U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters on a tarmac in Doha, Qatar on August 20, 2024. 

(Photo: Kevin Mohatt/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Blinken Condemned for 'Empty Words' on Genocide as US Backs Israel's Obliteration of Gaza

"You are currently arming, funding, and defending a genocide in Gaza. That is how history will remember you."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was accused of stark hypocrisy on Saturday after he condemned the Myanmar military's genocide against the Rohingya people while simultaneously aiding Israel's genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip.

Marking the seventh anniversary of Myanmar's vicious ethnic cleansing of the stateless Rohingya, Blinken wrote on social media that "the United States continues to honor the victims and stand with the survivors as they seek justice and accountability for these atrocities."

Blinken also issued a statement highlighting the U.S. State Department's "extensive documentation of the atrocities and abuses committed against Rohingya and all civilians"—a sharp contrast with the Biden administration's reluctance to assess Israeli atrocities against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

"You are currently arming, funding, and defending a genocide in Gaza," Middle East researcher and analyst Assal Rad wrote in response to Blinken's statement. "That is how history will remember you, not your empty words."

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) also weighed in, telling Blinken to "just stop trying to act like you care about genocide or human rights."

Under Blinken's leadership, the U.S. State Department has approved massive arms transfers to Israel—including a recent $20 billion sale—and provided diplomatic cover for the country's far-right government on the world stage, dismissing as "meritless" the South Africa-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Israel has killed more than 40,400 people in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas-led attack. Most of those killed in Israel's assault have been women and children—including thousands of infants and toddlers.

In addition to perpetrating horrific war crimes in Gaza—often with U.S. weaponry—Israel has sold arms to Myanmar's military, even after the 2021 military coup.

"According to documents and sources who spoke with Haaretz," the Israeli newspaper reported last September, "the government-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and the Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems maintained their trade with Myanmar despite an international arms embargo on the country, and despite a 2017 ruling by Israel's High Court of Justice and the Israeli government's own 2018 statement saying it stopped such sales."

"Israel's longstanding relations with the different regimes controlling Myanmar have involved arms trade since the mid-20th century," Haaretz continued. "Even in the years in which the country was openly ruled by its military junta, Israel refused to stop the trade. The trade was maintained through the Rohingya genocide of 2016-17."

COMMON DREAMS