By Faruk Hanedar
ISTANBUL (AA) — Ann Wright, a retired US Army veteran and former diplomat, has said she is ashamed of her country for supporting Israel as its attacks and blockade of the Gaza Strip has led to humanitarian crisis.
Wright, who spoke to Anadolu, resigned from her position as a US Army colonel and diplomat in 2003 because of her opposition to her country's war in Iraq, which began that year.
Now, Wright is working to "break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and take food to starving people" in the Gaza Strip as part of the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
- Ethnic cleansing and genocide
Currently in the metropolis of Istanbul in Türkiye, Wright said both the US and Israel are responsible for the ongoing "genocide" taking place in Gaza against Palestinians.
"It is a genocide what the Israelis have done. It is ethnic cleansing. It's a purposeful massacre of as many Palestinians as they can and the destruction of as much infrastructure in Gaza as is possible. And that is a genocide," she said.
Wright pointed out that even as the Israel continues to wage its deadly offensive on Gaza, which has killed over 34,400 people and left vast swathes of the territory of over 2 million in ruins, the US "furnishes weapons to Israel, it furnishes billions of dollars to Israel, and it refuses to use the leverage that it has to make Israel stop killing Palestinians."
"I am ashamed of the United States for its role in supporting Israel," she said, adding that, in addition to the official death toll, thousands of Palestinians have been left dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
Wright is not alone in the military's former and serving ranks in expressing displeasure at Washington's stance on Israel and Gaza.
She pointed to Aaron Bushnell, a US airman who in February set himself alight in front of an Israeli Embassy in protest of the war.
Wright also made a reference to another member of the US Air Force, Larry Hebert, who she said came to Washington to hold a hunger strike in front of the White House and Congress and say: "I cannot be part of the US Air Force sending weapons to Gaza while staying in Spain."
- Tragic part of US diplomacy
The US' support for Israel is a "tragic part" of its diplomatic history, Wright asserted.
"Every administration, Democratic or Republican, seems to think it's important to protect Israel no matter what criminal actions it does," said Wright.
"The rest of the world goes, what is America doing? Why are they doing this? And it's a psychological thing left from World War II, where the United States did not step in fast enough to try to save people that were being genocided in Germany and Austria.
"And then after the war, the United States did not take holocaust survivors. So, I think there's a guilt there, but that's a guilt for 75 years and now is being used to protect the genocide that Israel is now doing to the people of Gaza," she added.
Wright emphasized that as long as Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza continues, conflict will persist in the region and oppressed people will continue to rise up as Israel's behavior is against international law.
Israel has launched a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, which killed nearly 1,200 people.
More than 34,400 Palestinians have since been killed and thousands injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
* Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul