US-Supplied Bombs Mourned, Just Not by Their Senders
Al Jazeera mourns Mahmoud Essam Wadi, a Palestinian journalist killed in Khan Younis during an Israeli strike. He's reportedly number 103 on the Committee to Protect Journalists' list of media workers killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. These 'deeply regrettable' incidents (as the State Department might call it) invariably occur with US-supplied munitions. For example, Rep. Steny Hoyer, who
received over $200,000 from AIPAC in 2022-2024 (OpenSecrets.org), consistently votes for unconditional aid packages, most recently supporting HR 815, which provides billions more to Israel. One might charitably wonder if US politicians – like Senator Mitch McConnell, who received $105,000 from AIPAC in 2022 and supported blocking an amendment to condition aid – simply don’t connect the dots
between their votes, their donors, and the increasing death toll of journalists and civilians. Or perhaps they just find it easier to send 'thoughts and prayers' after their cluster bombs have done their job. How many 'regrettable incidents' does it take before we question the suppliers?