Faced with demonstrations, urgent appeals and growing mass outrage that permeates all public space, the leading governments of the European Union staged a series of fraudulent photo ops that must be exposed and denounced globally. The EU is an imperialist bloc dominated by the former colonial powers of Europe.
For 22 months, European imperialists have stood with U.S. imperialism in shipping arms and munitions parts to Israel, while continuing all other forms of trade and giving diplomatic support to the apartheid state to aid in waging a genocidal war on resistance in Gaza.
For two years, EU countries have made every effort to shut down all forms of solidarity with Palestine by grassroots movements. But the groundswell of support refused to be silenced, and the mobilizations have grown in numbers and determination.
Now these same countries have changed tactics. With wall-to-wall publicity, video images were broadcast of French military officials loading palettes of material aid onto a cargo plane for a humanitarian airlift to Gaza. Close-in camera shots made it appear to be substantial material.
Headlines declared that France and other EU countries, in alliance with the corrupt monarchies of Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, started to air-drop 40 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Aug. 1.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron wrote a grandiose statement on social media platform X on Aug. 1: “Faced with the absolute urgency, we have just conducted a food airdrop operation in Gaza. Thank you to our Jordanian, Emirati and German partners for their support and to our military personnel for their commitment.”
Cynical, criminal ploy
A front page picture on the Sunday, Aug. 3, New York Times leads with the headline: “Trying to save lives.” Its caption under a picture of parachutes reads: “Amid reports of starvation, a Jordanian Air Force plane dropped 20 tons of aid packages on southern Gaza on Thursday.” The accompanying news article is headlined: “A desperate effort to feed many desperate Gazans.”
Forty tons of material or 20 tons from Jordan sounds like a lot of supplies and a big life-saving operation. It appears that these countries are confronting the Israeli /U.S. starvation policy. This is a cynical and criminal ploy.
The 40 tons of material airdropped by France is less than two truckloads of supplies. It is a teardrop of aid in a howling desert of need. Gaza needs at least 500 trucks of supplies a day to feed its destitute population of 2 million people.
This whole airdrop from Germany doesn’t equal two truckloads of supplies.
The front-page picture of Jordan’s airdrop equals one truckload. A typical tractor trailer in the U.S. can carry approximately 20 to 25 tons of flour or other supplies. Flatbed trailers are capable of transporting loads with a maximum weight of 24 tons.
The publicity stunt airlift involved several countries, including Germany; Spain sending 12 tons (half a truck load); and on to Italy, over several weeks. These combined airlifts will total 100 tons, or five truckloads of “essential supplies.” Britain, of course, jumped in with a truckload of aid.
These meager flights of “humanitarian supplies” to Gaza compare to the 6,000 flights by Britain and the U.S. from bases throughout Europe to create an “air bridge” of military supplies to Israel. (aljazeera.com, Oct. 24, 2024)
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA) stated that as of July 26, there are approximately 6,000 aid trucks in Jordan and Egypt, including those waiting approval at crossings such as Rafah, to enter Gaza. Osama Hamdan, former senior representative of Hamas in Lebanon and Tehran, in a statement from Hamas explained that a total of 22,000 aid trucks from many different agencies and sources are waiting at the borders of Gaza.
Airdrops part of starvation policy
Al Jazeera reports: “The Gaza Ministry of Interior and National Security has condemned the performative airdrops of aid in Gaza, characterizing them as a tool of manipulation, rather than genuine aid for the starved Palestinians in the Strip.
The Ministry said the Israeli occupation is exploiting the airdropping of aid boxes as part of its deliberate starvation policy, fueling chaos, lawlessness, and the rise of armed gangs and looters.
“The airdrops have caused a large number of casualties among civilians in the ensuing chaos, with some aid packages falling directly onto homes and the tents of displaced people, resulting in deaths, including [of] women and children.” (Aug. 6)
The ruling class of the European imperialist countries has its own sordid history of horrific massacres and famines in imposing colonial rule. Each colonial power blessed its troops, cloaking its looting and expropriations in promises of being merciful while bringing civilization and salvation by sword and fire. They know the script all too well.
When there are profits to be made, the preservation of human life is not a part of their calculations.
Ultimately each colonial power was driven out of its African and Asian colonies at great human cost. This will be the fate of imperialism’s proxy — Israel — in West Asia.