Okay let's talk about the elephant bulldozer in the room. Israel just stamped approval on 19 new West Bank settlements because apparently nothing says "we want peace" like strategically placed concrete barriers through olive groves.

I know, I know. According to international law this is about as legal as pirating Netflix while selling bootleg DVDs. But watch the news cycle. The condemnations will flow like cheap champagne at a UN reception. Saudi Arabia huffs. The EU issues sternly worded tweets. None of it matters. Because here's the thing America writes the checks that make these settlements possible. 3.8 billion annual military aid packages since 2016 don't fund themselves people.

Now I remember watching Trump tower over Bibi Netanyahu back in 2017 thinking "wow this is like watching two grumpy uncles arguing over who broke the grill." Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem against every expert's advice. But then he did something wild in 2020. Warned Israel directly in a Time Magazine interview annexation would cost them America's support.

Cut to today. Our current administration tweets disapproval while sending more bunker busters. The West Bank keeps expanding. The hypocrisy would be funny if Palestinian kids weren't literally dodging tear gas canisters with "Made in USA" stamps.

Let me break this down for my fellow twenty somethings who barely remember the Oslo Accords. There's this old agreement called the two state solution cooked up back when dial up internet still existed. Basic idea Palestinians get the West Bank/Gaza, Israel gets recognition, everyone stops fighting over holy rocks. Simple right.

Except Israel keeps chipping away at Palestinian land like it's a free sample counter. 700,000 settlers in 160 communities now. The Ganim and Kadim settlements approved this week were literally dismantled twenty years ago. Bringing them back feels like unearthing your cringey MySpace photos and framing them in the living room.

The timing though. Chef's kiss. With Biden stumbling through debates and Trump surging internationally, Israel's far right smells weakness. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gleefully announced these approvals "bury the idea of a Palestinian state." Then casually billed the concrete to American taxpayers.

Speaking of allies remember 2020 Britain following Obama's lead offering recognition to Palestine This May Australia and Canada followed suit. Symbolic Temple Mount sized asterisks apply. But symbolism matters when you're fighting over scraps of land smaller than Rhode Island.

Here's where I get personal. Went to a campus protest last year grad school friends debating Zionism and queer rights. Everyone screamed. Nobody listened. An Israeli classmate told me, "When you Americans fund both sides of every war, you get to be loud and wrong at all parties." The accuracy burned like humiliation at an ex's wedding.

Back to present day. Blinken does his best disappointed dad face. The UN Secretary General throws his papers again. Meanwhile check your paychecks folks. Our tax dollars just poured foundations on another strategic hilltop the Palestinian farmer below can't access to harvest his grandfather’s olives.

The cycle continues. Violence spikes. Right wing coalitions harden. Arab nations seethe. American politicians cash defense industry checks. Rinse repeat for fifty years. It's depressing. It's predictable. And it won't change until US voters demand actual accountability not performative UN resolutions.

Keep your eyes on Smotrich though. The guy looks like he shops at Settlers R Us and sees statecraft as biblical manifest destiny. His latest power play makes Netanyahu seem moderate by comparison. Which, if you study Bibi's career, deserves its own Olympic gold medal in mental gymnastics.

Here's the kicker, America's talking heads will blame "both sides" again when the next round of violence erupts. Nobody will mention the US funded surveillance drones hovering over schools outside Ramallah. Or the fact we trained the Israeli unit that detained those Palestinian prisoners alleging abuse.

It's exhausting being complicit. But change starts with shouting fire in the theater of the absurd. So let's shout. Register to vote. Demand answers. Maybe even laugh through the madness so we don't slide into despair. After all, comedy is just tragedy plus time. And Palestine has been waiting 75 years for punchline that doesn't involve airstrikes.