Food: The Most Lethal Weapon

Food is the most lethal weapon. Withholding it is the ultimate way to control human beings, forcing them to respond the way you want them to with a minimum of effort.

Food: The Most Lethal Weapon

by C.A. Matthews

Our early morning emergency protest proved challenging. When I arrived, I discovered the entire street in front of the building where our Congresswoman’s district office is located in the process of being torn up. There were drainage pipes being replaced along with concrete mixers and gravel trucks and graders galore. Once I figured out where to park and how to cross the construction area to get to the front door, I found my fellow protesters already hard at work banging loudly on their pots and pans.

The noisy demonstration was to draw attention to the mass starvation of the inhabitants of Gaza. Israel has killed 20.7% of Gaza's population in the past 22 months, or approximately 434,000 people by some estimates.

I don’t hold out much hope for any positive actions coming from our representative, Marcy Kaptur, a conservative Democrat fully in the zy0nists’ pockets. Perhaps we could guilt her into doing something right in Congress for a change. Marcy almost lost her last election, so the longest-serving Congresswoman really should be more cognizant of pleasing her voters, right?

After several minutes of clanking pots together and chanting, “Stop starving Gaza!” a woman in a catering uniform wheeled a cart full of pastries, fruit trays, and large coffee flasks into the building. How ironic! Here we were protesting against the deliberate withholding of food to the people of Gaza, instigated by the US government’s GHF faux humanitarian program, and the occupants of perhaps Congresswoman Kaptur’s office upstairs were about to stuff their faces full of delicious goodies in celebration for a job well done. For me, this cruel comparison of using food as both a means to hurt some and as a means to reward others is an image that will never be forgotten.

A few days later, I joined in a protest march through the University of Toledo where an outdoor arts show was being held on the main mall. The deer-in-the-headlight stares we received from onlookers were more than plentiful. You’d think these very well-heeled folks buying expensive art weren’t aware of the genocide happening in Gaza and that the US was playing a big part in it.

One art hawker even pulled out an American flag and started waving it and shouting angrily at our lack of patriotism as we repeatedly marched past his booth. None of these art-lovers looked like they’d ever missed a meal in their lives—and a few looked like they’d eaten more than enough for two or three persons in their lifetimes.

When it comes down to it, food is the most lethal weapon. Withhold it—and your enemies weaken and starve to death. Lavish it upon them—and your enemies could become your allies or at least less hostile to you, as long as you keep feeding them. Food is the ultimate way to control human beings, forcing them to respond the way you want them to with a minimum of effort. Other than depriving people of oxygen, there’s probably not a control substance in the known universe that’s quite so versatile.

Now you know the real secret behind the starving of millions of Palestinians. Starvation might take a bit longer to accomplish its goal than simply bombing cities, villages, and bodies into rubble, but it’s a relatively simple thing to do. What’s happening currently in Gaza is called a forced famine as it is man-made and not due to natural causes. And withholding food is much cheaper than building or buying bombs, jets, tanks, and other weapons—a win-win situation for aggressors.

This is preventable starvation. It is entirely man-made… And every stage of this has been predicted, and at every stage action could have been taken—by Israel, by the international authorities, [the] international community, those who back Israel—to prevent what is happening now... Those steps have simply not been taken. —From Israeli Forces Intercept Gaza Aid Flotilla and Take 20 Crew Members Captive

In Gaza, all the Israeli occupation forces had to do is block or lock down all the access points and restrict any importation of food into the area. Then they sat back and shot at hungry people frantically looking for food as they approached one of the four drop points of the US faux humanitarian agency, the GHF. Malnutrition and disease will eventually waste away the population and the desired outcome of an empty Gaza is achieved. Nothing could be simpler.

Withholding food from your enemies is one of civilization’s oldest weapons. It’s been used from ancient times right on up to the present. Here’s one example: From 1962-1971 the US Army used the defoliant Agent Orange on Vietnamese villages, forests, and cropland. Once the Americans removed the means for the Vietnamese peasants to grow or harvest food, they had to choose between staying and starving or moving off their land into cities ruled by the despised American-back regime where they couldn’t help their friends in the Viet Cong.

