The airdrops in Gaza began as a Jordanian project to resupply its small field hospital, established in 2009 in Tel al-Hawa in northern Gaza in early November, 2023. Toward the end of November, Jordan established a second field hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, also supplied by airdrops. At least 21 airdrops have been made to these two facilities; several have been made in cooperation with France, the UK and the UAE.
The Jordanian airdrops demonstrate that they need not be ineffectual. While they are costly, often wasteful (due to inaccuracies in the drop location and other factors) and thus far quite limited in scope, they are not necessarily mere “theater” as sometimes argued.
But theater is part of the appeal for Israel, Jordan itself, countries that have partnered with Jordan and, more recently, the U.S. Israel can appear to be less heartless than its genocidal practices would otherwise suggest, and similar PR applies to the other participants that are collaborating with the genocide. Jordan, whose population is more than half of Palestinian origin, including their queen, and which undoubtedly actually cares but recognizes its limitations, probably sold the idea to Israel on that basis. Of course, Israel also agrees to the airdrops because they exercise control over them.
With the entry of the U.S. into the airdrop arena, propaganda is becoming an even more dominant function of the project. Some 38,000 MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) provide less than one day’s food supply for less than 2% of Gaza’s population, and none of it is medicine, potable water, fuel or shelter needs, but the airdrop dominated the U.S. media.
But propaganda does not have to be the primary function. Massive airdrops can help to close the immense gap between what is needed and what Israel is permitting by truck, which is the most efficient means of delivery. Unfortunately, there is no way to defy the Israeli bottleneck by truck. Any attempt to do so will be blocked.
Not so with airdrops. In 2008, the Free Gaza Movement broke through Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza with two boats. I was one of the organizers. One of the keys to the project’s success was that the boats and their passengers and cargos were thoroughly inspected by Cypriot authorities before sailing. In fact, Israeli spokesperson Arye Mekel confirmed to Israeli media that Israel felt no need to block the boats for this reason. But we organizers did not request nor receive Israeli permission. We defied the blockade, but we made sure to prove our peaceful intentions to all parties.
A similar plan can be used for unlimited airdrops even if, unlike the Jordanian airdrops, they are not under the control of the Israeli military. The protocol can be as follows:
- The participants should be countries that are not hostile to Israel, even if they are critical of its actions. Norway, Brazil, Spain, Japan, Ireland, Portugal, Greece and others come to mind.
- The participants will coordinate with authorities and relief organizations operating in Gaza, and possibly with other international aid organizations such as United Nations agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and their affiliates.
- All participating organizations will provide the occupying authority with as much as possible of its logistics and manifests, and cooperate in terms of communication and possibly other ways. Perhaps Israeli observers can even be welcomed on the flights. Israel’s suggestions and requests can also be considered, but not to the extent of compromising the mission objectives. Transparency will be an important element in assuring safety, credibility and protection. Israeli acceptance and cooperation are welcome, but the mission will go forward even if that is withheld. No nation can be permitted a veto on aid to suffering civilians.
- All flights will depart from the participating country and overfly only countries authorizing such overflights. They will enter Gaza airspace only through international airspace over the Mediterranean, avoiding all Israeli airspace and territory, unless otherwise negotiated.
This plan assumes that Israel will acquiesce to such missions even if they have objections.
Blocking flights is more difficult and more drastic than blocking trucks. Israel is unlikely to shoot down aircraft of non-hostile countries because the consequences would be too great. Doing so will almost certainly result in total suspension of all diplomatic and commercial relations with most of the world. Israel will lose their main supply lines with Asia.
They will be subject to a worldwide embargo and their airlines will lose their routes. Israeli passports will not be recognized anywhere except among a few collaborating countries, and even some of them will find collaboration no longer tenable, especially in the Arab world.
Is there a risk? Of course. But it is a reasonable one, because the risk of forcible action against the flights is greater to Israel than to the participants in the airdrops. In fact, it is possible that, after only partial implementation of such flights, or even prior to them, Israel might do the sensible thing and enable 500 or more trucks per day to deliver the needed aid to Gaza, and make a massive international airdrop campaign of up to 100 flights per day from dozens of countries superfluous.
CovertAction Magazine is made possible by subscriptions, orders and donations from readers like you.
Blow the Whistle on U.S. Imperialism
Click the whistle and donate
When you donate to CovertAction Magazine, you are supporting investigative journalism. Your contributions go directly to supporting the development, production, editing, and dissemination of the Magazine.
CovertAction Magazine does not receive corporate or government sponsorship. Yet, we hold a steadfast commitment to providing compensation for writers, editorial and technical support. Your support helps facilitate this compensation as well as increase the caliber of this work.
Please make a donation by clicking on the donate logo above and enter the amount and your credit or debit card information.
CovertAction Institute, Inc. (CAI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your gift is tax-deductible for federal income purposes. CAI’s tax-exempt ID number is 87-2461683.
We sincerely thank you for your support.
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the author(s). CovertAction Institute, Inc. (CAI), including its Board of Directors (BD), Editorial Board (EB), Advisory Board (AB), staff, volunteers and its projects (including CovertAction Magazine) are not responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. This article also does not necessarily represent the views the BD, the EB, the AB, staff, volunteers, or any members of its projects.
Differing viewpoints: CAM publishes articles with differing viewpoints in an effort to nurture vibrant debate and thoughtful critical analysis. Feel free to comment on the articles in the comment section and/or send your letters to the Editors, which we will publish in the Letters column.
Copyrighted Material: This web site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. As a not-for-profit charitable organization incorporated in the State of New York, we are making such material available in an effort to advance the understanding of humanity’s problems and hopefully to help find solutions for those problems. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. You can read more about ‘fair use’ and US Copyright Law at the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School.
Republishing: CovertAction Magazine (CAM) grants permission to cross-post CAM articles on not-for-profit community internet sites as long as the source is acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original CovertAction Magazine article. Also, kindly let us know at info@CovertActionMagazine.com. For publication of CAM articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: info@CovertActionMagazine.com.
By using this site, you agree to these terms above.
About the Author
Dr. Paul Larudee is a former Ford Foundation project supervisor and Fulbright-Hays lecturer in Lebanon, and US government advisor to Saudi Arabia.
He has been on the faculty of several universities in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the University of California at Berkeley, San Francisco State University, the University of San Francisco and St. Mary’s College in Moraga.
He has been an organizer with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine and co-founder of the movement to break the Israeli naval siege of Gaza. He was aboard the boats that entered in 2008 and the 2010 Flotilla attacked by Israel. He was shot by an Israeli soldier in 2002.
He co-founded the Global March to Jerusalem, the Free Palestine Movement and the Syria Solidarity Movement, and went to Syria with delegations led by Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire in 2013 and 2014. He was one of six US observers of the Syrian presidential elections in June, 2014.
He is treasurer of the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, EIN 20-5516191, which is the parent nonprofit corporation of human rights projects like the Northern California chapter of the International Solidarity Movement, the Free Palestine Movement, the Syria Solidarity Movement and others, and which is authorized to accept tax-exempt donations for human rights advocacy.
Paul can be reached at: larudee@pacbell.net.
