Etiquette



DP Etiquette

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Monday, September 1, 2025

America’s Direct Role in Gaza: The Case for U.S. Complicity in Genocide, Starvation, and Land Theft

It is tempting—perhaps even understandable—to disengage from Gaza, imagining that such a distant crisis is not relevant to domestic U.S. politics, or believing the Israel-Gaza conflict is simply too heavy to bear. Yet withdrawal, under the belief this is not a problem for the U.S. government and its citizens, is factually erroneous and unrealistic. The evidence of deep American complicity is now irrefutable—down to active plans for orchestrating a neo-colonial land grab of Gaza, as revealed in a devastating recent exposé by The Washington Post (DeYoung & Brown).

This is not a distant moral dilemma but a pressing domestic crisis implicating every taxpayer, voter, and community:

  • Americans' tax dollars fund devastation—from bombs and blockade to postwar “reconstruction” projects that explicitly exclude Palestinian input or return (DeYoung & Brown).  

  • Congress and the White House are advancing policies that silence dissent, restrict protest, and normalize welcoming an ICC-wanted leader (Netanyahu) with bipartisan honors--including a 1 hour speech to both chambers of congress-- while genocide is ongoing . (ABC; AP )

    Top U.S. officials openly discuss annexation and land theft: House Speaker Mike Johnson and Ambassador Huckabee have advocated renaming the West Bank “Samaria and Judea,” opening the door to U.S. recognition of forced expulsion—all while U.S.-connected investors plan to profit from the transformation of Gaza into a tourist and industrial zone after removal of its population (WaPo: De Young & Brown; Jerusalem Post).

    The so-called “voluntary relocation” of Palestinians—in reality, forcible dispossession—is promoted as a bipartisan, investor-driven scheme to permanently extract value from a depopulated Gaza, offering a “future” without justice or return (DeYoung & Brown; Israel Hayom)


Saying one opposes authoritarian drift at home but feels too overwhelmed to pay attention to Gaza may be emotionally understandable, but it is not logically or ethically coherent (Schabas/ECPS; Zosima). As legal scholars and genocide experts such as William Schabas and Noura Erakat warn, the erasure of justice and accountability in Gaza will resonate and rebound in American civic life: the technologies and strategies of surveillance, impunity, and repression seeded abroad have already returned home, threatening dissent, assembly, and basic rights for all (Schabas/ECPS).

This is not simply a distant tragedy for Palestinians. It is a litmus test of American values and civic responsibility. Silence or indifference functions as tacit approval, a quiet complicity that distorts the future not only in Gaza but here at home.

“Voluntary” Expulsion: The GREAT Trust Plan

A recently revealed proposal—the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or GREAT Trust—calls for the U.S. to administer Gaza for at least a decade after the ongoing destruction is “complete.” Central to the plan:

  • Temporary or permanent relocation of Gaza’s entire population (over 2 million people), encouraged via cash payments of $5,000, multi-year subsidies, and digital “land tokens” redeemable for future rights in new, AI-run cities (DeYoung & Brown; Reuters; Israel Hayom).

    >>Investor-driven profit from “reconstruction” and the creation of heavily surveilled new economic zones for outside capital (DeYoung & Brown; The Independent).

This is not simply complicity. It is orchestrating, funding, and reaping the dividends of dispossession in neo-colonial fashion—what international law labels as forcible population transfer, collective punishment, and, in this context, genocide (Schabas/ECPS; Zosima; Al Jazeera).

The Legal Record: Genocide—And Complicity

Professor William Schabas, widely considered a leading genocide scholar, and himself the son of Holocaust survivors who also sits on the advisory board of Israel's  prestigious  Israel Law Review, calls the ICJ case against Israel “arguably the strongest genocide case ever brought” and affirms that under Article III of the Genocide Convention, states unequivocally that, 
"To the extent that they are providing material support of a significant nature—and there’s no doubt this applies to the United States, Germany, and others—they can be held responsible as accomplices to genocide.”
—William Schabas (ECPS interview, August 30, 2025)

Schabas and a rare consensus of Holocaust and genocide scholars—including Omer Bartov, Amos Goldberg, Raz Segal, Daniel Blatman, Barry Trachtenberg, Susan Akram, and others—have issued a rare consensus: the evidence from Gaza (mass killing, enforced starvation, destruction of civil infrastructure, explicit targeting and dehumanizing rhetoric) meets the threshold for genocide. The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)  has likewise announced its judgment that Israel's actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of Genocide.  U.S. diplomatic and military support, direct weapons transfers, and new plans for expulsion and land transfer also meet the test for complicity (Zosima; Schabas/ECPS).

U.S. Congressional Activism: From Rhetoric to Policy

This partnership is not hidden: Congressional leaders, particularly House Speaker Mike Johnson, have traveled to illegal Israeli settlements, championed the language of “Judea and Samaria,” and insisted the territory “belongs to Israel”—contradicting U.S. and international law (Stein, Jerusalem Post; Times of Israel; Worthy News). Johnson’s campaign, together with the Antisemitism Awareness Act, aims to criminalize protest and legal advocacy for Palestine—and shield the Israeli government during an active genocide (Stein; Congress.gov).

Netanyahu, indicted for war crimes by the ICC and named a genocidal actor by leading legal authorities, has been honored in both chambers of Congress with standing ovations as Gaza is laid waste—and as U.S. arms and money keep the assault going (Schabas/ECPS).

