How Many People Have Been Harmed by Current U.S. Policies?

29 Aug 2026 12 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A cautious attempt to estimate the human scale of policy choices in foreign aid, health care, food assistance, immigration, environmental regulation, tariffs, vaccination policy, Gaza, and Iran

Analysis by Metis (ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Sol), OpenAI
August 29, 2026

Important qualification. There is no scientifically defensible single “body count” for a presidential administration. The categories below overlap; some figures describe observed changes, others are forecasts; and in wars such as Gaza, U.S. support is one causal factor among many. The most responsible approach is to distinguish deaths, serious losses of services or security, and broader economic or social effects.

Introduction

I think it is time we have an accounting of the damage that the Trump Administration has had to date on the USA and World.  I tasked my AI program Metis, with a prompt to give me a summary of the impact of the policies that Trump and the Republican Party have been promoting.  Following is a summary and analysis done entirely by AI but with citations and documentation to support her analysis.

The short answer

If “hurt” means a substantial loss — death, serious illness or heightened disease risk, loss of health insurance or food assistance, detention or removal, war injury, displacement, or comparable deprivation — the policies discussed here plausibly place tens of millions of people in a substantially worse position. A rough order-of-magnitude estimate of about 15–30 million people already seriously affected or placed at substantial near-term risk is defensible as a discussion range, but it should not be presented as a precise total.

If “hurt” is defined more broadly to include higher prices, reduced purchasing power, environmental exposure, uncertainty caused by immigration enforcement, or deterioration in public services, the number rises into the hundreds of millions. That broader number is less useful, however, because it treats a modest increase in household costs as statistically equivalent to losing medical care, food assistance, a home, or a life.

What the major policy areas suggest

Policy areaIndicator of harm / riskHow to interpret it
Foreign aid / USAID cutsA peer-reviewed forecasting analysis projects about 14.05 million excess deaths worldwide by 2030, including about 4.54 million children under five, under its near-termination/defunding scenario. The same model estimated about 1.78 million excess deaths in 2025.Very consequential but modeled rather than a verified death ledger. The estimate depends on assumptions about sustained cuts and the ability of governments or other donors to replace lost services.
Medicaid and health-care reductionsThe Congressional Budget Office estimates that the 2025 reconciliation law’s Medicaid provisions will reduce Medicaid enrollment by 12.9 million and increase the number of people without health insurance by 7.5 million in 2034.Strong federal projection for coverage effects. It does not mean 7.5 million deaths or illnesses; the downstream health consequences are harder to quantify.
SNAP and food assistanceCBPP’s analysis of USDA and state data estimates SNAP participation fell by roughly 5 million people between July 2025 and May 2026. In 25 states with child data, about 1.2 million fewer children were receiving SNAP; CBPP has estimated the nationwide child decline is likely above 1.5 million.The decline is observed, but not all of it can be attributed solely to the reconciliation law. Loss of SNAP can also make access to other nutrition benefits, including free school meals, more difficult.
Environmental deregulationNYU’s Institute for Policy Integrity estimates that the environmental and energy rules targeted for rollback put about 3,299 avoided premature deaths per year at risk, along with more than $150 billion in annual net benefits.A prospective regulatory-impact estimate, not a count of people already known to have died.
TariffsThe Budget Lab at Yale estimates that the 2025 tariffs increase the number of Americans in poverty by roughly 650,000 to 875,000, depending on the poverty measure. Its tariff analyses also estimate broad household purchasing-power losses.Economic modeling. Nearly every household can be affected through prices or income, but the severity varies enormously.
Immigration policiesEnforcement, detention, visa revocations, deportations, family disruption, and fear within immigrant communities can affect very large populations. Some specific administration actions have also been found unconstitutional by federal courts.There is no clean, non-overlapping national number that can responsibly be added to a master total. Whether every lawful arrest or removal should be labeled ‘harm’ also involves a normative judgment.
Vaccination policyThe administration has moved to narrow the routine childhood vaccination schedule. Medical organizations warn that reduced vaccination can increase preventable disease. The United States is also experiencing its largest measles outbreak in decades; Pennsylvania reported two measles deaths in August 2026.The direction of risk is medically important, but it is too early to assign a credible aggregate number of deaths or illnesses specifically caused by the policy changes.
Gaza and U.S. support for IsraelBy August 2026, Gaza health authorities reported more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths since October 2023. UN satellite analysis found approximately 81% of structures in the Gaza Strip damaged as of October 2025, reflecting the extraordinary scale of destruction and displacement.The human toll is enormous, but it would be analytically wrong to attribute every Palestinian casualty directly to the current U.S. administration. Israel conducts the military operations; Hamas and other actors also bear responsibility for their actions; the war began before the current administration.
War with IranReuters reported on August 29, 2026 that 18 U.S. service members had died and more than 750 had been wounded during six months of war. The conflict and intensified sanctions have also imposed severe economic and security costs on Iran and the region.Direct U.S. military casualties are measurable. A comprehensive, independently verified total for Iranian military and civilian casualties and indirect economic harm is harder to establish.

Why foreign-aid cuts may dominate the mortality calculation

The most striking numerical estimate in this exercise is not Gaza or Iran but foreign aid. The USAID forecasting study estimates approximately 14.05 million excess deaths by 2030, with an uncertainty interval of roughly 8.48 million to 19.66 million, if the modeled defunding scenario persists. About 4.54 million of the projected deaths are children under five. The study’s 2025 estimate was approximately 1.78 million excess deaths.

These numbers should be described as projections, not as counted deaths attributable person-by-person to a presidential decision. Nevertheless, the magnitude is plausible because foreign-aid programs operate in areas where relatively inexpensive interventions — childhood vaccination, malaria prevention, HIV and tuberculosis treatment, nutrition, clean water, maternal care, and basic public-health systems — can avert large numbers of deaths in low-income populations.

Gaza requires a different kind of attribution

The Gaza figures should not be converted into a statement that the United States ‘killed’ every person who died there. Israel conducts the military campaign, Hamas initiated the October 7, 2023 attack and remains an armed participant, and the conflict predates the current administration. At the same time, U.S. military, diplomatic, and political support is an important part of the environment in which the war has continued.

A more defensible formulation is: “More than two million Gazans have experienced the humanitarian consequences of a war that the United States has continued materially to support, while Gaza health authorities report more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths since October 2023.”

Why I would not add all the numbers together

The same person can appear in several categories. A low-income American might lose Medicaid, lose SNAP, face higher tariff-driven prices, and live in an area with greater pollution exposure. Counting that person four times would make the total look more precise while actually making it less meaningful. The same problem occurs internationally when foreign-aid reductions, war, displacement, disease, and food insecurity affect the same population.

For that reason, a published argument is stronger if it uses three separate measures: (1) deaths and severe physical injury; (2) people losing essential services, security, food, health coverage, or homes; and (3) the much larger population experiencing economic or social costs. This prevents a $100 or $1,000 household loss from being treated as equivalent to death, serious illness, hunger, or displacement.

A reasonable overall conclusion

The safest ballpark is not a single body count. The policies considered here plausibly have already harmed, or placed at substantial near-term risk, tens of millions of people. A discussion range of roughly 15–30 million people is defensible for serious harm or substantial loss, provided it is explicitly labeled an order-of-magnitude estimate rather than a statistical total. If ordinary economic effects such as tariff-driven price increases are included, the affected population becomes hundreds of millions.

