State Department Double Speak on Israel
When it comes to accountability, the Department of State has a reputation for using double standards against nonwhite groups
Historically, the Department of State (State) has served as the United States’ main propaganda outlet that fuels the war machine. Since the advent of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the aftermath of 9/11, State’s role has been solely focused on public relations to justify spending billions in taxpayer dollars on death and destruction.
Now, since the “war on terror” has been scaled back after the end of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, they found new wars to fund using nothing short of what the US would call propaganda if it were coming from a non-Western country. While Russia’s war in Ukraine falls under the label of an invasion, the propaganda machine has been running full-throttle in defense of Ukrainian (white) people and children who have been deemed more civilized than children from a far-away place like the Middle East.
To quote Charlie D’Agata from CBS News in April 2022, just after the war in Ukraine started, “Ukraine isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan, that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European - I have to choose those words carefully, too - city, one where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”
Sadly, D’Agata wasn’t the only reporter to express such beliefs. It was a widespread issue. But after many apologized for their words, it was too late. The cat was out of the bag. We have all witnessed just how biased legacy media can be. Their words fell right in line with how local news outlets speak about nonwhite people suspected of crimes compared to white people. Even white mass shooters get favorable treatment when described by major media and police.
Similarly, when discussing immigration, the media alongside government institutions use similar language to talk about migrants. They never discuss the turmoil the United States puts the countries in that forces migrants to leave. They don’t challenge misinformation spread by the people they interview despite knowing the truth. Reporters never challenge the information being presented to them by politicians and government officials. Taking what the government says as fact is a play right out of the State playbook. We’ve seen it time and again.
When the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas occurred, the same Islamophobic rhetoric we all saw and heard after 9/11 kicked in like a knee-jerk reaction. Politicians, pundits, reporters, and government officials all jumped right in with both feet using atrocity propaganda to manufacture consent from US voters. They invented stories to justify the slaughter of innocents in Palestine.
As the backlash against the obvious genocide by the Israeli government continues to grow, State continues to speak as if they are justified in fueling the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. As if they’re taking cues from State, President Joe Biden’s National Security advisors, Department of Defense officials, and the White House press office seem to be speaking in tongues. In one breath they say they haven’t “assessed” accusations of war crimes and in another breath, they say they “require” Israel to abide by International Law - which it clearly isn’t doing.
Instead of accountability, they treat reporters asking them questions about the continued atrocities as if they’re all basing their questions on misinformation. But one of the biggest purveyors of spreading lies and disinformation has always been the US government. Whether it comes from three-letter agencies like the CIA or FBI, it doesn’t matter. State is always there to support the propaganda and ensure it spreads internationally.
During a visit to Qatar on January 7, State Department Secretary Antony Blinken responded to a question from John Hudson of the Washington Post saying, “..any military assistance we provide to any country, including Israel, comes with requirements, including that weapons be used in accordance with international humanitarian law, the laws of war. And that’s something that we look at very carefully on an ongoing basis. And we will want to make sure, in this case as in any other case, that any weapons that we provide are used accordingly. That’s something that we take very, very seriously, and we’ll continue to do so.”
But when asking Matt Miller or others at State similar questions about setting conditions for Israel and whether the Israeli government is abiding by those conditions, they respond with something along the lines of “We haven’t assessed that”. These answers leave most of the general public questioning the US’s motives in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.
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Next, you are going to tell me that there is no Easter bunny. I have followed you long enough to believe what you are saying, and I also recognize that the entire government does work together to promote the story they want us to hear. I sort of thought the State Department did some good things even with the Genocide in Gaza occurring. Man, this is disheartening.
Don’t know where Euro Med sourced these numbers https://resumen-english.org/2024/01/nearly-90000-killed-wounded-or-missing-in-gaza-due-to-israeli-aggression/ but a number of sites have it like https://www.jordannews.jo/Section-20/Middle-East/90-000-Gazans-are-now-dead-wounded-or-missing-Euro-Med-Monitor-33488 all quoting Euro Med. I don’t doubt it. Ralph Nader has been saying the number will be much higher. I find the lower numbers quoted, which Biden disparages, to be permissive of more atrocities by Israel. With the LATimes, MSNBC, NYT etc censoring their coverage and CNN reporting from inside IDF, resumen etc provide a decent alternative to manufactured consent which you rightfully criticize here. Working the numbers back it means there are 20,000 children buried in the rubble, if only to point out the innocence paying for the settler colonial project’s asymmetric state violence purchased with our genocide tax.