• A sadistic PR show in action
• Why experts suggest airdrops are the worst way to deliver aid
As Gaza descends into one of the worst artificially created famines in modern times, with 15 children dying in one hospital out of malnutrition and dehydration, it became clear long ago that the objectives of the leaders of the current liberal world order are given far higher importance then the lives of children and the mothers that bear them. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, with 70% of those killed being women and children. So why has the United States suddenly decided to airdrop aid when Gaza has been in famine for months? Why now, and is it truly an effective mechanism for feeding the starving people in Gaza?
A sadistic PR show in action
Pressure has been mounting on the Biden administration for calls of a ceasefire for months, and with elections expected this year, it becomes obvious that the Biden administration is trying to salvage what legitimacy it has left amongst its base supporters. The majority of Americans now support a permanent, immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with a strong sense of rage and anger being emulated by Biden’s Muslim and Arab population. Opinion polls have former President Trump ranking higher on the polls than Biden, and as the elections near, there’s a significant chance the gap may widen. The American media establishment has been heavily on the side of Israel while minimising calls for a ceasefire until recently. A lot of the war crimes Israel has committed and the lies it has perpetuated have been covered up by the American mainstream media or have been manipulated to seem justified. However, the recent killing of more than 112 Palestinians while seeking vital aid from an aid convoy was something that could not go unnoticed or unaccounted for. CNN, MSNBC, and even Fox News have all reported on the aid convoy massacre, citing Israeli soldiers opening fire as the main blame for the incident as a whole. The aid convoy massacre highlights not just the brutality of the Israeli armies but also the sheer desperation of the Palestinian people in need of food. This fact could not be hidden or brushed over this far into the genocide. The Israelis themselves have had to admit that at least some of the deaths that day came because their troops had opened fire. Neither President Biden nor the White House denied that fact.
The aid convoy massacre also highlights the change in tone and the decline in appetite the media establishment in America has for the ongoing genocide. Israel’s narrative of self-defence is starting to become exhausted in its use to justify Israeli war crimes. This, in combination with the highlighted matter of starvation outlined in this incident, may very well be the pivotal reason why the United States has decided to do an airdrop two days later. This means that the deaths of 112 people during the Gaza massacre were not in vain; rather, they not only fractured the PR of Israel but also opened doors for more aid for the people of Gaza.
Are airdrops efficient ways of delivering aid?
Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International as well as a disaster relief official in the Biden administration, while speaking to Al Jazeera, said, “Airdrops are the worst or close to the worst possible way to deliver aid.” He added, “They are very expensive, they are dangerous because there is a lot that can go wrong when those things drop and they deliver very small volumes of aid.” He said that the US had delivered an airdrop because, in nearly five months, the Israeli military has made normal humanitarian operations virtually impossible in Gaza. This is done, of course, by continuous, intense bombings, house demolitions, and, of course, resisting the calls for a ceasefire. When comparing the real effects of airdrops in Gaza City, Konyndyk said, “So, relative to the need that exists in Gaza today, this is not enough to really make a meaningful dent in the humanitarian crisis.” These statements were echoed by Sky News military analyst Seun Bell, who also admitted airdrops are not effective ways of dispersing aid, as it’s unclear if the desperately needy are the ones who are receiving it or not.
All in all, we see that the US’s airdrop into Gaza was more of a PR stunt to justify its continuous support for Israel by making up for Israel’s killings of unarmed Palestinian civilians seeking food and basic necessities. The international exposure of Gaza’s hunger crisis through the aid convoy massacre is what forced the US to act with an inefficient and ineffective strategy of airdropping aid into Gaza while making it seem like the opposite.