The mortality implications could become far larger over time. The most consequential published projection is the USAID estimate of roughly 14 million excess deaths through 2030 if deep funding reductions persist. That projection alone demonstrates why relatively small budget items can have consequences disproportionate to their share of federal spending.

The strongest counterargument

Supporters of the administration argue that these policies pursue legitimate objectives: reducing federal spending and waste, encouraging work, controlling immigration, increasing domestic production, reducing regulation, supporting an ally, and countering Iran. Those objectives should be stated fairly. The central question is therefore not simply whether the policies have costs — virtually every major policy does — but whether the intended benefits justify the scale, distribution, and avoidability of the human costs.

That distinction matters. Estimating consequences is primarily an empirical question. Deciding whether those consequences are morally or politically acceptable is a value judgment. Keeping those questions separate makes the analysis more credible and much harder to dismiss as partisan rhetoric.

Sources and notes

USAID mortality projection: Van Beusekom, Mary. CIDRAP summary of the peer-reviewed Lancet analysis, reporting a projection of more than 14.1 million excess deaths by 2030, including 4.5 million children under five. Source

Medicaid: Congressional Budget Office. The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2026 to 2036, Appendix A; and CBO’s October 2025 estimate of the Medicaid provisions of Public Law 119-21. Source

SNAP: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. SNAP Tracker, August 26, 2026. The tracker uses USDA and state program data and notes that factors besides the reconciliation law may contribute to the decline. Source

Environmental rollbacks: Institute for Policy Integrity, NYU School of Law. Tracking the Damages of Regulatory Rollbacks. Source

Tariffs and poverty: The Budget Lab at Yale. The Effect of Tariffs on Poverty, September 9, 2025. Source

Gaza casualty context: Reuters reporting, August 2026, citing Gaza health authorities as reporting more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths since October 2023. Source

Gaza structural damage: United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT). Gaza Strip Comprehensive Damage Assessment, October 31, 2025: approximately 81% of structures damaged as of October 11, 2025. Source

Iran war: Reuters, August 29, 2026. Report on U.S. military families and casualties after six months of war with Iran. Source

Vaccination policy: Reuters, August 2026. Reporting on the administration’s childhood vaccine order and medical opposition to narrowing the routine schedule. Source

Prepared for publication. Figures and policy conditions are current through August 29, 2026 and should be rechecked if published substantially later.

Bombs, Bombs, Bombs and More Bombs — Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

22 Mar 2026 6 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , ,

We bombed some residential neighborhoods.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Oops.  We did not mean to.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Oops, hit some hospitals and medical facilities.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Sorry for the dead relatives and friends.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Schools and universities.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Stupid people.  Stupid culture.  You won’t miss them.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Power plants and electrical grids.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Now we are getting somewhere.  Starve them.  Freeze them.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Water and sanitation systems.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Dirty people.  They don’t need water.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Transportation infrastructure—roads, bridges, rail.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Strand them where they are.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Markets and food supply centers.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Hungry people make quiet people.  Let them starve.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Religious and cultural sites.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Erase their history.  Their gods.  Their meaning.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Communication systems—cell towers, media offices.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Silence them.  No voices.  No truth.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

Industrial facilities—factories, warehouses.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
No work.  No future.  No rebuilding.  Keep them broken.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

One day,
We bombed ourselves.  Bomb, bomb, bomb.
Mistakes happen.  Dead friends.  Dead Families.  Dead Ministers.  Collateral damage.
But you know with bombs, it’s
– Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

I sit here thinking of the roads we could repair, the bridges we could construct, the medical care we could give, the schools we could build, the lives we could save, the housing we could develop, the parks, the libraries, the trails, all dead, all murdered, all destroyed by the bombs we drop.  But you know with bombs, it’s

 – Never Enough – Never Enough – Never Enough

 

 

ChatGPT Political Analysis of the Next Three Weeks Following the US Bombing of Iran

21 Jun 2025 11 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

Here is a realistic 3-week scenario following a U.S. (or Israeli/U.S.-backed) bombing of Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites. This projection assumes a limited strike—targeting key facilities like Natanz, Fordow, or Isfahan—rather than a full-scale war. It also assumes no immediate regime change in Tehran.

🔥 Week 1: Shock, Assessment, and Initial Response

Day 1–3: Aftermath of the Strike

  • Iran confirms the bombing, accuses the U.S. (and possibly Israel), and vows retaliation.
  • Images of destroyed facilities emerge. The regime uses this to unify internal dissent and condemn “Western aggression.”
  • Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC declare that Iran will “respond at a time and place of its choosing.”
  • Oil prices spike sharply (10–20%) due to fears of escalation and threats to the Strait of Hormuz.

Day 4–7: Iran Responds Indirectly

  • Proxy attacks begin:
    • Rockets fired at U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria.
    • Possible drone attacks on Gulf infrastructure (e.g., Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia).
  • Cyberattacks ramp up—U.S. financial institutions, oil pipelines, or water utilities may be hit.
  • Hezbollah increases alert status in southern Lebanon; Israel prepares for possible northern front flare-up.

🔥🔥 Week 2: Retaliation and Global Response

Day 8–14: Asymmetric Escalation

  • Strait of Hormuz Incident:
    • Iran attempts to seize or disable an oil tanker or mines a portion of the sea lane. U.S. Navy increases patrols.
    • Insurance rates for shipping skyrocket; some companies suspend traffic through the Gulf.
  • Missile or drone attacks on Israel may occur via proxies in Lebanon or Syria.
  • Iran announces its withdrawal from the NPT and ends cooperation with the IAEA.
  • U.S. embassies in the region face protests or limited violence. Evacuations begin in unstable areas (e.g., Iraq, Lebanon).

Global Diplomatic Reaction

  • U.N. Security Council convenes emergency meetings, but permanent members (Russia, China) back Iran’s right to respond.
  • European allies urge restraint but face domestic protests over perceived U.S. recklessness.
  • China and Russia increase energy imports from Iran, attempting to buffer sanctions.

🔥🔥🔥 Week 3: Brinkmanship or Stabilization

Day 15–21: Critical Crossroads

Two scenarios could unfold:

Scenario A: De-escalation (40% chance)

  • Backchannel diplomacy via Qatar, Oman, or Switzerland opens dialogue.
  • Iran agrees to “limited retaliation” in exchange for no further U.S. strikes.
  • The U.S. and EU explore a new diplomatic framework—one that includes regional actors like Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
  • A global coalition calls for a new nuclear deal—but it may be even harder to achieve than the JCPOA.

Scenario B: Continued Escalation (60% chance)

  • A U.S. base suffers major casualties from a proxy missile barrage.
  • Israel launches strikes on Hezbollah or targets IRGC units in Syria.
  • Iran threatens all-out war if attacked again. Military activity intensifies around Hormuz.
  • Gulf states (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain) enter high alert, and the U.S. begins moving naval strike groups into the region.
  • A wider regional war becomes a real possibility—though all sides remain cautious of going “over the edge.”

🧭 Strategic Implications

  • Iran may emerge stronger in domestic politics, despite the strike, by unifying nationalist sentiment.
  • The global economy suffers, with energy markets roiled and major supply chain uncertainty.
  • Diplomacy is damaged for years; no near-term nuclear agreement will be politically possible in Iran.
  • The risk of miscalculation is extremely high—especially if any party overestimates their deterrence or underestimates their adversary’s resolve.

