The systems theorist Stafford Beer famously observed that there was “no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do.” For Beer, the purpose of a system is what it does — nothing more, nothing less. When applied to the nexus between war and politics, this simple maxim clears away the mist of empty talk and allows us to see what is really going on.

Benjamin Netanyahu and his generals have constructed a machine for waging war on the people of Gaza, building on foundations laid down over the course of several decades. The purpose of that machine is to kill as many Palestinian civilians as possible while supplying a fig leaf for Israel’s Western backers so they can pretend not to understand what is happening.

Netanyahu’s machine has now succeeded in killing more than ten thousand people while Joe Biden adamantly refuses to call for a cease-fire. Every day that Biden and his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, resist pressure to call for a cease-fire buys Netanyahu more time to increase the body count in Gaza.