Amok Time
66% of Israel’s Jewish population wants Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of office.(1) Meanwhile, close to 90% of the same population is in agreement with the amount of force Netanyahu and the IDF are using in Gaza against its’ buildings and its’ inhabitants.(2) 39,000 Palestinians have been confirmed dead by direct violence in Gaza since late October of 2023. 800,000 Gazans are missing in the rubble and/or in the Sinai desert and/or elsewhere. The estimated total of dead Palestinians in the massacre so far is, conservatively, 180,000.(3) Notably, 70% of the dead have been women and children.
To add terror to horror and confusion, a debate is taking place in Israel right now as to whether it should or shouldnt be legal for Israelis to sexually abuse and torture male and female Palestinian prisoners.(4) To simply say that the majority of Israel’s Jewish population has gone mad, although arguably true, overlooks two looming questions.
1- What set of conditions were in place previous to October 7th, 2023 that allowed almost all of Israel to give over, within a period of just a few months, to condoning and committing mass murder, and to embrocating sexual assault and torture, as legal and even “heroic” means of dealing with its Palestinian neighbors?
2- What set of conditions exist in the US that the majority of the upper tier of its political constituency have agreed to fund and arm Israel in order that its military and its nonmilitary citizens can commit these atrocities? What would prompt these US politicians to give 58 standing ovations within a 56 minute period to Israel’s universally condemned leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, a mass murderer who is simultaneously pushing for an unwinnable multi-front war? (5),(6),(7)
Blood at the Root
In a previous article, I spoke about Israel’s “condition of origin” as a state:
“A Land Without a People for a People Without a Land’ is a phrase that was used by the Zionist movement as far back as the mid 19th century. It became a central meme, a rallying cry that carried Israel through clash after clash up through the first half of the 20th century. Although the saying, ‘A Land Without a People for a People Without a Land’, is no longer used openly by Israelis as a slogan, it perfectly sums up the core beliefs and the underlying impetus for what has driven project Israel for well over a century…
We hear echoes of Israel’s original meme in other memes that are still being used today. For instance Ursula von der Leyen, the current head of the EU, made a speech less than a year ago in which she referred to Israel as the nation that ‘made the desert bloom’. Although it is a somewhat more subtle declaration than the original Zionist rallying cry, it is, essentially, saying the same thing. The saying insinuates that before the Jewish people inhabited the land they took from the Palestinians and currently occupy, there was nothing or next to nothing there. The Webster Dictionary definitions of a desert include the following: ‘a) An area without water apparently devoid of life, b) A desolate, forbidding area, c) A wild uncultivated, uninhabited tract’…
However you slice it, the aforementioned proclamations, the memes just spoken of, infer that the millions of people, who happened not to be white Jewish people, living on the land that Israel proceeded to take by force, acre by acre, region by region, over the course of many decades, are dismissive, overtly racist proclamations. They are Jewish- Supremacist sayings that blatantly deny the humanity of the millions of Palestinians who inhabited and still inhabit the land that Israel has been forcibly taking from them for over a century.”(8)
The Jewish state of Israel is and arguably always has been, at its root, an inhumane enterprise resting squarely on the pillars of ethnic cleansing, the violent appropriation of land, and now, genocide.(9)
Blood on the Leaves
Before Israel’s current round of destruction, ethnic cleansing and mass murder began about ten months ago, the 2.1 million Palestinians who lived in Gaza were subjected to what Israeli authorities have playfully referred to as seasonal “lawn mowings” (the periodic bombing, displacement, torture and murder of Palestinians in order to keep them in a perpetual state of fear) by Israel, along with constant house searches, perpetual humiliations and a massive number of false arrests.(10)
Many of these false arrests were of children, some of whom are now adults that have spent a decade or more in Israeli prisons. For twenty years the Palestinian population has not been allowed to leave or re-enter Gaza. Imagine, two decades of captivity riddled with poverty, joblessness, hunger, constant violence and absolutely no prospects for future change.
And in comparison with the last 10 months, the 20 years outlined above were the good old days.
Master and Servant
Despite the US’ unwavering support for Israel, in actuality, the US and Israel’s national objectives as separate nations don’t coincide as much as many people think they do. For instance, to name one glaring current example, the fact that Netanyahu and Israel have had the power to pull the US into aiding and abetting a flagrant genocide as they’ve simultaneously dragged her to the brink of war with Iran and Hezbollah, is in no way beneficial to US national interests.
