian, direct-action group “Palestine Action”. Until last month, Palestine Action (PA),  had been a UK based protest group that staged non-violent acts in support of the Palestinian people of Gaza (and  the West Bank and East Jerusalem). On the night of June 20, PA broke into the RAF base at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire and spray-painted the engines of two Voyager cargo jets, aircraft used in mid-air refueling of spy planes over Gaza and U.S./Israeli fighter jets in the various conflicts Israel has instigated in the region. PM Keir Starmer claimed there was “millions” of pounds damage done to the two aircraft.

IN HINDSIGHT, PA should have known that staging a direct-action protest that would entail such repair costs (True or false? Who knows) was something that would put the group in the crosshairs of authorities.  But, for the Keir Starmer government to label the organization a “terrorist” group and to arrest Saturday’s protestors “under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act for displaying supportive placards or signs”, (Guardian) was overkill. As intended, this law, and others like it, will have a chilling effect on protests, demonstrations, rallies, marches, pamphleteering etc., going forward. Nevertheless, on Saturday, June 20, hundreds of peaceful protestors challenge Britain’s new anti-terrorism law that bans any support for the now-proscribed Palestine Action* organization. Even carrying placards or T-shirts displaying the group’s name is outlawed by the government and its increasingly Draconian laws inhibiting freedom of expression and the right to peacefully protest. It was an ABSURD SCENE of mass arrests, with protestors handcuffed and led away to waiting police vans. Many were over sixty years of age and unlikely candidates for radicalization by Al Queda. 😝 One was in a wheelchair. All this from the land that gave us the Magna Carta and British jurisprudence! 

 

Recall that ALL THE PROTESTORS were released the next day. There’s a simple reason for this: Breeching Britain’s Terrorism law comes with a stiff sentencing regime, including a maximum penalty of fourteen years in prison. By law, this mandates the accused be tried before a jury of their peers. Thus, the authorities realized, belatedly and with much chagrin, that no jury in the country would convict them. And so, they were released.

SO, was it against the law for Palestine Action to spray-paint those planes? Yes. Does the death and destruction those Voyager aircraft facilitate by being links in the logistics chain that allows Israel to bombard Gaza and other parts of the Levant, does their sordid legacy far outweigh in criminality any physical damage done to the aircraft by PA? Yes. Was it morally justifiable? Yes. Was it the right thing to do?  Again, yes. 

 

 Cheers, Jake. ____________________________________

* If I were living in Britain and I were to publish this post like I’m now doing, a post that mentions "Palestine Action" (as I do here), I could be subject to arrest and face a possible prison sentence of fourteen years. Just for writing the words "Palestine Action." (Oops, I did it again.)