Added bonus: Children are still being born with severe birth defects decades after the last spraying of Agent Orange in Vietnam. US vets still suffer from cancers and other health conditions related to exposure to the herbicide while in Vietnam as well. Controlling the food supply through the use of chemicals is definitely a weapon that keeps on giving.

“But hey!” I hear some of you saying. “The Gazans are civilians, mostly women and children who are dying of malnutrition. Isn’t starving innocents a war crime?”

My answer is, “So were the Vietnamese villagers. They were civilians, many of them children and the elderly. That didn’t stop the Americans from spraying Agent Orange on their farms, causing their crops to die, now did it?”

I know it’s not the answer you want, but when one country wants a resource from another country—land, oil and natural gas, minerals, political control, etc,—then any tactic is allowed. Want to get rid of a country’s leadership so you can install your own easily controlled regime? Threaten them with sanctions, particularly sanctions of food and medicines. (The US is particularly good at this—just look at how long they’ve sanctioned Cuba.) Starvation is just one weapon in an aggressor’s arsenal, a most lethal weapon.

We will not allow a single gram of aid into the Gaza Strip until its people kneel and beg. Gaza must be leveled to the ground. There is no such thing as innocent people. --Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir

You’ll notice, in spite of the use of withholding food as a weapon, that the US and Israel are still member states of the United Nations. The US uses its veto power on the UN Security Council frequently to keep Israel from being condemned by the others. Israel has never been punished for their war crimes. So, if other countries let you get away with starving others (and envy your success and even try this method on their own enemies), then starvation must be a permissible tactic.

“How can committing war crimes such as forced starvation be permissible by the US?” you ask. “Isn’t it the land of the free where they respect human rights?”

You tell me. I mentioned the use of Agent Orange to starve Vietnamese villagers, but there are many other precedents. If you’re an American, you’ll probably remember reading in your history text in high school about how the whites slaughtered the bison (buffalo) on the Great Plains by the tens of millions in order to deprive the indigenous people of their main food supply. With little to eat, the starving Native Americans were rounded up and forced onto reservations, sort of like the Palestinians were forced out of their homes and villages by Israeli Zionists in 1948 and pushed into the Gaza strip. Gaza essentially is a reservation—a reservation with high concrete walls and machine-gun turrets just like a prison.

But Americans really don’t have to look too far into their past or across the planet to see how withholding food works well to control the masses. The evidence is easily spotted in most US cities.

Have you ever been to a food bank or other food distribution center? Have you ever been a recipient of this food? Let me tell you that it’s not the best or healthiest food (it’s often past its sell-by date), and you don’t get all that much of it, and the lines go around the block and are growing longer by the day. I can attest personally that no one who sits or stands in those long lines in the broiling heat or freezing cold to receive a box or bag of food are there because they want to be there, either.

“But why are people going hungry in the richest nation in the history of the world as Sen. Bernie Sanders is so fond of calling the US?” you ask.

It is confusing, so let me rephrase your question: “Why is it that most earth scientists claim that the planet has the capability of feeding double the number of people currently alive, but somehow, a large portion of human beings are going without food, being forced to starve in the midst of plenty?”

The factor you’re missing in your question is the idea of control. The people who control or withhold the food supply and how it is distributed (or not) are the ones making the decisions about which groups of people are allowed to have access to food (or not). In the US, this method of control is called capitalism. This control/withholding method is used for other things such as health care and housing as well as for food.

“Say what!?” a few of you exclaim indignantly. “Capitalism is just an economic system. It doesn’t have anything to do with food or health care or housing at all.”

Doesn’t it?

Consider if there’s more than enough arable land to grow more than enough food for everyone on Earth, then why should anyone ever go hungry? In the US alone there are an estimated 17 million empty homes that could house the approximately 700,000 homeless persons, so why should anyone be without a home in the US? Study after study has shown that a universal health care plan that included all Americans would be far cheaper and more efficient than the for-profit private health insurance plans currently in operation. So, why haven’t Americans switched over to this more efficient and cheaper health delivery system?

