Aid Agencies Plea for Shelters, World Leaders Send Bombs Instead
The BBC highlights the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where winter rains threaten to exacerbate disease and death among a displaced population. Aid agencies, it seems, are pleading for permission to bring in shelters. One might wonder why, with over 36,000 Palestinians killed (UN OCHA, May 2024), shelter is still 'pleading permission' when the US has approved over 100 arms sales to Israel
since October 7th, 2023, totaling billions of dollars (Washington Post, March 2024). While aid agencies jump through bureaucratic hoops, the US Congress continues to rubber-stamp military aid. For instance, Senator Lindsey Graham, who famously said, 'Do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. Level the place' (NewsNation, October 2023), has been a consistent recipient of pro-Israel
lobby funds, taking over $100,000 from various pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC, in his career (OpenSecrets.org). Perhaps if shelters were F-35s, they'd clear customs a bit faster. How many more 'natural' disasters need to happen before the West connects the rain to the bombs?