It will be very interesting to follow this AI analysis and see how closely it approximates events in the next three weeks. Let us all pray that it does not result in a third world war.

Who is Kidding Who on the Proposed Ceasefires in the Mideast?

27 Sep 2024 3 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I know that I am getting older and that my memory is not what it used to be.  I suppose, I am also losing some of my former mental acuity.  However, this story in the “Times of Israel” regarding efforts to arrange a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah just leaves me bewildered.  I have heard of “Doublethink”, but this would put anything Orwell talked about in his famous book “1984” to shame.  Orwell defined Doublethink as follows:

“Doublethink is a tool used by the Party to maintain control and perpetuate a state of war.  The Party’s manipulation of language and truth contributes to the absence of justice and peace in society.”

Read the following article and see if you can tell what the US and Israel really mean by saying that they are pursuing a ceasefire.  By the way, I think that the same Doublethink is being used by the US State Department in its so-called ongoing efforts with Netanyahu to arrange a ceasefire in Gaza.  Secretary of State Blinken and his right arm Jake Sullivan think that all Americans are idiots.

————————————————————————————————————-

US: We appreciate that PM clarified he’s engaging in our Lebanon truce efforts in “The Times of Israel”

By Jacob Magid

4:40 pm, 09/26/2024

NEW YORK — A senior Biden administration official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s initial comments yesterday rejecting the US-led initiative for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon did not reflect the discussions he had with Washington, which led the US to announce this plan.  However, the administration appreciates the English-language clarification Netanyahu’s office issued late last night in which he said Israel would continue engaging in the effort to secure a diplomatic agreement between Israel and Hezbollah

State Department Counselor Tom Sullivan tells The Times of Israel during a briefing that the US believes Israel shares the administration’s stance that the only way to prevent a full-scale war in Lebanon is through a diplomatic solution and that Washington looks forward to working with Jerusalem to achieve such a deal.

——————————————————————————————————————

Please allow me to try to clarify the above Doublethink if possible.  I confess my interpretation may be a long shot.

  1. Israel will keep bombing Gaza and Lebanon as long as it wants to.
  2. Netanyahu does not give one red cent what Biden and European leaders want or think.
  3. Biden is too senile, old or owned by the Israeli US lobby to do anything to impose a ceasefire.
  4. The Israeli lobby owns most of the Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
  5. The real strategy by the US State Department is to Stall and Delay giving the Israeli military more time to wipe out the Arabs in Lebanon and Gaza.
  6. Israel is pursuing the same strategy that the US military did with the American Indians. The US wiped out hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people as we pursued our policy of Manifest Destiny.  General Sheridan infamously said, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.”  Netanyahu and his right-wing cohorts might as well say that “The only good Arab is a dead Arab.”  Come to think of it, many prominent Israelis have already shared that opinion.

Here in the USA, we are facing a real dilemma.  If we stop paying tribute to Israel, the Israeli lobby will fire on the Democrats.  Many Democrats including Harris may lose the election and we get an even worse option, namely Trump.  Harris and the leaders of the Democratic Party know this fact all too well.

On the other hand, if the Democrats do nothing to stop Israeli aggression in the Mideast, they may lose a substantial majority of the Arab-American vote as well as the votes of many progressives.  Jill Stein is making real noise about the Democrats doing nothing to stop the war and the Republicans are trying to help her to take votes from Harris.  The sly Republicans realize that Stein will only pull votes from Harris.  Stein has already been accused of being a factor in Hillary’s loss to Trump back in 2016.  She is now running for the third time.

Conclusions:

As someone once said, “There is many a slip between the cup and the lips.”  The Democrats may say that they want a ceasefire in the Mideast, but their actions suggest the opposite.  They are not willing to take the steps to enforce a ceasefire.  Billions of dollars in weapons are still being sent to Israel while foreign aid is blocked by Israeli forces from reaching those in need.  Thousands of dead Arabs are being viewed as the price to pay for stopping Trump.  It is a bargain with the Devil and such bargains never turn out well.

Bidens Farewell Song for Palestine

29 May 2024 2 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

logosow

Oh My God!  They killed 1200 Israelis,

Those horrible terrible Palestinian Barbarians,

They slaughtered innocent women and children.

Those Hamas Terrorists took 220 hostages,

They are nothing but animals and savages.

REFRAIN:

I’ve got your back.  I’ve got your back.

I stand behind you.  I stand behind you.

Nothing can come between us. 

BiBi, I am your friend.  I am your friend.

How many bombs and bullets do you need?          

Your revenge is just.  Your attack is sanctioned.

How many Palestinians will you need to kill?

They say that women were raped, and children were beheaded.

They are nothing but animals and savages.

1,000 Palestinians Now Dead

REFRAIN:

I’ve got your back.  I’ve got your back.

I stand behind you.  I stand behind you.

Nothing can come between us. 

BiBi, I am your friend.  I am your friend.

How many bombs and bullets do you need?          

 The hell you are unleashing on innocent women and children we can overlook.

My polls are still strong.  Americans are with you.

We will silence opposition at home.

Anyone speaking out will be labeled an Anti-Semite.

They are nothing but animals and savages.

10,000 Palestinians Now Dead

REFRAIN:        

I’ve got your back.  I’ve got your back.

I stand behind you.  I stand behind you.

Nothing can come between us. 

BiBi, I am your friend.  I am your friend.

How many bombs and bullets do you need?     

Our students are protesting.

There are riots on our campuses.

Administrators are ignoring the Antisemites on campus.

How much longer do your think it will take Bibi?

15,000 Palestinians Now Dead

REFRAIN:

I’ve got your back.  I’ve got your back.

I stand behind you.  I stand behind you.

Nothing can come between us. 

BiBi, I am your friend.  I am your friend.

How many bombs and bullets do you need?          

My advisors are starting to worry about my poll numbers.

This is going to be a close race.

Many students and progressives say they will not vote for me.

Some people are even calling me Genocide Joe.

Do you think this has gone far enough Bibi?

20,000 Palestinians Now Dead

REFRAIN:

I’ve got your back.  I’ve got your back.

I stand behind you.  I stand behind you.

Nothing can come between us. 

BiBi, I am your friend.  I am your friend.

How many bombs and bullets do you need?

Can I suggest that you not bomb any more hospitals?

How about we send them some aid?

My poll numbers are not improving.

Would you be willing not to bomb any more refugee camps?

This war is starting to really hurt my image Bibi.

25,000 Palestinians Now Dead 

REFRAIN:

I’ve got your back.  I’ve got your back.

I stand behind you.  I stand behind you.

Nothing can come between us. 

BiBi, I am your friend.  I am your friend.

How many bombs and bullets do you need?

Some of my advisors are leaving.

Some of my supporters are quitting.

We have not been able to silence the protestors.  I mean Antisemites.

Do you think you could wrap things up soon Bibi?

Did I already ask about you not bombing any more refugee camps?

30,000 Palestinians Now Dead

REFRAIN:  

I’ve got your back.  I’ve got your back.

I stand behind you.  I stand behind you.

Nothing can come between us. 

BiBi, I am your friend.  I am your friend.

How many bombs and bullets do you need?                    

I am going to draw a line Bibi.

I draw most of my lines in the sand, so not to worry.