The short answer to all of these questions is that those in control wish to remain in control, usually in order to profit off the rest of us monetarily. We call these society controllers oligarchs, but you could call them billionaires or CEOs or fat cats or extremely wealthy white persons or total sociopaths if you like. (I’m leaning toward the last one myself.)

The oligarchs must withhold or distribute goods and services in a manner which allows them to remain in control. That is, they must deprive the working classes of needed things such as food, shelter, and health care until the workers are forced to do as they’re told by the oligarchs. Otherwise, all people in American society would have enough to eat, a place to live, and adequate health care. We would all become essentially equals.

With everyone being equals, having power over their own lives, not under the control of anyone else, American society would become a far more democratic one. And those who love democracy probably wouldn’t keep the oligarchs and their political puppets in control, would they?

The sad fact is that under capitalism some must go hungry, be homeless and/or die of preventable causes in order to instill the fear of the controllers (the oligarchs) into the masses. In return, the oligarchs profit greatly off our fear. Elon Musk is expected to become the world’s first trillionaire within the next two years. That’s a lot of profiting, isn’t it?

And how else would the oligarchs keep order in society if we were all well fed, felt secure in our homes, and were basically healthy because we had access to a doctor whenever we needed one? We’d be tempted to tell the oligarchs what they could do with their evil controlling tactics and that could lead to anarchy. Oh no!

Okay, not anarchy, but we’d have a chance of creating an actual democracy if we didn’t have a bunch of billionaires and their political lackeys controlling us by withholding food, shelter, and health care access whenever they felt like it. Think about it.

Food truly is a powerful and lethal weapon. Remember this as you view the horrific and heart-wrenching photos of skeletal, malnourished children from Gaza. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise as you stand three hours in line just to receive a small bag of groceries from your local food bank.

Food should never be used as a weapon or a means of control. Never.

Think about how f*cked up you'd need to be to starve a baby, or support someone who's doing so. Think how many millennia of evolutionary conditioning you have to override as a human, as a primate, as a mammal, to stifle the screaming you feel inside when you see a skeletal baby. —Caitlin Johnstone

Article & Video Links To Feed, Not Starve Your Intellect

They're Starving Civilians To Steal A Palestinian Territory, And They're Lying About It https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/theyre-starving-civilians-to-steal

In The Modern Day Holocaust, Israel Is Blocking Food Aid And Killing Civilians At Aide Sites In Gaza. https://the307.substack.com/p/in-the-modern-day-holocaust-israel

Another Kind of Weapon. Our Reporter Got Into Gaza. He Witnessed a Famine of Israel’s Making https://theintercept.com/2025/07/21/israel-gaza-famine-food-aid-starvation/

The Gaza Riviera https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-gaza-rivera

SHOCK: Israel Has Killed 20.7% of Gaza's Population. That's 434,000 People. https://stevendonziger.substack.com/p/shock-israel-has-killed-207-of-gazas

UN Special Rapporteur for Occupied Palestine Francesca Albanese speaks https://x.com/DoubleDownNews/status/1946218931141709914

It's A Genocide, But It's Also So Much More Than That https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-a-genocide-but-its-also-so-much

Israel now targets anyone trying to rescue children buried under rubble https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-once-rescued-children-from-rubble-now-it-kills-those-who-try-to-save-them/

Why is the UN not declaring famine in Gaza? https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/7/21/why-is-the-un-not-declaring-famine-in-gaza

Extremist Israeli politicians and right-wing settlers hold Gaza annexation conference https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-politicians-right-wing-settlers-hold-gaza-annexation-conference

Israel is attacking World Health Organisation workers to intimidate them into silence https://www.councilestatemedia.uk/p/israel-is-attacking-world-health

Gaza: 231 Journalists Killed in Israeli Attacks Since Start of Israeli Genocide https://qudsnen.co/gaza-231-journalists-killed-in-israeli-attacks-since-start-of-israeli-genocide/

22 Months of Complicity: Why The Media Suddenly Changed Its Mind On Gaza https://palestinechronicle.substack.com/p/22-months-of-complicity-why-the-media

