The lesson from Israel’s incredibly cruel war: Ours is still a world where might makes right

More than a year after Israel’s war in Gaza, it is difficult to talk about an “escalation.” Because to isolate single moments of increased military tension Israel’s attack on Iran on SaturdayOtherwise, he seems to suggest that what is happening in Gaza is normal or acceptable. Maybe we can talk about confrontation instead. Perhaps we can say that Israel’s operation in the north of Gaza in the last few weeks has confronted the world with something that is becoming increasingly difficult to deny: ethnic cleansing of the inhabitants of Gaza. Civilians, including children, are being killed in ways that would only suggest an indiscriminate attack to eliminate Palestinians or prompt them to leave en masse from ever-expanding areas. death and hunger. “The entire population of northern Gaza is at risk of dying,” the UN’s acting humanitarian chief said on Saturday.

Where will they go? Well, we have an answer to this question too. A conference was held earlier this month We Are Preparing to Resettle GazaThe demonstration, attended by hundreds of people, was held outside the Gaza Strip. Israelis gathered within earshot of artillery and gunfire to decide what to do with Gaza and its inhabitants after the war was over. A young woman suggested: “We must kill themeach. Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was a little more reasonable. “We will encourage the voluntary passage of all Gazan citizens,” he said. “We will offer them the opportunity to go to other countries because those lands belong to us.”

What does such an “incentive” look like? Based on the events of the past year, it would not be wrong to say that this does not contain reason or persuasion. What does incentive look like? “ruthless” Air strikes on northern Gaza as the UN describes the final phase of the offensive. Burning alive patients in hospital beds Shaban al-DaluThe IV line is still connected to his arm. targeting of children with drones and then “double tap”: sending out a secondary attack to hit those gathered to help. Creating starvation conditions blocking materials. Order of medical and civil defense teams will be separated Jabalia refugee camp. And here’s how we describe a few Al Jazeera reporters currently working in the region: “terrorists”.

These are extreme strategies, but they are in line with the approach largely implemented in the occupied territories of forcing Palestinians to act “voluntarily” by burning down the world in which they live. recently I visited many cities It was obvious how well the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank was secured, leaving Palestinians with no choice but to intimidate, stifle economic activity by closing down market areas, and filling checkpoints with soldiers and bureaucratic forces. trick that allowed for house demolitions and store closures. While apartment buildings are being built to move from the old historical area, whose population has “voluntarily” decreased due to measures that have made the area uninhabitable, the Palestinian city of Hebron is rising and densifying. The remaining Palestinians find themselves confronted by settlers and soldiers, then branded security risks and killed for opposing the plan.

This has a strong repercussion in Gaza, too. Prof. Head of Tel Aviv University Moshe Dayan Center. Uzi Rabi said in a radio interview in September that he hoped “the entire civilian population will be removed from the north and those who remain there will be legally punished.” as terrorists and those they were subjected to the process of starvation or destruction”. This is in accordance with the so-called generals’ plan. offer In the application made to the Israeli government by some retired generals at the beginning of October, it was argued that the Palestinians should be given a few days to leave northern Gaza, then this place would be declared a military zone and the remaining people would be killed and starved.

There is something paralyzing about this new, obvious, even celebratory phase of the war. Something dazzling in its unimaginable cruelty that the rest of the world has to swallow every morning. All the discursive and legal achievements of the past year, all the protests, cries and condemnations of international organizations mean nothing if the place we have come from is a place where Palestinian children currently live. carries his wounded brothers for hours. But still it can’t be, no, won’t happen must be stopped.

What Israel What confronts the world right now is not the knowledge that the system is broken, but that it is working exactly as designed. And this design is a design in which the imperial powers and their allies’ calculations for their own interests are important. Palestinians are targeted not only by Israel, but also by Arab regimes stabilized by their closeness to the United States, which demands silence when it comes to Israeli actions. An arms industry that is too lucrative to restrict. An American-run system that trades Palestinian lives for supporting a hegemon that will limit Iranian power in the region. And a thoroughly western, centrist government that refuses to meaningfully block Israel’s actions while berating citizens who threaten to take their votes elsewhere.

“I also know that a lot of the people who care about this issue care about lowering food prices, they also care about our democracy.” said Kamala Harris When asked last week about voters who might go to a third party to express their anger over the administration’s Gaza policy. Do you want a fuller belly, or don’t you want more dead Palestinians? What a choice.

We are thrown back into history where only might is right and our votes and voices turn to dust. If the crushed baby bodies didn’t make Harris upset, what difference does it make? vote for him or notwhat if someone votes? How can we rationalize the blatant erasure of a people, find a way to incorporate it into a political logic in which their suffering under another Democratic administration is still the lesser of two evils? How can you put enough distance between yourself and the Palestinians in Gaza without accepting that part of your humanity dies with it?

The final stage of grief is acceptance. But we can only accept what was in the past. Inside GazaDeath is so constant, destruction so relentless, intent so clear that nothing can be accepted; there can only be detachment, withdrawal, disorientation. There can be no reconciliation with what happened. And as Israel reaches another sickening climax, it becomes undeniably clear that the forces that allowed things to go this far cannot be justified or shamed. One can only rebel against them.

Source: Guard