Time frames are not threats and neither are they ‘time frames’ when it comes to US support for Israel

In yet another exercise of US hypocrisy, Israel will still qualify for weapons funding despite failing to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days, as outlined in a letter stipulating several conditions, which included allowing the entry of 350 trucks per day through all of Gaza’s border crossings. Another condition was to revoke evacuation orders for Palestinians in areas not being bombed by the IDF.

White House National Security spokesperson, John Kirby, was swift to explain, “The letter was not meant as a threat”, but to impress the urgency of the need for humanitarian aid to Israel. As if Israel has no inkling of urgency, when it is determining the steps needed to do the exact opposite.

In a press briefing on Tuesday this week, the Department of State’s Principal Deputy spokesperson, Vedant Patel, altered the definition of a timeframe. “The 30-day time period was not about any particular day on a calendar, and it certainly wasn’t about electoral politics.” Patel elaborately avoided US accountability by then defining the time frame as “some progress” in “things that take time” and of course, “in a volatile region”.

When questioned about the 350 trucks per day (according to UN statistics an average of 47 trucks per day entered Gaza in October), Patel avoided mathematics in favour of rhetoric. “Our hope is that these kinds of changes have allowed for the operational adjustments to see an additional influx of trucks and to see if that metric can be met or not,” he stated.

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In due course of the press briefing, the stipulations outlined in the letter that should have determined the continuation or halting of US weapons funding for Israel became “a suggestion of steps”. Meanwhile, Israel’s genocide is far from a suggestion but an implemented plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza completely of Palestinians.

Just a week prior to the press briefing, the Israeli military announced that Palestinians would not be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza and humanitarian aid would not be allowed to enter the area because there are “no more civilians left”.  Israel’s settlements minister, Orit Strock, also asserted that land in Gaza must be seized by Israel “so Hamas understands that there is a price they are not willing to pay”. Again, the Hamas narrative to justify further colonial expansion, and the US sees no problem with distorting genocide, as long as the diplomatic focus stays on the Resistance movement.

Israel weaves a plan and the US stalls for time, for Israel’s benefit. Which is why Patel continued to waste time and Palestinian lives by expressing “hope and desire” for increased humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, despite clearly and premeditatedly staying several steps behind Israel’s genocidal plan and actions.

Palestinians civilians have been starved, rendered homeless and forced to remain displaced under threat of starvation – a tactic the US does not see as infringing on the weapons funding. Maybe the US is applying logic here, actually, because why would it fund Israel’s genocidal action if Israel was not killing Palestinians. Violence needs violence to sustain itself.

The US expects Israel to continue killing Palestinians, so it continues with its weapons provisions. The logic is simple, but deadly.

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