Israel’s Genocide Is Big Business – And The Face Of The Future https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-genocide-is-big-business-and-the-face-of-the-future/

The Handala is boarded (video) https://www.aljazeera.com/#flips-6376194875112:0

BREAKING: Israeli Forces Intercept Gaza Aid Flotilla and Take 20 Crew Members Captive https://zeteo.com/p/breaking-israeli-forces-intercept

They Intend To Keep Lying About Gaza Until They've Emptied It Out https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-intend-to-keep-lying-about-gaza

The Bubble Always Bursts: The Cost of Following Orders https://gordondimmack.com/the-bubble-always-bursts/

Capitalism doesn’t exist for the betterment of society. It exists to maximize profits for rich shareholders by exploiting the masses. --@ProudSocialist

MAGA Going to Israel for Propaganda Training https://consortiumnews.com/2025/07/20/maga-going-to-israel-for-propaganda-training/

It Shouldn't Have Taken This Much For Mainstream Voices To Start Speaking Up About Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/it-shouldnt-have-taken-this-much

Revealed: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jul/22/harvard-educational-review-palestine-issue-cancelled

Anti-genocide protesters block hundreds of Israeli tourists from disembarking in Greek port https://thecradle.co/articles/anti-genocide-protesters-block-hundreds-of-israeli-tourists-from-disembarking-in-greek-port

Greek dock workers will refuse to unload Israel's 'murderous cargo' https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/greek-dock-workers-will-refuse-unload-ship-carrying-military-grade-steel-israel

Belgian court bans military shipments to Israel in activist victory https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/07/23/belgian-court-bans-military-shipments-to-israel-in-activist-victory/

The Treachery of the Nazi-Zionist Alliance (history) https://multiracialunity.org/2025/04/27/the-treachery-of-the-nazi-zionist-alliance/

Know Them By Their Fruits https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/know-them-by-their-fruits

Zionists are so used to being unaccountable that they chanted "Death to Arabs" and lost their minds on a flight to Spain. https://www.thenorthstar.com/p/zionists-are-so-used-to-being-unaccountable

Columbia’s New Policy Deems Any Protest of Israel to Be Inherently Antisemitic https://truthout.org/articles/columbias-new-policy-deems-any-protest-of-israel-to-be-inherently-antisemitic/

Abolishing the First Amendment https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/abolishing-the-first-amendment

Zionists Just Attacked One of the Holiest Christian Towns in Palestine. American Christians Seem to Not Even Care. https://www.thenorthstar.com/p/zionists-just-attacked-one-of-the

The Link Between Zionism and Evangelical Christianity and How to Break It https://ohiobarbarian.substack.com/p/the-link-between-zionism-and-evangelical

Once Upon a Time, There Was a Country Called Ukraine https://euroyankee.substack.com/p/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-country

Trump's blatant attacks on international law are nothing new for the US. They're bipartisan. https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/trump-international-law-us-imperialism

The Epstein Distraction: How Capitalism Turns Scandals Into Smokescreens https://futuredude.substack.com/p/the-epstein-distraction-how-capitalism

Dropped cases against LA protesters reveal false claims from federal agents https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/28/doj-la-protesters-false-claims

Trump Administration Orders Massive Expansion of GPS Ankle Monitors for Immigrants https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/trump-administration-orders-massive

New Trump Executive Order Will Further Criminalize Homelessness, Mental Illness https://truthout.org/articles/new-trump-executive-order-will-further-criminalize-homelessness-mental-illness/

The Pentagon Won’t Track Troops Deployed on U.S. Soil. So We Will. https://theintercept.com/2025/07/22/military-troops-deployed-border-ice/

Ice ‘secretly deported’ Pennsylvania grandfather after he lost green card, report says https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/20/ice-secretly-deported-grandfather

AFL-CIO Report Finds That CEOs Made 285 Times More Than Their Workers Last Year https://truthout.org/articles/afl-cio-report-finds-that-ceos-made-285-times-more-than-their-workers-last-year/