I have been called complicit in this Holocaust of Palestinian people.

Do you think history will exonerate us Bibi?

Do you still need any more bombs and bullets?

35,000 Palestinians Now Dead and Counting  

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-rafah-strike-ground-assault-dont-cross-bidens-red-line-rcna154428

The Days of Remembrance

23 Apr 2024 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

“The Days of Remembrance”, according to https://nationaltoday.com/days-of-remembrance, is observed every year in April and May and is a week-long commemoration of the Holocaust.  In 2024, it is observed from May 5-12, with “Remembrance” Day being May 6.”

”The Days of Remembrance” was established as the country’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust by the United States Congress.  The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is responsible for leading the country in commemorating “Days of Remembrance” and also for encouraging these commemorations.  The Holocaust was the state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi rulers, allies, and collaborators.”  — National Days of Remembrance

Several years ago, while in Munich, Karen and I went to visit the first of the concentration camps setup by the Nazis.  The camp was just outside of a small town called Dachau.  Neither of us will ever forget that day.  The camp is now a museum devoted to remembering and explaining the unexplainable.  The pictures, the exhibits, the ovens, the hatred depicted in this former death camp are beyond words.  In a strange distortion of reality, Karen and I could not remember any color for that day.  It was all black and white and gray.  The grass, the trees, the other people we saw all appeared in shades of black.  It was like being in the Stephen Spielberg film “Schindler’s List”.   How could any culture, any nation, any so-called civilized people systematically murder over six million people because of their religion?  Numerous writers have tried to explain the Holocaust, but none have ever managed to.  It is an impossible effort.  It is impossible because it is not possible for any normal human being to imagine the hatred and prejudice that stands behind Anti-Semitism and other forms of racism. 

On the way to the camp, we were told by the bus driver (in rather a surprise announcement)  “don’t blame us for the Holocaust, only a third of the people in the Village of Dachau voted for Hitler.”  I thought “bullshit”.  Later after reading Goldhagen’s “Hitlers Willing Executioners” I realized my judgement of bullshit was far too kind.  When people do nothing in the face of crime and immorality, they are just as guilty as the people more actively involved.  A large number of German people either did nothing to prevent or actively facilitated the atrocities perpetrated against the Jewish citizens in Germany. 

Sadly, this persecution of Jews has gone on not only in Germany for centuries but also in parts of Europe, the Mideast, and the USA.  However, it was not until 1860 that an Austrian Jewish scholar, Moritz Steinschneider, introduced the term “Anti-Semite” to denote specific prejudice against Jews.  Today, the USA is embroiled in a bitter controversy.  Another divide among the American people has occurred.  We have those who support Israel in its war against Hamas and those who support the Palestinian people.  The confrontations are taking place in the streets of several major cities as well as on college campuses across the nation.  Many Jewish people in America feel like they are being attacked whether or not they stand with Israel in what some are calling a war of Genocide.  Pro-Palestinian Americans are also being attacked as they protest the Gazan war. 

The Anti-Defamation League recently published a study showing a rise in Anti-Semitism ideology and incidents in the USA over the past year or so.  U.S. Antisemitic Incidents soared 140% percent in 2023.

“ADL tracked 8,873 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2023, the highest level recorded since ADL started tracking this data in 1979.” —  U.S. Antisemitic Incidents Soared 140% percent in 2023

While a large proportion of Americans are against Israel’s war with Hamas near fifty percent support the right of Israel to exist. 

“Support for an independent Jewish state remains high. Indeed, 47.6% of Americans support the notion of a two-state solution to the conflict and an additional 8.5% of Americans support Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza.” — Antisemitic Attitudes in America 2024  

It is sad that we cannot both protest and also respect the position of those we protest against.  Whether or not one is Pro-Israel or Pro-Palestine, both have a right to be heard in a democratic society that professes the First Amendment for Free Speech.  Yet, we also see a systematic effort to silence those protestors who are taking sides with the Palestinians.  

In 1816 Commander Stephen Decatur said, “Our country!  In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong” — Naval commander Stephen Decatur.  Others have criticized this perspective as reflective of an unthinking extreme patriotism, or “jingoism”  Fifty-five years later, in 1871, a US Senator Carl Schurz gave a very appropriate reinterpretation of this perspective in a speech that included the statement, “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”  Both the USA and Israel may have some reckoning to be done but it will only happen if parties in both countries can sit down peacefully with their opposition and discuss their differences.  

I wrote the following blog in a series of stories written several years ago.  I was inspired by Edgar Lee Master’s “Spoon River Anthology.”  I called each of my stories “Autobiographies from the Dead.”  Each of my eight or so protagonists tells the story of their death.  In this story, Ephraim is a Jewish boy who dies in the Holocaust in a Nazi Concentration Camp.  The story will not be easy to read but it is my effort to share some of the real horrors of the Nazi holocaust with those of us who were not there.  We cannot whitewash, we cannot trivialize, and we should never forget the evil and hatred that Anti-Semitism has evoked and still evokes in the world today. 

Ephraim the Jew

jewish shadowMy name is Ephraim. I was born to a Jewish mother and a Jewish father in Germany.  My parents and great grandparents were all born in Germany.  We were not rich but we made a living over the years in various trades.  My family was all hard workers and I was taught the value of hard work and an education at an early age.  We were proud to be Germans.  My father had served with distinction in WW I and my great grandfather had served in the earlier Franco Prussian war.  We had many musicians and writers in our family and were proud that we could contribute to the rich German cultural heritage of our homeland.

HumiliationOne day, some young men started throwing stones at my father and me as we came home from work.  We arrived home with bruises and cuts but no broken bones.  My mother said that things were getting worse for Jews in Germany and that she had heard of many such incidents from other friends.  My father said she was being an old woman and should not worry so much.  This was just the result of a bunch of hoodlums and the government would soon arrest such bullies so that the streets would be safe again.

Weeks and months went by.  More assaults!  More bullying!  Everywhere we turned it seemed that people hated us.  The government passed Pro-German Laws to protect “Pure” Germans.  Somehow this seemed to mean that we Jews were now the enemies.  We were no longer Germans.  Our businesses were taken away from us.  Our jobs were taken away from us.  Then they took our freedom away from us.

trainsThey took us in trains to these large detention centers.  Smoke and flames were visible from numerous chimneys when we arrived.  Some people whispered that these were Jews who had been cremated.  It was too horrible to conceive.  It could not be true.  We were whipped, kicked and herded off the rail cars.  An angry looking German soldier in a black uniform with skulls and lightning bolts directed each person either to the right or to the left when we fled the cars.  Women and young children went one direction.  Men and young boys went the other direction.  My mother and sister went to the right.  They waved and said good bye.  “We will see you soon.”  “We must go to the showers first.”  We never saw them again.

The-last-Jew-in-Vinnitsa-1941My dad and I were assigned to work details.  Food was meager and work was hard.  We labored with very little rations from before sunrise to well after sunset.  My father died a year later.  He was nothing but skin and bones.  He said: “I am sorry.”  Another year later and I could not get up and go to work.  The guards came for me one day and said, “You are garbage and you are no longer useful.”  Two other Jews were forced to pick me up.  They carried me to a large pit.  I noticed many other bodies in the pit.  They threw me in the pit with the other bodies.  A holocaust-bodies-mass-graveguard shot me three times.  “Like shooting fish in a barrel he said.”  I was shot once in the head and twice in the chest.  He laughed as I twitched and as the blood oozed out of my veins.  I was surprised that it did not hurt as much as I thought it would.  I could feel my soul leaving my body.

