Sea delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid will be transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod to never be delivered in Gaza
Well, I told you so. Mother Nature with her not-so-big wind and waves tore apart the multimillion-dollar temporary pier that took the U.S. military two months to be transported from a U.S. Army base on the U.S. East Coast and another two months to construct like Lego blocks.
Mother Nature had to intervene not once, not twice, but three times before the U.S. government finally got the message.
The pier idea was reportedly sprung on the U.S. military in President Joe Biden’s January State of the Union address. The risk assessment for success was probably never started, much less completed, or if it was completed, it was probably hidden in a desk drawer as the predictions would not have matched the political demand of “Do something to help get us out of this mess.”
Military Finally Cries “Uncle”; Mother Nature Wins
Trying to put lipstick on a pig (sorry pig-lovers), Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command Vice Admiral Brad Cooper told a press conference on July 17 that the pier had accomplished its mission in a “historically unprecedented operation” that transported “the highest volume of humanitarian assistance that the U.S. military has ever delivered into the Middle East.”
Called Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, pier pundits had other names for the Rube Goldberg idea: Just Ludicrous Way to End Starvation, or JLWES; Just Tell Israel to Open the Gates, or JTIOG; and many others that you can imagine!
Admiral Cooper confirmed that use of the U.S. pier is finished but, remarkably, called the mission successful: “Now that that maritime surge mission was successful, it’s now transitioning from a temporary pier in Gaza to a port in Ashdod, Israel.”
Cooper said U.S. ships and military personnel that supported the pier will stay in the area: “We expect to use the same vessels that have been transporting aid from Cyprus to the pier to transport aid from Cyprus to Ashdod.”
Malnutrition and Starvation Rampant in Gaza and the U.S. Is Still Not Using Its Considerable Leverage on Israel to Open the Rafah Gates
While malnutrition and starvation are rampant in Gaza, the Biden administration still has not used its financial and military equipment leverage on Israel to force the Israeli government to let food and medicines through the Rafah gates and other points.
There are at least five million pounds of humanitarian aid in the port of Cyprus awaiting delivery to Gaza, as well as hundreds of large, loaded cargo trucks awaiting entry into Gaza at the Rafah, Egypt, crossing point stalled by Israeli control of the checkpoint.
On July 17, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director Dr. Hanan Balkhy revealed at a media briefing that, in the past four weeks, only 16 WHO trucks have been allowed to enter the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing. Some 44 WHO trucks full of health supplies sit at a standstill in Al Arish, Egypt, and another 40 trucks in Ismailia, Egypt, are waiting to enter Gaza as soon as the Rafah border crossing finally reopens.
Large numbers of trucks from many other organizations also remain stalled in Egypt.
Pier Problems from the Beginning
The pier scheme had big problems from the outset. Army ships that departed Virginia in May were delayed for maintenance in the Canary Islands on the way to the eastern Mediterranean.
One of the Navy ships carrying equipment for the pier had an engine-room fire and had to return to its home port in Florida.
From the beginning, Mother Nature did not cooperate with the idea of a floating pier, sending not-so-big waves that delayed the set-up of the pier. In late May, after the pier was finally jammed into place at the shoreline of Gaza earlier that month, Mother Nature had had enough and a storm dislodged the pier, separating parts of it and beaching several Army boats on the Gaza and Israeli shores.
According to Admiral Cooper, since being set up in May, the pier was operational for only 20 days and facilitated the delivery of 19.4 million pounds of aid onto the shores of Gaza where it sat for weeks as it was unable to be delivered to warehouses due to deadly Israeli attacks on Palestinian “safe zones” in the area.
Netanyahu Not Welcome in Washington, D.C., or Anywhere in the U.S.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington, D.C., to meet with COVID-infected President Biden on July 20 and, unbelievably, invited to address a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress on July 24, the citizens of the U.S. will definitely give him a decidedly unwelcome to the Nation’s Capital, with an estimated 186,000 Palestinians dead from the Israeli genocide of Gaza.
Busloads of citizens from all over the country will converge on Washington to protest the July 24 speech.
Over 100 members of the U.S. Congress are planning either to not show up for Netanyahu’s speech or to walk out during the speech.
