Mitch Leclair

The leading international news media seem to play Bingo with their reporting of conflicts and struggles around the world, making consumers wait patiently for a chance at victory – actually receiving the truth.

Yet again, their coverage of the recent events transpiring in Gaza have been nothing short of a game of blackout.

Thankfully both sides – Israel’s modern, U.S.-funded forces and Hamas’s retaliatory militants – have come to a ceasefire this past weekend. Whether or not the stoppage will endure remains to be seen.

One thing cannot be disputed: upwards of 1,200 Palestinians have died as a result of having their homes, hospitals and hideouts bombed, shelled and shot out by Israel.

To date, 13 Israelis have died. Reprehensible, yes, but it pales in comparison to the destruction Israel has unleashed on Gaza.

In our country, some of the most-read newspapers and Web sites have even compared Hamas’s actions to Mexicans or Canadians firing rockets across our border, effectively asking, “Well, wouldn’t you want our military to take action?”

The fact that the Palestinians have been completely quarantined in the Gaza Strip by Israel remains buried underneath metric tons of news stories justifying this by-definition-genocide as nothing more than “national defense.”

Maybe next week the Times and Posts of our country will suggest amputation for hangnails.

Unknown – and ignored – by many Americans, we have sent Israel more than $2.5 billion annually in economic and military aid since 1997, with no less than $1.8 billion being spent on their armed forces every year.

Reports of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers helping destroy tunnels leading from Egypt into Gaza have even come out recently, although you’d be lucky to find them in one of our state-worshipping media.

These tunnels are the only way thousands of Palestinians can obtain food, medicine and other necessary supplies because of the Israeli blockades, but to many outsiders, they’re just gun-smuggling routes.

However, America has a new president that has promised millions of his electors that he will take a different stance on international relations.

While I doubt America will turn non-interventionist overnight, I do remain hopeful that the new administration will end the ignorance and assistance concerning Israel and Palestine that has been constantly practiced in the past.

Ultimately, it is each and every American’s responsibility to stay up-to-date on these and other issues around the world. Use the Internet, take the initiative and find out what is going on and why.

After all, it is our paychecks that the Washington plunder-machine chips away at, sending the fragments around the world in the form of bullets and bombs.

Mitch also maintains a personal blog at leclairmitch.wordpress.com.