Finally, I was looking down at my distorted figure and it was no longer twitching.  Even the blood had stopped oozing out.  The guard who shot me had lit a cigarette and was enjoying a quick smoke before returning to another work detail.  I watched for a while as other men and boys were carried to the pit and murdered.  I could no longer bear to look.  I decided to go find God and talk to him.  I was confused and angry but I thought that perhaps a talk with God might straighten things out.  My spirit left this hell on earth.

I am dead looking for godmany years now and I am still searching for God.  I want to know what we did to deserve such a fate.  We worked hard.  We paid our taxes.  We treated our fellow Germans with respect.  We worshipped on the Sabbath.  We upheld all of the commandments.  We were good people.  We were good Germans.  Why did they hate us so?  What did we do to cause this suffering?  Was this some kind of a test?

I think God is hiding from me.  He is nowhere to be found.  I have wandered now for years and still I find no God.  I know he exists.  I believe in God but I think he is avoiding me.  I think he may be ashamed for letting this happen.  I swear my soul will never rest until I find God and ask him this question:  “Why?”  But what if he doesn’t know the answer?

Time for Questions:

What is an Anti-Semite? Why do people still hate Jews? What did any Jews ever do to deserve such a fate?  Are you an Anti-Semite?  What can you do to help fight Anti-Semitism?  Do you try? Why not?

Life is just beginning.

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”  ― Elie Wiesel

 

Please join us in community with local survivors and their families as we memorialize the tragedy and loss of the Holocaust and pay tribute to those who survived and the generations that have followed them. This special observance will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 5th, 2024, at The Tucson J in the Ballroom.

Each year, it is imperative that we set aside this day to remember the more than six million Jews murdered during the Nazi Holocaust and continue to raise our collective voice to reaffirm the promise of ‘Never Again.’ This year’s theme, “Generations After: A Community Promise,”  reflects our Southern Arizona community’s solemn vow to our local living survivors and those who came before: in the face of our past trials and our present challenges, we will remember, and we will respond.

This annual community commemoration is a collaboration of Jewish Family & Children’s Services, The Tucson J, and Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center with funding provided by Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona.

This event is free and all are welcome.

Please Sign My Petition to President Biden to Stop Sending Weapons and Bombs to Israel

01 Apr 2024 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , ,

I am circulating this petition on line and in my blog.  I appreciate any help in circulating the petition as well as adding your signature to the petition.  The link below should take you to the actual petition site.  Thank you for your support.

download

TO: President Biden

RE:  2024 Election and the Gaza War

Due to your current policies towards Israel and your continued support of the egregious Israeli response towards the October 7th Hamas attack, we are withholding our vote for you in the upcoming 2024 election.  We recognize that Israel has the right to protect itself and its citizens and that the actions by Hamas on October 7th of 2023 constituted a cowardly criminal terrorist attack.

However, the subsequent retaliatory response by Israel has clearly gone from defensive to genocide. Over 32,000 Palestinians have now been killed in Israeli assaults on innocent men, women, and children. The entire Palestinian nation is being destroyed by Israel’s attempt to wipe out the Hamas terrorists.  This is being done with the support of American weapons, bombs, and money.  We have repeatedly asked for a ceasefire and been met by lukewarm responses on your part President Biden. You have asked Netanyahu to do more to protect Palestinians and he has figuratively spit in your face.

We could stop this ongoing murder by stopping the flow of bombs and bullets to Israel.  Senator Sanders has said that “He would not give them one nickel more until there was a ceasefire.”  You President Biden started out after the Hamas attack by saying repeatedly. “We have your back.”  “We stand with you.”  This was a loyal allies support for another ally.  However, as the Israeli response has morphed into outright genocide, you have done nothing to modify your original position and to help stop the ongoing genocide by the Israeli army.

By voting for you we are complicit in the ongoing murder of Palestinians.  By voting for you we are guilty of the policies that are killing thousands of innocent men, women, and children.  By voting for you, our hands are stained with the blood of these thousands of noncombatant women and children.  There are those who say that “You are the lesser of two evils.”  We acknowledge that Trump is a distorted mockery of any humane concept of leadership.  We have no desire to see Trump reelected.  However, if this happens because of your misguided support for the Israeli war, it is your responsibility.  You have continued with platitudes and bromides that have done nothing significant to allay the actions of Netanyahu.  We are not going to support any Presidential candidate who condones such actions.

There are thousands of us out there who will either not vote for you or will vote for a third party in the upcoming election.  That is our position now.  There is still time before the November elections to show that you have the backbone and courage to stand up to Netanyahu and to stop the genocide taking place.

  • This means stopping all military funding to Israel.  
  • This means stopping the sending of weapons and bombs to Israel.
  • This means insuring a permanent ceasefire NOW.

Show the world that America is on the side of Justice and Peace.  

https://www.change.org/p/a-message-to-president-biden-on-the-israeli-gaza-war

434677967_7795066600517792_5333046910709832872_n

In Defense of Not Voting for the Lesser of Two Evils.

12 Mar 2024 8 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

downloadThis years election is going to force people to decide between the lesser of two evils.  Trump is undoubtedly the winner in being the most evil person to ever run for president in the USA.  His former Chief of Staff said that Trump was the most vile man he had ever met.  Kelly declared:

“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’  A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’  A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family—for all Gold Star families—on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”  — The New Republic, Oct 2023

Running against a man who would further erode what democracy we have left in this country is a coward who is afraid to take on Netanyahu and his US lobbies.  Bernie Sanders had the courage to say that he would not give Israel one nickel for defense until a permanent cease fire was declared. 

“I will be damned if I’m going to give another nickel to the Netanyahu government in order to continue this war against the Palestinian people.”  — February 13, 2024, by John Nichols; The Nation

Just yesterday, Biden said that “There would be no red line for Israel.”  He takes this cowardly position even in the face of a horrible death toll and as Israel prepares another major offensive designed to kill as many Palestinians as they can in Southern Gaza.  Then Netanyahu spits in Bidens face and says that “Victory is close.”  The Israel Defense Force won’t be “getting off the gas” and eliminating Hamas in Rafah is a “prerequisite for victory.”  — NY Post, March 11, 2024

Let me add that not only do I hold Biden complicit in the genocide going on in Gaza but also for the number of soldiers killed in the Ukrainian War with Russia.  This war could have been prevented by pursuing more diplomacy with Russia.  Instead, we have a sitting President who is still dumb enough to be spouting the Domino Theory of Communism.  He tells us that if Russia defeats the Ukraine they will soon be after Europe and then America.  I had thought only fools still believed this theory, but Biden spouted it in his SOTU speech the other night.

