No man left behind, except when it involves Israel

Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

–George Carlin

I think the first time I heard the trope “No man left behind” was in a Hollywood movie. It’s generally employed with dramatic effect to suggest that the U.S. would go to exorbitant lengths to ensure that no U.S. soldier would be abandoned in combat.

This platitude probably evolved from the Latin phrase Nemo Resideo, meaning “Leave No One Behind,” which is thought to have originated with the Roman Legion. In the American context, there is reason to believe it may have originated much later, in the 1760s, with Rogers’ Rangers during the French and Indian War. It’s a noble concept that I don’t think has been practised very successfully, though they do try.

Over the years, the trope was expanded to apply to many environments beyond the military, as exemplified in many Hollywood movies. It became a principle by which the U.S. government could be trusted and relied upon to provide support and care for its citizens, especially when they were abroad.

I don’t know precisely when the U.S. government stopped giving a shit about its own citizens. Still, it definitely picked up steam when Israel decided to solve a human rights problem of its own making by responding militarily in October 2023 to a devastating act of rebellion by Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group in Gaza. Since then, the U.S. government has been firmly on the side of Israel at the expense of its citizens, even providing military funding and diplomatic support. However, America’s abandonment of its citizens, particularly those aligned with the Palestinian cause, started much earlier.

In 2003, Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist and member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), was killed by an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) bulldozer while trying to prevent a house from being illegally destroyed in Rafah City, Gaza. Apart from issuing the standard rebuke, the U.S. administration took no further action to either challenge the official Israeli (sham) investigation or ensure that the soldier driving the bulldozer was brought to justice.

Since the start of the Gaza genocide in 2023, three other Americans have been shot and killed by the IDF: Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, Mohammad Khdour and Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, another ISM member. The U.S. Administration, on each occasion, did not take the trouble to investigate, preferring instead to accept the lies manufactured by Israel on each incident.

More recently, the U.S. government provided no assistance whatsoever to American citizens of the Global Sumud Flotilla who were kidnapped in international waters by Israeli forces, illegally detained in Israeli prisons under the most appalling conditions, and physically and mentally tortured. These activists were attempting to supply medical supplies and baby formula to Gazans who were under a blockade imposed by Israel. Despite Democratic lawmakers’ urging the Trump Administration to protect the activists, they did nothing.

To add insult to injury, American citizens on home soil who dared to protest Israel’s depraved military actions in Gaza have not escaped improper attention from the U.S. government. Students on campuses and others engaging in protest against the genocide in Gaza have been regularly harassed, even arrested, on the flimsiest of charges by the police. Many became the victims of targeted persecution through doxing initiated by those in Trump’s circle of influence.

Just recently, American Journalist Jasper Nathaniel documented an attack by masked Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Palestinians who were trying to harvest their olive crop. Nathaniel reported that he was lured by the IDF into an ambush and then abandoned to face the Israeli settlers. Worse, upon reporting the incident to U.S. embassy officials, he was denied any assistance. The video below was captured by him, but YouTube has placed a restriction on it. A further interview with him, conducted by Al Jazeera, can be found here.

Edit (29/10/2025): I don’t know how I overlooked this recent, yet famous case of an American citizen being forsaken to please Israel. Fortunately, the tragic case of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist who was shot and killed by IDF soldiers while on assignment in the West Bank in 2022, has resurfaced. The IDF vehemently denied being responsible, but eventually had to acknowledge that she was killed “accidentally,” while refusing to conduct any investigation.

However, independent investigations by some media outlets, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Forensic Architecture, as well as the U.S. State Department confirmed that Akleh was deliberately targeted by the IDF and was refused medical treatment thereafter. However, Biden’s Administration was divided over the investigative results and refused to call it intentional. A New York Times article, however, this week (27/10/2025) released evidence by a whistleblower that Akleh’s death was indeed intentional. The whistleblower, Col. Steve Gabavics, whose assessment was not accepted by the Administration, is now retired and made the confession in a documentary by Zeteo News.

I’m sure there are many other instances where the U.S. Administration has forsaken its own citizens in favour of the State of Israel. The country that once promised to not leave any soldier behind has become increasingly authoritarian under the Trump presidency. It has unequivocally demonstrated that it has no qualms about abandoning its citizens to the mercy of a rogue state.

It now promises only war, on anyone and any country that dares to criticise it in any way. In fact, Trump is making his ambitions quite clear by renaming the Department of Defence to the Department of War. Under the new dispensation, soldiers will be left behind, probably those who are overweight or disagree with the business of making war. Newly retitled Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has disconcertingly proclaimed as much.

The America that is being made great again is being fashioned into a warlike entity. The rhetoric coming from the Department of War is about fighting, not peace. George Carlin observed that you cannot fight for peace; you only fight to make war. America is on that path. Only those who resist can be on the path to peace.

Filmmaker Terry Gilliam, a member of the famous Monty Python comedy troupe, renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2006. He left the country because he thought that George W. Bush’s presidency resembled the Orwellian nightmare depicted in Brazil, one of the many films he directed. Who knows what he thinks of Trump’s presidency, which is orders of magnitude more terrifying. Perhaps it’s time for others to think about getting out of Dodge before they are also left behind.