Why Won’t it Stop?

We have all been horrified by the images we have seen in Gaza - massive destruction, children starving to death, desperately hungry people being shot at, injured and killed while seeking food. People who are genuinely puzzled and appalled are asking me, “How can the world allow this to happen?” The reality is that the world is NOT allowing it to happen. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the world community is on record declaring that it doesn’t want a man-made famine, doesn’t want a genocide. In December 2023, 153 countries voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” In June 2025, with genocide established and famine raging, 149 member nations demanded an “immediate, unconditional and lasting ceasefire.” Those are very high percentages, approximately 77% of the 193 countries in the global community. UN General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, but they indicate the sentiment of the global community on this question. So, if the world doesn’t want this to happen, why is it happening? And why won’t it stop?

It won’t stop because there are powerful political and economic structures firmly embedded in American society that keep the violence and the suffering going, and show no signs of going away. There are many factors, but these are two powerful reasons why it’s not stopping.

• POLITICS - With only a few notable exceptions, federal officeholders of both major American political parties are ensnared in the clutches of a network of extremely powerful pro-Israel lobbying organizations – The Israel American Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMI), and a host of others. The “Israel Lobby” is extremely well-organized and they have vast financial resources at their command. AIPAC has been lobbying for the interests of the Israeli government since 1963. AIPAC has established itself as a force to be reckoned with in American politics. AIPAC and DMI enforce a very straightforward code of conduct. If you speak up and vote in favor of Israel’s interests, you will be rewarded with sizable financial contributions to your political campaigns. On the other hand, if you criticize and vote against Israel’s interests, you will be punished, and millions of dollars will be devoted to destroying your political career. Ask Sandy Levin (D-MI), Corrie Bush (D-MO), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and others. This code of conduct is enforced even if the political offender made relatively mild statements in support of Palestinian human rights. That was enough for Jewish Congressman Sandy Levin – president of his synagogue in Michigan, convener of the House Jewish Caucus, and part of a prominent political family - to become a target and lose his seat in Congress. Everyone in Congress recognizes the considerable power the Israel Lobby has, and it casts a huge shadow over everything that happens regarding American foreign policy on Israel and Palestine. The result of this is that any member of Congress who “steps out of line” will pay a steep price. So, despite polls indicating that 70% of Democrats favor conditioning or ending US military aid to Israel until it complies with international humanitarian law, most Congress members continue bending the knee to the Israel Lobby. As one long-time Democratic congressman put it, “When AIPAC says ‘Jump!’, most members of Congress of both parties say, ‘How high?’” Until Congress members find their spines, or we get better, more responsive leaders to represent us, there is very little reason to believe anything will change.

• ECONOMICS – In addition to the power of the Israel Lobby to largely determine American foreign policy regarding Israel and Palestine, there is also what UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, has shown in a June 2025 bombshell report, namely, that there is what she calls “the economy of genocide.” She identifies 48 global corporations – arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, computer and information services companies like IBM, Microsoft and Google, hi-tech surveillance companies like Palintir and NSO Group, financial institutions like Barclays and BlackRock, and a host of others – who are heavily invested in Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip. In other words, genocide is big business. As Albanese stated, if anyone wonders why the genocide continues, a big part of the answer is that “it is lucrative.” How lucrative? The Israeli stock exchange – the Tel Aviv 125 Index – has gained 200% in value since October 2023. Every single one of these 48 multi-national corporations is complicit in the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. They provided the tools for the Israeli military’s mass murder campaign and wholesale destruction of the civilian infrastructure necessary for life in the Gaza Strip. Unless these businesses pay a price for being complicit in genocide, why would they stop? Unless there is a massive wave of boycotts and divestment, what reason do they have to stop? The bottom line looks great.