‘US paying for Israel’s systematic campaign of terror’

Israel is engaged in a systematic, cold blooded genocide against the people of Gaza, at the expense of US tax payers, says William Dores, political analyst who has visited Gaza twice as a member of a fact-finding mission.

RT:Israeli officials say that the school was empty at the time of the shelling. But the UN claims it had repeatedly notified Israel that there were refugees inside. How can we tell what actually happened?

William Dores: Because this is a systematic campaign of terror, they have killed civilians again and again and again. And they have lied every time.

They say that Hamas is hiding rockets in schools. What about those children on the beach? Was there a rocket hidden on the beach? What about the playground where they have killed so many children this week? Was there a rocket hidden there? What about Shujaiyeh market they hit today killing 17 people. Were there rockets at the market?

This is a cold blooded, calculated, systematic massacre of civilians – collective punishment, equivalent to what was done by the Nazis in WWII.

RT:The US has also condemned the attack but didn't mention Israel in its statement. Do you think Washington doubts the UN's assessment?

WD: Washington knows full well what is going on and Washington is paying for it. If the US government wants to stop the killing in Gaza, all it has to do is stop sending weapons and stop sending money to pay for it.

But the Pentagon announced today that it was resupplying Israel with artillery shells to use against the people of Gaza. US made F16s flown by US trained pilots are raining US-made missiles down on civilians who are trapped in a cage with nowhere to go.

READ MORE:US resupplying Israel with ammunition even after condemning shelling of Gaza school

And all these platitudes about the investigation and ‘we want the violence to stop’ are meaningless.

Washington is giving Israel a blank check because it is paying for the carnage. And if there is any sincerity on the part of the US, this government needs to stop sending our tax money to Israel right now, and our weapons provided for free to this monstrous war machine.

I was in Gaza 25 years ago when it was still under Israeli occupation, I saw Israeli soldiers shoot children on the street. Was Hamas hiding behind them? No. There was no Hamas at that time. Israel has been carrying on genocide for decades. As we've been carrying out ethnic cleansing for decades, it has been treating Palestinians as less than human for decades. And our government continues to pay for it.

RT:You've been to Gaza. What can you say about what you've seen there in terms of Israel's actions?

WD: I visited Gaza twice. The first time was during the first intifada in 1988. And the shear brutality and the cowardice of the Israeli military was what was striking. At this time, there was no Hamas, no rockets. The Palestinian people had no arms, there were youths confronting soldiers with stones. And almost every day a child would be murdered. I saw an Israeli sniper shoot an 11 year-old girl in the head in a refugee camp near Rammalah. I saw a baby who lost his eye. A rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier was launched in his eye and the Israeli soldier has pulled it out, leaving him with one eye. The eye ball as well. These are the kinds of things, Israel has been doing for decades.

I was there again in 2009 as part of a medical relief convoy, to try to bring aid to the people of Gaza, medicine. Because the US government prosecutes people from the US who bring more than medicine to Gaza. And this was 6 months after 2008-09 war, the bombing of people who were still living in tents because Israel would not allow in cement to rebuild their homes.

Israel is invading Gaza. Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing against the people of Gaza. Israel is attacking people who are living in a cage from the sea, air and land. Israel should stop the blockade of Gaza and let the people of Gaza live.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.