One empirical study on the validity of the Domino Theory was done in 2009.  Using spatial econometrics and panel data that cover over 130 countries between 1850 and 2000, Peter T. Leeson and Andrea M. Dean empirically investigated the democratic domino theory.  They found the following:

“We find that democratic dominoes do in fact fall as the theory contends.  However, these dominoes fall significantly “lighter” than the importance of this model suggests. Countries “catch” only about 11% of the increases or decreases in their average geographic neighbors’ increases or decreases in democracy.  This finding has potentially important foreign policy implications.  The “lightness” with which democratic dominoes fall suggests that even if foreign military intervention aimed at promoting democracy in undemocratic countries succeeds in democratizing these nations, intervention is likely to have only a small effect on democracy in their broader regions.”  — “The Democratic Domino Theory: An Empirical Investigation” by Peter T. Leeson and Andrea M. Dean,  American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Jul., 2009), pp. 533-551

Keep in mind that this is only one study, however politicians routinely use this theory to justify intrusions and violations of other country sovereignty all over the world.  The real truth is not a fear of communism but a fear that our capitalistic hegemony over the world will be put at risk.  But I am divulging from the main issue.  Do I vote for Biden who exemplifies the policy of continuing never-ending wars or Trump who will attack minorities, attack immigrants, attack women, attack veterans, attack disabled, attack people of other gender identities and attack every institution of democracy left in America?

Clearly Biden is the lesser of two evils.  But I will not vote for Biden.  I certainly will not vote for Trump even if my soul depended upon it.  I will vote for one of the independents who I admire.  So, say it now “You are going to throw your vote away.  A vote for anyone else but Biden is a vote for Trump.  Independents have no chance of winning and will only take votes away from Biden.  Do you want Trump to win?”  Eight years ago, I made this same argument against supporting Sanders rather than Hillary.  My arguments for Hillary became so aggressive that I lost several friends before the election.  People who have never talked to me since the election.  And who won?  Trump!  Trump won and I lost.  I lost on three counts.

  1. I lost the chance that Sanders might have beaten Trump
  2. I lost friends
  3. I lost my integrity by voting for someone I did not really like.   

Ironically by not voting for Biden this year, I may lose more friends.  Almost everyone I admire seems to have decided to go with the “lesser of two evils” argument.  Is there merit to this argument?  Can we really predict the future based on it?  Is it any more valid then the Domino Theory?  Here is another opinion besides my own with some reasons why this argument should lose its validity.

The “lesser of two evils” argument has been a mainstay of Democratic election strategy since 2016. The formula is clear: 1) Throw overwhelming institutional support at an often unpopular and watered-down candidate.  2) Tell primary voters not to actually vote for their desired candidate because they are “unelectable.” 3) After forcing through a politician that many voters did not want, tell voters to be a good citizen and choose the “lesser of two evils” in the general election.  This strategy is unsustainable, ineffective, and sabotaging the core of our democracy.

In 2020, voters accepted this premise.  “Unprecedented” times called for “unprecedented” measures, so people swallowed their tongues and checked their ballots.  This is how the Democratic party garnered record-breaking voter turnout for an aggressively mediocre candidate.  According to Forbes, 56% of voters in 2020 admitted to voting for Biden because he was “not Trump.”  The Democratic PACs (political action committees) leaned into this message, spending heavily on “anti-Trump” ads.

But this coming election is different.  Not only are Biden and Harris particularly unpopular, but voters are also beginning to understand that you can’t call the times “unprecedented” forever.  At some point, we enter into a new normal.   And with the rising stars of the Republican party, like Ron Desantis — whose platform and policies prove just as Trump-y as Trump himself — it is becoming evident that the DNC, if allowed, will make this pitch indefinitely.

The 2016 election was a trial run of this method for the Democratic party — they were testing the waters to see how far they could push the party’s base without facing repercussions.  Minor changes did take place following the election, like stripping some power from superdelegates to appease the outraged progressive faction of the party.  Still, when faced with lawsuits from Democratic voters, claiming that the 2016 primary was unjust, DNC lawyers tried to cling to their ability to choose the Democratic candidate behind closed doors without input from voters.  They argued that “the words ‘impartial’ and ‘even handed’ — as used in the DNC Charter — can’t be interpreted by a court of law.”  This laid the groundwork for the growing unabashed bias toward specific candidates that emerged first in 2020 and is now resurfacing for 2024.

In this primary, the Democratic party has become more aggressive than ever in pre-selecting the candidate for voters. For example, they are infamously attempting to shift primary dates to benefit Biden’s campaign and give him a stronger start in the primaries.  And despite the few challengers that are running collectively taking around 30% of the vote, the Democratic party is adamantly refusing to host a debate.

While in past primary elections, the Democratic Party maintained some semblance of plausible deniability when supporting candidates, in this election it is clear that the DNC is unequivocally backing Biden.

Voters are villainized for being apathetic toward a candidate that they did not even choose.  In 2016, op-eds stating “you do have an obligation to vote for the lesser of two evils” were plastered across major news outlets.   In 2020, Biden controversially quipped, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black” while being questioned on a popular radio show.  In 2024, we are seeing a similar strategy play out again.

DNC Chair Jaime Harrison recently scolded Democratic challengers and third-party candidates, saying, “This is not the time to [sic] experiment.  This is not the time to play around on the margins … we got to re-elect Joe Biden.  We have to re-elect Kamala Harris.”  — Rhea Karty: The Lesser of Two Evils Argument Needs To Die, The Dartmouth, August 2, 2023

A poll taken back in January of this year gave the following results:

“Seventy percent of respondents – including about half of Democrats – agreed with a statement that Biden should not seek re-election.  Fifty-six percent of people responding to the poll said Trump should not run, including about a third of Republicans.” — Trump vs. Biden: The rematch many Americans don’t want, by Jason Lange, January 25, 2024

I am going to join the ranks of those who are sick and tired of having to choose between “The lesser of Two Evils”.  A choice where I was not given any real say in the making of.  In the words of Patrick Henry,

“For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate.  It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country.  Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.” — St. John’s Church, Richmond, Virginia, March 23, 1775

So, there you have it my friends.  I am not going to allow the Democratic Party to keep running their game on me.  If Biden loses, we may forfeit any democracy we have left in this country.  However, if Biden wins, the Democratic Party will continue their support of unpopular wars and the propensity to elect people not popular with the majority of voters.  I have heard many people say that they do not want either man.  Yet here we are folks.  Both sides feeling like they are choosing between the lesser of two evils.

I have made my choice.  Choose now for yourself.

images (2)

The Silence of the Damned by Chris Hedges

01 Feb 2024 7 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

https://open.substack.com/pub/chrishedges/p/the-silence-of-the-damned?r=zfnvi&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

There is no effective health care system left in Gaza. Infants are dying. Children are having their limbs amputated without anesthesia. Thousands of cancer patients and those in need of dialysis lack treatment. The last cancer hospital in Gaza has ceased functioning. An estimated 50,000 pregnant women have no safe place to give birth. They undergo cesarean sections without anesthesia. Miscarriage rates are up 300 percent since the Israeli assault began. The wounded bleed to death. There is no sanitation or clean water. Hospitals have been bombed and shelled. Nasser Hospital, one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza, is “near collapse.” Clinics, along with ambulances – 79 in Gaza and over 212 in the West Bank – have been destroyed. Some 400 doctors, nurses, medics and healthcare workers have been killed — more than the total of all healthcare workers killed in conflicts around the world combined since 2016. Over 100 more have been detained, interrogated, beaten and tortured, or disappeared by Israeli soldiers. 

Israeli soldiers routinely enter hospitals to carry out forced evacuations – on Wednesday troops entered al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis and demanded doctors and displaced Palestinians leave – as well as round up detainees, including the wounded, sick and medical staff. On Tuesday, disguised as hospital workers and civilians, Israeli soldiers entered Jenin’s Ibn Sina Hospital in the West Bank and assassinated three Palestinians as they slept. 

