The Jewish people have been through a lot. Be it expulsion from Israel by the Romans, the countless pogroms in Europe, the many inquisitions and expulsions that they experienced, the second class citizenship the ‘enjoyed’ in the Middle East or even most notably the Holocaust. The Jewish people have been through hell and therefore one would find it normal and even just to sympathize with them, but some deserve no sympathy, not because of religion or ethnicity, but because the ideology that some of them hold is evil and to sympathize with them will have you ending up on the wrong side of history and being a partner to evil.
Yes, the Jewish people deserve our sympathy, but the state of Israel does not and should receive any world sympathy, it should be called out for what it is, evil. It is an evil regime that would make Hitler and his Nazi cronies proud.
Israel was founded on shaky grounds, a people without a home, a people who had just experienced the massive trauma that was the Holocaust, they were placed in the British Mandated Palestine and a deal was struck up (by the U.N) to divide the nation between the Jews (both newly arrived and the few who preceded them) and the local population (mostly Muslims but also quite a few Christians). The shaky deal fell apart (just who destroyed it is still up for debate though both sides despised it) and the first Arab-Israeli war took place, and following Israels unexpected victory we saw what was to become the hallmark (though even that would not be the high-water mark) of Israel, occupation of conquered lands (a direct violation of the UN that birthed them) and expulsion of its native inhabitants (another violation of the UN).
Following that, there was the capture of east Jerusalem after yet another Arab-Israeli war and that was the cementing of Israel for what it is now an apartheid state. Israel far from being the ‘shining and sole democracy in the Middle East’ is actually an explicitly racist (religiously intolerant?) nation with this codified in its constitution. Israelis of Palestinian origin live an existence that would make second-class citizens feel like emperors. With extremely restricted political representation, almost nothing relating to state assistance and a justice system that is set up to be extremely pro Jewish-Israeli, we see where the Palestinian-Israelis regularly lose their land in sham trials and where police and public abuse against them is not condemned but even endorsed by some government ministers.
The treatment of Palestinian-Israelis, however, pales in comparison to those unfortunate Palestinians who live in both Gaza and the West Bank, these people bear the brunt of the Israeli force as they look to impose a racial and religious purity on the land. They face the daily dehumanising policy of queuing up in checkpoints (most times to enter lands legally belonging to the Palestinian people), along with a blockade, a blockade that makes the Cuban embargo look like a joke. This blockade means that cement, gas, food and even medicine are harshly restricted to the point where the majority of the people regularly live teetering just above the poverty line while living in what really amounts to a slum.
If all that wasn’t bad enough, the Israeli state then adds the ‘cherry’ by saying that (firstly) that any criticism of Israeli policy, no matter how egregious or morally reprehensible those policy actions may be, is always rooted in blatant antisemitism and (secondly) that they have absolutely no dream for a greater Israel and they are actively seeking a two-state solution. If I may be frank, those lines that are oft repeated by Israeli sympathizers and members of their government are absolute bollocks.
Now I would and could never say with any honesty that none of the criticism levelled against Israel is antisemitic, that would be both crazy and a lie. However to state that persons saying that the using of white phosphorus is a war crime and the perpetrators should face justice, or persons who say that the shelling of beaches resulting in the death of children is a crime against humanity are all Jew-hating persons is a logical hoop I can’t seem to bend myself to fit into. As it relates to Greater Israel and the Israeli ambitions for a two-state solution, history and facts on the ground run counter to anything the Israeli state has to say on those subjects. With the continued blockade and the refusal to negotiate with all relevant parties (who can forget Israel punishing the Palestinian people for having the nerve to vote for Hamas as their representatives?) it is obvious that the Israelis have no time for an actual two-state solution and are quite happy with the status quo (a one-state solution along their lines) and are just waiting for the Palestinians to die off or leave. And as it relates to Greater Israel, while it may be a ‘conspiracy theory’ along with ‘Israeli nukes’, they sure do not help themselves when MP’s and government members openly call for greater Israel while still retaining the Occupied Territories of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights, areas that if fully incorporated into Israel (they are still, for the most part, a burden with settlers subsidised by the state) would allow Israel to oh so easily conquer the remaining lands that make up Greater Israel.
Stating that Israel is a nefarious state that is really up to no good is not antisemitic, stating that those who starve people and kill babies should be held accountable does not mean that one hates Jews. Zionism, the belief that Israel has a right to ride roughshod all over the Middle East and destroy the lives of the inhabitants is not representative of the majority of Jewish people and is a belief that should be reviled by all who encounter it. It is sad but here we are, Israel the state born out of the atrocities committed by the Nazis and created by a UN mandate are now the villains, acting just as bad as the Nazis with their slow starvation tactics (Warsaw Ghetto) and blatantly disregarding the international community (refusing to leave the Occupied Territories), take a bow Israel you are the true successors of the fascist past.
jamaicachange 