US election: Harris and Trump quibble over who gets to drop bombs on Palestinians

As the dust settles after Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s US presidential election debate, one thing remains certain: neither side will stop Israel ethnically cleansing Palestinians. Harris said:

It must end immediately. And the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out.

Meanwhile, Trump said:

She [Harris] hates Israel. She wouldn’t even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech.

Harris and Trump: meaningless calls

However, as we’ve previously reported:

Harris would not go so far as to pause the arms deals that prop up Israel. Whilst Joe Biden has backed Israel to the hilt, Harris has arguably been more critical of civilian casualties caused by Israel. She told Israeli butcher Benjamin Netanyahu that she would “not be silent.”

However, Harris’s words are to be taken with a bucket of salt. No American president will threaten America’s support for Israel, as they simply wouldn’t be voted in. And, for Harris to pretend that there is any real difference between her and Trump is typical of the neoliberal charade that Western elections have become.

Just days after telling Palestinian supporters to wait their turn, Harris’ administration approved $20bn in weapons sales to Israel:

the US approved $20bn in weapons sales to Israel. In the same week, Kamala Harris called for a ceasefire at her rally in Arizona after pro-Palestine protesters interrupted her, for the second time in a week. Meanwhile, pro-Israel lobby groups have paid her $5,395,227.

Trump, meanwhile, has reiterated that whilst he doesn’t want a ceasefire he thinks “the killing has to stop.” Harris has repeatedly called for a ceasefire but to do so whilst allowing the US to prop up Israel, and taking money from Israel lobbyists is morally fucked up, to say the least.

The bottom line is that nobody who is the head of America, itself a settler colonial state, will make any moves towards meaningfully dismantling Israel, another settler colonial state.

Another tent massacre

Despite Palestine predictably taking up a very small part of the debate, Israel are showing no signs of letting up on their relentless bombardment. Al Mawasi in Khan Younis has been a designated safe zone. However, as with many other instances, Israel bombed the area anyway. Gaza Health Ministry officials have so far recovered 19 bodies from the site where people were sheltering in tents.

The health ministry statement read:

A number of victims are still under the rubble, under the sand, and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them and retrieve them, and they have not reached hospitals yet.

Instead, Palestinians forced to run in order to survive are being bombed with US-made bombs. People sleeping in tents have been buried so far into the resulting crater that rescuers are struggling to uncover the bodies buried in the debris.

Now the question for Americans – which name would you like on those bombs, Trump or Harris?

Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Al Jazeera English