{"id":46395,"date":"2024-03-02T08:17:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T16:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=46395"},"modified":"2024-03-02T08:17:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T16:17:42","slug":"disgust-my-governments-support-for-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2024\/03\/02\/disgust-my-governments-support-for-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Disgust: My Government’s Support for Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n

Disgust is the word today that captures my feelings about the actions of \u201cmy\u201d government. Disgust at facilitating and defending the Israeli genocide in Gaza, as casualties among Palestinians soar above 100,000. Disgust that Congress only clamors for more billions for Israel ($14 billion in the Biden administration\u2019s bill; $17 billion in the alternate bill from the House Speaker) to enable more killing. Disgust at the strenuous efforts being exerted to get $61 billion in more weapons and aid to Ukraine while denying any oversight over or insight into how that money is spent. Disgust at the government seeking more billions to arm Taiwan, possibly stirring up a hornet\u2019s nest of trouble with China. Disgust at constant fear-mongering about Russia hacking the 2024 presidential election, as if that \u201cthreat,\u201d such as it is, can\u2019t be countered and contained. Disgust.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\nMy parents must have loved me \u2026<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

To think that as a boy I stuck American flag stickers all over the house, including on the entry door and the washing machine, which must have just thrilled my parents, though I can\u2019t recall them punishing me for it. To think that I saluted the flag innumerable times while standing at attention in uniform while serving in the military for twenty years.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing. I\u2019m not disgusted at America. I\u2019m not disgusted with Americans. I meet people every day who are kind, helpful, and generous, from the nurse who took my blood pressure this morning to the postman who delivered my mail and waved to me this afternoon since I happened to be outside when he came. Americans, generally speaking, are decent people. But there\u2019s something seriously wrong with the U.S. government and its owners and donors, who are basically unaccountable to the rest of us.<\/p>\n

Disgust is my prevailing emotion. So I write about it, I speak about it. I could do more, much more, but I suppose I am too risk-averse, too reluctant to act in a disobedient way to prevailing authority. So, in a way, I am part of the problem as well.<\/p>\n

I am perplexed at how my fellow Americans can keep voting for men like Biden and Trump. Or any of the \u201cusual suspects\u201d who occupy Congress. Nothing will change for the better if we keep electing the same corrupt no-accounts. Why do we persist in such folly?<\/p>\n

I suppose Senor Airman Aaron Bushnell couldn\u2019t take it anymore. He was so disgusted, so demoralized, so damaged, by what he was witnessing in Gaza that he burnt himself alive in front of the Israeli embassy, crying out against genocide and for a free Palestine. When not ignoring his sacrifice, the mainstream media has been busy dismissing him as a radical anarchist raised within a religious cult. He was no \u201cradical.\u201d His \u201ccult\u201d was a devoted Christian community.<\/p>\n

Aaron Bushnell<\/a>, a brave and principled young man, sacrificed himself<\/a> to draw attention to an ongoing crime against humanity. And so I feel more disgust when I see how his sacrifice is being twisted, when it\u2019s addressed at all, by media sites in America.<\/p>\n

Disgust. It\u2019s not enough, I know. But I think when we open our eyes and truly seek hard truths<\/a>, and truly see them for what they are, maybe then we can begin to move the needle in a better direction.<\/p>\n

As a reader here says, hope is not a plan. But hope can sustain us as we come together to make a plan. A plan for a better America, one that isn\u2019t constantly fear-mongering and warmongering, whether here or abroad.<\/p>\n

A new America that might make me proud to slap a sticker of the flag on my door, as I did with such innocence a half-century ago on a door now long\u00a0gone\u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n

William J. Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF). He taught history for fifteen years at military and civilian schools. He writes at Bracing Views<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. Disgust is the word today that captures my feelings about the actions of \u201cmy\u201d government. Disgust at facilitating and defending the Israeli genocide in Gaza, as casualties among Palestinians soar above 100,000. Disgust that Congress only clamors for more billions for Israel ($14 billion in the Biden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-46395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46395"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46407,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46395\/revisions\/46407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46395"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=46395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}