In fact, US leadership’s apparent inability to in any way course-correct Netanyahu’s maniacally titanic dash toward an unprecedentedly dangerous regional war in the Middle East has caused formidable damage to America’s status as a respectable and powerful nation. This is so to the extent that in some circles the US is now being referred to, in street language, as “Israel’s bitch”.(11)
All Other Customers Have Been Put On Hold
On top of this, right now, the US and NATO lack the capability to properly defend Israel if Netanyahu gets what he thinks he wants (a multi-front regional war). In fact, this eruption in the Middle East couldn’t possibly have come at a worse time for the US, who’ve diverted all of their Patriot Missile production to Ukraine. “All other customers have been put on hold”.(12)
Money Changes Everything
The central reason that Israel and the US are (arguably) more joined at the hip than ever in the 21st century, is that the Israeli Lobby now wields unprecedented economic power over the US political system. With the deregulation of campaign finance rules over the course of the last few decades, the lobby’s influence has increased exponentially. In order to get elected in the 2020s, a US politician has had to, with extremely few exceptions, fully align his or her campaign objectives with those of the Israeli lobby. (13)
The point being, the US political system is now so at the mercy of the donor class, specifically the Israeli Lobby, that US politicians, from both major political parties, seem to feel that they have no choice but to go along with all of Israel’s dictates. This is the case now to the extent that the US is putting itself in serious existential danger in order not to offend those who write its political class’ paychecks.
*Notice, I’ve repeatedly referred here to the Israeli lobby and not to the Jewish lobby. This is because the Israeli lobby is made up not only of Jews but also of Christian Zionists, who hold a formidable place within the Israeli lobby as a whole. In fact, many Jews are not at all in favor of Zionism and the policies of the Israeli lobby.(14) This is why it’s important to make this distinction.
From the River to the Sea
I trust that those of you who’ve read this far have already done whatever math you’ve needed to do for yourselves. I’ll make my closing statement brief.
I submit to you, dear readers:
1) that Israel is a state that was centrally born of and built with violence and discrimination and that they are now, whether they are cognitively aware of it yet or not, destroying themselves with violence and discrimination. In my estimation a time will be coming quite soon, when Israel will reap what it has so fervently sown.
2) that Israel has gone beyond the point of no return. Israel appears, to this observer, to have shut all of its remaining windows of possibility for reconciliation. Israel has chosen the path of that which ultimately moves against itself as well as all those around it.
I submit to you here and now that the only true and plausible hope that exists for that region, is a totally free Palestinian state that spans the full geographical expanse in question. From the river to the sea.
Coda: Albert Einstein’s Thoughts on Israel in 1948
“Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence of the newly created state of Israel, a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization…
Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin’s behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement…
This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism and misrepresentation are means, and a ‘Leader State’ is the goal. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin’s efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin.” (15)
CITATIONS:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-66-of-israelis-want-netanyahu-to-leave-politics-85-support-oct-7-probe/
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/opinion/israeli-palestine-psyche.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/12/gaza-death-toll-indirect-casualties
https://www.mintpressnews.com/rape-self-defense-israeli-soldiers-gang-rape-palestinian-defended-as-heroes/288019/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/13/un-vote-gaza-ceasefire-countries-against/
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/haaretz-today/2024-07-28/ty-article/.highlight/netanyahu-pulled-an-old-cruel-trick-on-congress-and-on-israels-hostages/00000190-fa3e-d43d-afd2-fe3ee7710000
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/08/04/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-08-04-2024/d0c2c666-5224-11ef-9728-3037305a6b0f_story.html
https://www.pressenza.com/2024/03/israels-condition-of-origin-and-our-willful-ignorance/
https://press.un.org/en/2024/gapal1465.doc.htm
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/21/october-7-forensic-analysis-shows-hamas-abuses-many-false-israeli-claims
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-impotence-israel-embarrassing-ahmad-tibi-netanyahu-gaza-hamas-1866304
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBsuq4x9PjI
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/22/aipac-pro-israel-lobby-group-us-elections
https://newlinesmag.com/argument/israels-current-crisis-exposes-christian-zionisms-contradictory-ideals/
https://www.nytimes.com/1948/12/03/archives/einstein-statement-assails-begin-party.html