Birds of a Feather Kill Together

Dear Friends,

A recent piece of news caught our attention: Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of War, has downsized Pentagon-related programs that aimed to “reduce civilian casualties" at times of war – viewing such programs both as an unnecessary expenditure and a boon to Hegeseth’s concept of “lethality.”

At the Good Shepherd Collective, we do not believe that the US keeps civilians in mind when conducting its assaults on countries throughout the world. As countless examples have shown – in Vietnam to Iraq and Syria all the way to Afghanistan, Yemen and Palestine – the US does indeed target civilians. Shock-and-awe as a military doctrine rests upon a certain calculus that renders death and shock to a civilian population reified as “the enemy.” Regardless of the US’s history and its attempts to conceal it through programs with limited success, it is important to stop at this piece of news.

Firstly, it is indicative that such cuts have been made at the time of genocide in Gaza. While people could argue that it is par for the Trump administration’s course to issue such policies, we believe that Gaza has unveiled a new reality where Empire no longer needs to pretend to care. We are witnessing a reshaping of the entire West’s “humanistic” basis into what it truly stands for.

Secondly, the use of “lethality,” a vague concept that is termed as being decisive in military action by Hegseth. In any case, the concept of lethality is transnational, and is being carried over from a specific Israeli origin. Aviv Kochavi, who led the 2002 assault on the City of Nablus, focused on his vague concept of “lethality” when he was appointed Israeli Chief of Staff where he wanted to create a "lethal, efficient and innovative army.” Kochavi echoed lethality on numerous occasions, emphasizing that the Zionist army lacks it. Kochavi’s “lethality” concept, however, actually came from the US.

It is very interesting to track these cartographies of counterinsurgency – how they are used, disused, and then used again. The settler-colonial projects of the US and Israel’s vagueness regarding the concept of “lethality” is intentional – it is used to obscure genocides like the one happening in Gaza.

With Love and Solidarity,

Ameed Faleh
*Any Zionist sources used in this newsletter were strictly based on necessity. Generally, we support the notion of boycotting Zionist media. Extreme cases such as this one, however, necessitated the use of sources from Zionist outlets.