Israel’s Colonies – a different perspective.
This post responds to several recent articles covering the war in Gaza
I invite you to read this extract from a recent Guardian article:
‘Australia’s archives contain many colonial diaries. They are how we can understand just how widespread frontier murders and massacres were; how commonplace it was among colonists to shoot and kill Aboriginal men, women, and children on sight, for no reason and without consequences’.
This is how Europeans opened up the New World. Probably none of our countries’ histories are without sin.
But now substitute ‘Palestinian’ for ‘Aboriginal’ and read the sentence again.
Another Guardian article (1 – below) asserts that ‘Conflict monitoring group Action on Armed Violence says Israel is seeking to create a pattern of impunity.’ 90% of recent investigations into Israeli violence have been closed without fault or other resolution. They include ‘investigations’ into killings of dozens of Palestinians waiting for food. It takes a special talent to kill dozens of starving people every day as a toll for less-than-subsistence food distribution. I think we can assume a directed talent.
Just as Europeans are disgusted at the rapacious killing done by our ancestors to win land; surely the sons and daughters of Israel will feel the same about how Greater Israel was taken.
The wider perspective is truly horrific, and I do not propose to revisit the detail of that here. My post is aimed at the many who are informed and horrified already, though I strongly encourage others who may be on the fence to explore the background – starting with links below.
How can we be so sure of the facts? Everyone knows that Israel prevents journalists from entering Gaza, and they take care to try and kill the local ones (211 so far). But there are copious data from video, returning doctors and aid workers, at least one ex-US-marine (Anthony Aguilar (2)) and elsewhere. Killing is deliberate, the starvation policy cannot be otherwise. Remaining Palestinian children will be debilitated for life. This is just ruthless vengeance, not war aims.
Can we compare with recent wars, fresh in our minds? Some 30-40,000 were killed in the Bosnian genocide in the 90’s (Wikipedia). In Ukraine, which is considered a major war zone right now, some 13,300 Ukrainian civilians have been killed so far. All this is hugely regrettable, but the recorded 60,000 deaths in Palestine, of which most must be civilians, dwarfs both these numbers. And the 60,000 widely quoted is almost certainly a huge underestimate, and is rising daily. Netanyahu is currently planning to complete the occupation of Gaza (from 75% to 100%), and many deaths will inevitably ensue.
Is there some hope? Even as peace talks fall apart again?
In late July, 28 countries, including the UK, Japan and many European countries have said the war must end now (3). France and Canada will, and the UK may, join the 147 countries out of the UN’s 193 who have already recognised Palestine. This would allow Palestinians to assert their sovereignty in various ways, including controlling their shoreline and territorial waters. How many countries does this process take? How many should it take, even if the USA is in the way?
Just as important are the many prominent Israelis and Jews from the diaspora who have condemned the current Israeli actions. They are brave people – in many cases there are repercussions on them. Thirty-one high-profile Israeli public figures call for ‘crippling sanctions’ on Israel over Gaza starvation (4). They express shame over the ‘brutal campaign’ and demand a permanent ceasefire.
From Amnesty International (5): ‘two Israeli human rights organisations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel, become the first two Israeli organizations to state it loud and clear, based on meticulous documentation and research: Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. This is another milestone in the human rights community’s efforts to hold Israeli authorities accountable for their crimes against Palestinians’. Even Ehud Olmert (ex-Prime Minister) now acknowledges that Israel is a pariah state.
Though this is progress, it is clearly not enough; the World must act. Ireland is close to adopting sanctions against occupied territories in Israel, incurring the wrath of the US ambassador to Israel (6). Basic morality and humanity require that other countries follow suit with full sanctions on Israel. The UK and others have parlous trade relations with the US just now, but if countries act together there must be a result. Even the US seems to be softening its stance. (Overdue perhaps, after supplying $22bn – that is 22,000,000,000 – of arms to destroy Gaza).
But now a few words on the impact of the war on Israel’s standing. Israel has long claimed to be the only democracy in the Middle-East, a beacon of democratic light amongst benighted neighbours. Although always contested due to their racist internal policies, any such claim is now dead and buried.
It is possible that a new enlightened regime could attempt to offer Palestinians some peaceful kind of future, but that seems very optimistic just now. It seems that most Israelis support Zionism, and very large numbers – of settlers in the West Bank and members of the so-called IDF, for example – actively support Netanyahu’s policies.
So, I believe that we must recast our relations and perceptions of Israel. The international community must see Israelis and Palestinians as human beings with equivalent human rights. To see that that is absolutely not the case today, we only have to envisage the reaction if the last 2 years’ conflict had been reversed, and by some quirk of history the Palestinians were perpetrating the misery. It would have been stopped in days.
Antisemitism, Islamophobia and other named categories are all racism, and to be condemned. Whilst we all need to know which ethnic groups are affected by racism, it seems to me that using separate words for particular races allows those races to in fact be treated differently – i.e. more favourably – than other races which are effectively grouped together.
The obvious example is the definition of the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) of antisemitism. Although this definition is guidance, and not law, it has been adopted by several countries and effectively interpreted even more widely than in fact stated so that any criticism of the Israeli state or Zionism can be seen as antisemitism. The time has surely come, given the genocidal conduct of these last two, to completely divorce these criteria from the definition. Any suggestion that we are being antisemitic in criticising war crimes perpetrated by Israel must now clearly be seen as ridiculous, and this presumed connection must be severed.
Finally, I believe that the Israel which commits these crimes must be held to normal international standards, and in failing to meet them must be treated accordingly. The Israel admitted to ‘Europe’ for purposes of the Eurovision song contest – for example – was a fledgeling, idealistic, somewhat democratic state worthy of neighbourly support. Right now, they are fairly deemed a pariah state, and in consequence we should disentangle UK interests from theirs as far as possible, in complete contrast to what we are actually doing.
The situation still appears intractable, but the logjam is starting to move. I pray that both Israelis and Palestinians find a sustainable peace soon.
- Israel closes down or leaves unresolved 88% of cases of alleged war crimes or abuse – report | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian
- Bing Videos
- Gaza suffering man-made mass starvation, says WHO chief | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian
- Israeli public figures call for ‘crippling sanctions’ on Israel over Gaza starvation | Gaza | The Guardian
- Israeli organizations conclude Israel committing genocide in Gaza
- US envoy to Israel tells Ireland to ‘sober up’ over occupied Palestinian territories bill | CNN
This is a personal opinion piece by JustBeauty joint founding editor Paul Entwistle 08.08.25
I think this raises excellent points – we have been witnessing a colonial expansion of Israeli territory in Palestine for many years, and effective ethnic-cleansing.
It is also well worth looking at the exaggerated claims of anti-semitism which are thrown around after each criticism of the Israeli military and the settlers. What is objectionable is racism, treating one human life as more important than another, not criticising an action of the Israeli government.
I am wary of the word Zionism. Twenty years ago it often implied fundamentalist extremism. Now it’s been embraced by Israeli nationalists and right wingers to become a term of moral praise, meaning the belief that Jews have the right to a safe homeland. I prefer to stay clear of the vague propaganda of the word.
As someone with Jewish relatives, I have read accounts of the Nazi holocaust including If This is a Man by Primo Levi about Auschwitz and the Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine, mourned in the words of the poet Yevtushenko and the music of Shostakovich. The piercing feeling that I have from these testimonies is that the victims were first degraded to the state of animals – and then slaughtered like animals.
It disturbs me that something similar is happening to the starving population of Gaza.