The cuts to funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) — collective punishment for the alleged involvement in the Oct. 7 attack of 12 its 13,000 UNRWA workers  —  will accelerate the horror, turning the attacks, starvation, lack of health care and spread of infectious diseases in Gaza into a tidal wave of death. 

The evidence-free charges, which include the accusation that 10 percent of all of UNRWA’s Gaza staff have ties to Islamist militant groups, appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The reporter, Carrie-Keller Lynn, served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Given the numerous lies Israel has employed to justify its genocide, including “beheaded babies” and “mass rape,” it is reasonable to assume this may be another fabrication. 

The allegations, of which details remain scant, are apparently based on confessions by Palestinian detainees — most certainly after being beaten or tortured. These allegations were enough to see 18 countries including the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Australia and Japan cut or delay funding to the vital U.N. agency. UNRWA is all that stands between the Palestinians in Gaza and famine. A handful of countries, including Ireland, Norway and Turkey, maintain their funding. 

Eight of the UNRWA employees accused of participating in the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, where 1,139 people were killed and 240 abducted, were fired. Two have been suspended. UNRWA has promised an investigation. They account for 0.04 percent of UNRWA’s staff. 

Israel is seeking to destroy not only Gaza’s health care system and infrastructure, but UNRWA which provides food and aid to 2 million Palestinians. The object is to make Gaza uninhabitable and ethnically cleanse the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands are already starving. Over 70 percent of the housing has been destroyed. More than 26,700 people have been killed and over 65,600 have been injured. Thousands are missing. Some 90 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population has been displaced, with many living in the open. Palestinians have been reduced to eating grass and drinking contaminated water.

Noga Arbell, a former Israeli foreign ministry official, during a discussion in the Israeli parliament on Jan. 4, stated: “It will be impossible to win the war if we do not destroy UNRWA, and this destruction must begin immediately.”

“UNRWA is an organization that perpetuates the problem of the Palestinian Refugees,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in 2018. “It also perpetuates the narrative of the so-called ‘right of return’ with the aim of eliminating the State of Israel, and therefore UNRWA must disappear.” An unnamed senior Israeli official praised the suspension of funding to UNRWA, but insisted on Wednesday gggthe government was not calling for its closure. 

More than 152 of UNRWA’s employees in Gaza — including school principals, teachers, health workers, a gynecologist, engineers, support staff and a psychologist — have been killed since the Israeli attacks began. Over 141 UNRWA facilities have been bombed into rubble. The death toll is the largest loss of staff during a conflict in the U.N.’s history.

The destruction of healthcare facilities and targeting of doctors, nurses, medics and staff is especially repugnant. It means the most vulnerable, the sick, infants, the wounded and elderly, and those who care for them, are often condemned to death. Palestinian doctors are pleading with doctors and medical organizations from around the world to decry the assault on the healthcare system and mobilize their institutions to protest. 

“The world must condemn the acts against medical professionals happening in Gaza,” writes the director of Al-Shifa hospital, Muhamad Abu Salmiya, who was arrested along with other medical personnel by the Israelis in November 2023 while evacuating with a World Health Organization (WHO) convoy, and who remains in custody. “This Correspondence is a call for every human being, all medical communities, and all health-care professionals around the world to call for these anti-hospital activities inside and around the hospitals to stop, which is a civilian obligation according to international law, the UN, and WHO.”

But these institutions — with a few notable exceptions such as The American Public Health Association that has called for a ceasefire — have either remained silent or, as with Dr. Matthew K. Wynia, the director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado, attempted to justify Israeli war crimes. These doctors — who somehow find it acceptable that in Gaza a child is killed every 10 minutes on average — are accomplices to genocide and stand in violation of the Geneva Convention. They embrace death as a solution, not life. 

Robert Jay Lifton in his book “The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide” writes that “genocidal projects require the active participation of educated professionals — physicians, scientists, engineers, military leaders, lawyers, clergy, university professors and other teachers — who combine to create not only the technology of genocide but much of its ideological rationale, moral climate, and organizational process.”  A group of 100 Israeli doctors in November 2023 defended the bombing of hospitals in Gaza, claiming they were used as Hamas command centers, a charge Israel has been unable to verify. 

The deans of U.S. medical schools and leading medical organizations, especially the American Medical Association (AMA) have joined the ranks of universities, law schools, churches and the media to turn their backs on the Palestinians. The AMA shut down a debate on a ceasefire resolution among its members and has called for “medical neutrality,” although it abandoned “medical neutrality” to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

There is a cost to denouncing this genocide, a cost they do not intend to pay. They fear being attacked. They fear destroying their careers. They fear losing funding. They fear a loss of status. They fear persecution. They fear social isolation. This fear makes them complicit. 

And what of those who do speak out? They are branded as antisemites and supporters of terrorism. George Washington University clinical psychology professor Lara Sheehi was pushed out of her job. The former head of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, was denied a fellowship at Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy because of his alleged “anti-Israel bias.” San Francisco professor Rabab Abdulhadi was sued for supporting Palestinian rights. Shahd Abusalama was suspended from Sheffield Hallam University in the U.K after a vicious smear campaign, although the institution later settled her discrimination claim against it. Professor Jasbir Puar at Rutgers University is an ongoing target for the Israel lobby and endures constant harassment. Medical students and faculty in Canada face suspension or expulsion if they publicly criticize Israel. 
 
The danger is not only that the Israeli crimes are denounced. The danger, more importantly, is that the moral bankruptcy and cowardice of the institutions and their leaders are exposed. This brings me to Dr. Rupa Marya, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), whose call to halt bombing hospitals and to examine the impact of Zionism as a racist ideology unleashed a torrent of vitriolic attacks against her, attacks tacitly endorsed by the medical school where she works. 

She has been slandered as an antisemite and targeted by the Canary Mission, a Zionist organization that seeks to defame and destroy the careers of students and faculty that criticize Israel and defend Palestinian rights. She has had speaking engagements rescinded and received death threats and messages such as: “kill yourself you retarded grifting n*gger,” “Jew baiting c*nt,” and “White people are the greatest people on Earth. You know this.” 

You can see her statement on the campaign against her here. There is a striking contrast between the treatment of Dr. Marya and the physicians who cheer on the genocide. UCSF physician Matt Cooperberg, who is the Helen Diller Family Chair in Urology, ‘liked’ social media posts such as “REMOVE Palestinians FORM [sic] MAP” and a quote by former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir: “We are able to forgive the the [sic] arabs for killing our children. We are unable to forgive the arabs for forcing us to kill their children.”

“Cooperberg’s endowed chair comes from the Helen Diller Family Foundation, UCSF’s largest donor, which to date has gifted some $1.15 billion dollars to the health campus,” Marya writes. “In 2018, due to a mistake on a tax form, the Helen Diller Family Foundation was exposed as a funder of the Canary Mission. The Foundation attempted to erase its connection after this exposure.”  She goes on:

As a faculty member at UCSF, disgraced dermatologist Howard Maibach exposed and injected over 2,600 imprisoned Black and brown people with chemicals in experiments that echoed the experiments put on trial at the Doctors’ Trial just a few years before he went to medical school in Pennsylvania,” she goes on. “There he studied under Albert Kligman, who taught him how to exploit Black people for medical experimentation, documented extensively in the horror nonfiction book, Acres of Skin.  Maibach also advanced notions of racial differences in skin, furthering racist ideas from the pseudoscience of eugenics. Race is a social construct that enshrines supremacism. It is not a biological reality.