Some 230 House and Senate staffers from 122 Democratic and Republican congressional offices signed a letter this week calling for Congress to protest or boycott Netanyahu’s speech, stating it was an “issue of morality, not politics.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-LA) is threatening members of Congress with arrest if there are disruptions during Netanyahu’s speech.
Will Any U.S. Military Personnel in the Pier Project Resign, Having Been So Close but Unable to Stop the Genocide
I would hope that the U.S. military and civilians on the ships off the Gaza shore have reflected on the incongruity that, while they are in sight of Palestinians on the shores of Gaza, and while they were eating three full meals a day, drinking all the water they wanted, and taking showers any time they wanted, hundreds of Palestinians were being killed each week and hundreds of thousands who had escaped death so far were suffering from malnutrition and starvation.
I cannot help but think there were U.S. military and civilians on those ships that wanted to do more than attach a pier to the shores of Gaza. I would hope that some of them would have wanted to help in some way to stop the Israeli genocide.
One wonders how many U.S. military will develop psychological problems watching the endless Israeli aerial attacks up and down the coast of Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians and blowing up the remaining medical facilities, schools and homes, and being unable to do anything to stop them.
Coming face to face with U.S. complicity in the genocide of Gaza, one wonders if any of these military personnel will file for conscientious objector status or resign.
As Netanyahu Arrives in Washington, D.C., the Memorial to Aaron Bushnell Was Removed from the Sidewalk in Front of the Israeli Embassy Where It Had Been for Five Months
One U.S. military person who took a dramatic step to signal his non-complicity with the genocide of Gaza was U.S. Air Force Airman Aaron Bushnell who, on February 25, 2024, took his own life by setting himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. His last words were: “I will not be complicit in the genocide of Gaza! Free Palestine.” Within days, a memorial to Aaron was set up on the sidewalk immediately in front of the Israeli Embassy and a 24-hour vigil organized for every day since then.
Aaron’s full statement is: “Hi my name is Aaron Bushnell, I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided, will be normal.”
Much to the outrage of the Washington community, on July 17, in anticipation of Netanyahu’s visit to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secret Service officials, with Israeli Embassy personnel, removed the memorial to Airman Bushnell.
Other U.S. Military Have Resigned over the Israeli Genocide of Gaza
U.S. Army Major Harrison Mann, who is Jewish and served 13 years in the Army, and U.S. Air Force First Sergeant Mohammed Abu Hashem, who is Palestinian-American and served 22 years in the Air Force, have both resigned from the U.S. military, in opposition to U.S. complicity in the Israeli genocide of Gaza.
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Larry Hebert went on a ten-day hunger strike in Washington, D.C., due to his concern for the children of Gaza and terminated it only when his annual leave from his base in Spain was cancelled by his command and he was ordered to return to Spain. He has filed for conscientious objector status.
Civilians Resigned from the U.S. Government in Opposition to U.S. Complicity in the Israeli Genocide of Gaza
The following civilian U.S. government employees have also resigned. Here is a link to articles of most of those who have resigned in which they explain their resignations:
Josh Paul, Director of the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, resigned on October 18, 2023;
Tariq Habash, a Department of Education political appointee, resigned on January 4, 2024;
Annelle Sheline, a foreign affairs officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, resigned on March 27, 2024;
Hala Rharrit, a career diplomat and the State Department’s spokeswoman for the Middle East and North Africa, resigned on April 25, 2024;
Anna Del Castillo, Deputy Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility at the White House, resigned in April 2024
Stacy Gilbert, a senior official in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, resigned on May 10, 2024;
Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff at the U.S. Department of the Interior, resigned on May 16, 2024;
Alexander Smith, a contractor working as a Senior Adviser on Gender, Maternal Health, Child Health, and Nutrition for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), resigned on May 27, 2024;
Andrew Miller, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs, resigned on June 22, 2024;
Maryam Hassanein, a special assistant at the Interior Department, resigned on July 2, 2024.
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About the Author
Ann Wright is a retired United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official.
She was one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.
Since that time Colonel Wright has been a dedicated peace activist.
Ann can be reached at annw1946@gmail.com.
