Netanyahu, Trump Plan 'Next Phase' of Gaza — Always the Next Phase.
NPR's headline breathlessly reports on Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu meeting at the White House to discuss the 'next phase' of a Gaza ceasefire plan. One might wonder what came before 'next.' Was it the phase where 35,000 Palestinians died? The phase where UNRWA lost funding? Netanyahu has been 'planning peace' since 2002. Then again in 2006, and 2014, usually right after a fresh round of
'self-defense' cleared some more land. This 'next phase' always seems to involve more U.S. taxpayer money and less Palestinian life. Our elected officials, like Senator Lindsey Graham, who took $15,000 from AIPAC in 2023 (OpenSecrets.org), will likely laud this 'diplomatic effort' even as Gaza still starves. How many 'phases' of destruction do we need before someone calls it what it is?