Most of Maibach’s experiments were conducted without informed consent, and while UCSF issued an apology, Maibach is still employed by the University of California. His family supports the Friends of the IDF, and he is represented by Alan Dershowitz, who also argued for the bombing of hospitals in Gaza. Dershowitz attempted to prevent me from speaking at the AMA’s first National Health Equity Grand Rounds, where scholar Harriet Washington, who studies medical experimentation on Black people, highlighted Maibach’s racist practices. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, UCSF faculty, trainees and students of color brought Maibach’s story to light, and many have expressed their horror that they have to continue to sit in the same room as this man during Dermatology Grand Rounds. But the problem is not just one man. It is a system that allows someone with these values and actions to continue to be present in our learning and practicing community.

The dehumanization of Palestinians is lifted from the playbook of all settler colonial projects, including our own. This racism, where people of color are branded as “human animals,” is coded within the DNA of our institutions. It infects those chosen to lead these institutions. It lies at the core of our national identity. It is why the two ruling parties and the institutions that sustain them side with Israel. It feeds the perverted logic of funneling weapons and billions of dollars in support to Israel to sustain its occupation and genocide. 

History will not judge us kindly.  But it will revere those who, under siege, found the courage to say no. 

Share

The Chris Hedges Report is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Ten Ideas on How to Protect Palestinian Citizens

04 Jan 2024 8 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

download (5)As the slaughter of innocent Palestinian women and children continues by Netanyahu and his IDF forces, there are several constants on the part of the United States in terms of our reactions.  The First Constant is for Biden and Blinken to keep sending more ammunition and bombs to Israel even without authorization from the US Congress.

Antony Blinken tells Congress he made second emergency determination covering $147.5m sale for equipment —

“For the second time this month the Biden administration is bypassing Congress to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel as Israel continues to prosecute its war against Hamas in Gaza under increasing international criticism.” — Associated Press, Fri 29 Dec 2023, Guardian

The Second Constant is for both Biden and Blinken to keep calling for Netanyahu to be more careful where he drops his bombs.  “US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who has repeatedly urged Israel to do more to protect Palestinian Citizens is expected in the region next week.” — Casa Grande Dispatch, January 2, 2024 

Bibi and Blinken will have a hug fest while Bibi tells Antony, “Yes Mr. Secretary, I will be more careful.  But don’t you realize that the plan is to get the Palestinians out of Gaza permanently either dead or alive?” download (6)

Surely Biden and Blinken are not stupid enough to think that the majority of Americans do not see through this hypocrisy.  A Secretary of State who is a war mongering hawk with little concern for diplomacy is bad enough, but the continuing effort to silence anyone on the left or right who opposes bombs to Israel with screams and accusations of Anti-Semitism is an egregious hypocrisy of everything that our First Amendment and America stands for.

Trying to think what I can do to help ameliorate some of the atrocities associated with this war, I decided that perhaps I could contribute some ideas that would help Bibi, Blinken and Biden with some more concrete means of PROTECTING innocent Palestinians.  I came up with the following list.  I will briefly explain each of my ideas.  If you have any contacts with the US State Department or President Biden, please feel free to share these ideas with them.

  1. Drop leaflets showing where the bombs will fall

This would help innocent Palestinians to get out of the way before the SMART bombs hit.  Sadly, it would not work against many of the dumb bombs that America is sending over since these dumb bombs cannot read.

download (1)

  1. Schedule bombing runs on alternate sides of the street. One day for odd numbered streets and the next day for even numbered streets

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, we do the above for snow removal.  It helps residents with parking their cars and avoiding towing and snow fines.  You get to alternate which side of street you can park on so that the snowplows can do their job.  This idea would allow the IDF to destroy as many homes as possible while avoiding killing innocent women and children.

  1. Schedule bombing runs on alternate days. On Monday, Wed and Friday, bomb North Gaza and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays bomb South Gaza

download (2)This is a variant of idea number 2.

  1. Setup a phone ring and have Palestinians alert other Palestinians when bombs are expected to fall in the neighborhood

At my wife’s church in Wisconsin, they have a group of phone callers who in an emergency all call different members of her church.  This works very well for getting help to people that need it and for alerting all church members of any impending disasters.  I think a modified version of this phone network could work in Gaza if the IDF were willing to give just a little advance notice of their bombing schedule.

  1. Drop shekels with the bombs so the Palestinians will have the funds to rebuild their homes.

download (3)This was suggested during the Vietnam war since many Americans with a monetary bent figured that it cost roughly one million dollars for every Viet Cong soldier that we killed.  I thought that if Israel dropped some shekels, stocks or bonds with their bombs, it would help the Palestinians rebuild Gaza or at least move to someplace else like Miami or Houston.

  1. Try to only hit Schools, Mosques, Tunnels and Hospitals where bona-fide Hamas members are hiding out.

TOPSHOT-PALESTINIAN-GAZA-ISRAEL-CONFLICT

Much of the public outrage against the Gaza massacre has come about because of the pictures of dead children and babies in bombed out hospitals and elsewhere.  The IDF needs to get better Intel and only bomb places with bonified Hamas members. 

  1. Play public service announcements letting non-Hamas Palestinians know that the bombs are not for them and that they should not take it personally.

downloadPerhaps a good Madison Avenue marketing campaign could be developed to show the Palestinians that the IDF really is trying to protect them.  As with most such campaigns it would all be smoke and mirrors, but advertising is very effective and would dampen down some of the criticism.  Israel needs to do more to show that “They Really Care.”  That would make a good campaign slogan, “We Really Care.”

  1. Play some mood music during bombing runs that will encourage Palestinians to relax more

download (4)I realize that this is not one of my best ideas but you know the old saying “Music sooths the savage beast.”  When I am worried and upset a bit of good music helps me to relax.  Perhaps some good music along with the bombing might help to address Palestinian anxiety and make them feel more cared about.

  1. Create a Bill of Rights for Palestinians like we have in the USA

From everything I have read, most of the laws impacting Gaza are very similar to the Apartheid Laws that had been enacted by the White government in South Africa during the Apartheid regimes.  Maybe if Israel and Palestine could work out a Bill of Rights like in the US Constitution, the Palestinians would be able to live side by side with the Israelites and not allow groups like Hamas to engage in indiscriminate slaughter of innocent women and children in Israel

1123-en-biden-killion-594637-640x360

10.  Sign a petition to send to Antony Blinken and Joe Biden encouraging them to talk more frequently with Netanyahu about protecting the rights of Palestinian Citizens

I doubt this would work since both Blinken and Biden are really shills for billionaires in the US who realize that Israel is essential to US financial interests.  The Palestinian people are simply in the way.  Just like the Indigenous Native American people were in the way of US progress and “Manifest Destiny” so are the Palestinians in the way of a greater Israel.   No one bleeds for people in the way of “progress.”

So, there you have my ten ideas for helping Biden and Blinken find ways for Bibi to better protect the Palestinian people while he drops thousands of bombs on their homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.  If you have any ideas, please feel free to add them to my list before sending to the US President or State Department.

Previous Older Entries