The U.S. Assault on International Law

When the International Criminal Court (ICC) began investigating, the U.S. imposed sanctions on its top prosecutor, Karim Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur  of the Occupied Territories, Francesca Albanese, and the institution itself—threatening to defund and cripple the very legal mechanisms designed to guarantee  that “Never Again” will genocide descend on any nation-state. (Schabas/ECPS).

The Consequences: Destroying the Equality of Nations

By exempting itself and Israel from the rules it enforces on others, the U.S. is not just partaking in international crimes. It is helping dismantle the possibility of global justice: undermining the bedrock notion that all states have the same obligations and none can wage genocide or steal land with impunity (Schabas/ECPS; Zosima).

The Moral and Civic Imperative

Why can’t American citizens look away? Because this is not “just foreign policy.” U.S. taxpayer dollars pay for the bombs, the blockade, the population transfers, and the postwar “reconstruction” that locks out Palestinians forever. The U.S. system is staking its identity, legitimacy, and future on impunity for genocide and war crimes in real time. It is also instituting a regime of authoritarian censorship and repression criminalizing civil liberties such as the right to free speech, expression and assembly-- effectively outlawing our own students and citizens broadly from joining activist groups aimed at peace and an end to the genocide. Activists of all ages and religious backgrounds now find themselves on "Hamas Support Network" terror watchlists, subject to surveillance. We are seeing the destruction of academic freedom and liberty of conscience for faculty and students alike all across the country in our university system, now under attack in order to protect Israel from reproach and insulate it from dissenting popular opinion. (DeYoung & Brown).

To be silent is not neutrality. It is, as genocide scholars warn, “complicity.” Americans have a duty to confront their representatives and insist:
Not in our name. Not with our taxes. Not with our democracy.
If we do not act while the machinery of state enables genocide and land theft, we not only forfeit any claim to moral high ground—we help destroy the international order built, bitterly, after the horrors of the Second World War.

Endnotes

  1. DeYoung, Karen & Brown, Cate. “Gaza postwar plan envisions ‘voluntary’ relocation of entire population.” The Washington Post, August 31, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/08/31/gaza-postwar-plan-voluntary-relocation

  2. Stein, Amichai. “Israeli officials claim Trump administration not opposed to West Bank annexation – exclusive.” The Jerusalem Post, August 31, 2025. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-865884

  3. “Post-war plan sees US administering Gaza for at least a decade: reports.” Reuters, August 31, 2025. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/post-war-gaza-plan-sees-140936385.html

  4. “Post-war plan sees US administering Gaza for at least a decade: reports.” Associated Press via Yahoo News, August 31, 2025. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/post-war-gaza-plan-sees-140936385.html

  5. “US foundation eyes takeover of Gaza aid.” Al Jazeera, May 9, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/9/us-foundation-eyes-takeover-of-gaza-aid

  6. “Advocates hail 'historic' progress after US Senate vote on arms to Israel.” Al Jazeera, July 31, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/31/advocates-hail-historic-progress-after-us-senate-vote-on-arms-to-israel

  7. “This Week in the World: Historic Senate Vote on US Arms to Israel.” Friends Committee on National Legislation, August 20, 2025. https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2025-08/week-world-historic-senate-vote-us-arms-israel

  8. “Trump mulling 'AI-powered smart cities' to replace Gaza – report.” The Independent, September 1, 2025. https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/trump-gaza-riviera-redevelopment-palestine-b2817751.html

  9. “Will Donald Trump endorse Israeli West Bank annexation in Congress address?” The Jerusalem Post, March 3, 2025. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-844729

  10. “Do Trump's appointees signal shift toward West Bank annexation?” The Jerusalem Post, November 14, 2024. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-829176

  11. “Speaker Mike Johnson Vows to Eliminate ‘West Bank’ Terminology.” Worthy News, June 30, 2025. https://newheritagecommunity.com/worthy-news/?story=speaker-mike-johnson-vows-to-eliminate-west-bank-terminology-declares-support-for-israeli-sovereignty-in-judea-and-samaria

  12. “US Speaker Johnson makes landmark visit to West Bank settlement.” Times of Israel, August 4, 2025. https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-speaker-johnson-makes-landmark-visit-to-west-bank-settlement-of-ariel/

  13. “S.Res.224 - A resolution calling for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians in Gaza.” Congress.gov, May 13, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-resolution/224/text

  14. “UK parliamentary committee seeks answers over US firm BCG's role in Gaza.” Al Jazeera, July 10, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/10/uk-parliamentary-committee-seeks-answers-over-us-firm-bcgs-role-in-gaza

  15. “Secret Gaza makeover plan offers Palestinians $5000 to leave.” Israel Hayom, August 30, 2025. https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/08/31/secret-gaza-makeover-plan-offers-palestinians-5000-to-leave/

  16. “Ex-State Dept. Official Blasts Trump's Plans for Postwar Gaza.” Democracy Now!, August 28, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJnxRRBHVTE

    " What is Project Esther, the playbook against pro-Palestine movement in US?" Al Jazeera, May 31, 2025

    Zosima,"Gaza and the Scholars of Genocide,"   , August 31, 2025

    "Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, World's Top Scholars on the Crime Say," The Guardian, Sept. 1, 2025


     

     



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