Israel’s endgame: the “mass depopulation” of Gaza

After the October 7 Hamas raid that killed 1,400 Israelis, President Joe Biden described the attack as “like fifteen 9/11s” in proportion to Israel’s population.

If Biden applied the same logic to the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since this war began, that would be more than 400 September 11s, with no end to the killing in sight.

But when he was asked about the 8,000 Palestinians killed — thousands of them children and the vast majority civilians — Biden simply said he doesn’t believe that those numbers are real.

This open disregard for the value of Palestinian lives is shameful.

Yet in most of the U.S. media, there is only one acceptable viewpoint: to stand 100 percent with Israel’s far-right government. Those who dare to criticize Israel’s attacks risk severe sanction, including the loss of employment or worse.

I co-founded The Intercept as a nonprofit news source to ensure there would always be a home for dissenting voices in times of war, to guarantee that those who resist oppression and the mass murder of civilians are not silenced.

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Already half the population of Gaza — at least 1.5 million people — have been forced to flee. As the Palestinian–Israeli citizen and political analyst Yousef Munayyer told me, Israel’s endgame is the “mass depopulation” of Gaza.

I wish I could say it’s shocking, but knowing this history, it’s not shocking at all.

In addition, no one who has paid attention to Biden’s political career and his position on Israel has been shocked at his full-throated support for Israel's action in Gaza.

I’ve closely watched Biden for decades, and following his election in 2020, The Intercept conducted a deep-dive, multipart investigation into Biden’s foreign policy record. That reporting revealed a man best described as an “empire politician,” someone who believes that questions of war don’t really matter on a moral level, but only how they affect America’s own power and prestige.

On Israel, Biden has earned a reputation as “Israel’s man in Washington” going back to his earliest days in the Senate in 1973. At times, even some Israeli officials have been shocked at how radical his positions were, including on the killing of civilians in Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

That’s what we’re seeing on full display today. Unquestioning support for Israel, and little if any concern for the moral ramifications of military conflict. It is the everyday people of Gaza who will continue to suffer most under this regime.

This is the kind of deep reporting and context that is desperately needed right now. But you simply won’t see it elsewhere in the U.S. news media. That’s why, now more than ever, we’re asking readers to support the unflinching, dogged reporting of The Intercept. Will you chip in $5?

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