Israel’s war in Palestine

The mainstream news media present the latest atrocities now being perpetrated in Gaza as ‘Israel’s war on Hamas‘. There is almost complete silence on the escalation of decades of population-control violence that the Zionist state is also exercising in the West Bank. Israeli forces not only invade Palestinian homes there but also destroy them. They seize and abduct minors and, when unable to capture one person in particular, take prisoner a close relative to hold as hostage. Jewish-only settlements are imposed on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank and the Israeli Army, as well as settler terrorists, have been sabotaging and plundering the Palestinian olive harvest. Population-control in the West Bank is severe.

Zionism

Israel’s founding ideology, Zionism, is racist and, while there is an effort to hide this fact in the mainstream news media, many Zionist Israelis simply cannot help but blurt out their true beliefs. In March this year, for instance, Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.” When members of the Israeli military and Government declare their ideological purpose, the world should take notice and be warned:

“The State of Israel has no choice but to turn Gaza into a place that is temporarily or permanently impossible to live in”, a reservist Major General, Giora Eiland, wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper. “Creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a necessary means to achieve the goal.” He added, “Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist.”

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said: “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.” Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian declared that, in Gaza, “there will be no electricity and no water. There will only be destruction.” There can be no doubt that the Israeli military did achieve that merciless inhumanity.

Since 2006, Israeli forces had already attacked Gaza on seven occasions before the present onslaught, killing well over 4000 people. The Jerusalem-based human rights watchdog, B’Tselem, reported the numbers killed: 405 in 2006 – 1391 in 2008 and 2009 – 167 in 2012 – 2203 in 2014 – 232 in 2021 and 33 in 2022.

Even though Israel claims to have ceased the Occupation, Gaza is still totally isolated and dominated the Israeli military. Israel imposes upon the people of Gaza a crippling and oppressive blockade, in addition to which it cuts off electricity, water, fuel and food supplies whenever it pleases. This Occupation is recognised in international law, according to the United Nations.

In the West Bank of fractured Palestine, Israel imposes, in complete defiance of international law, Jewish-only settlements on stolen Palestinian land. The connection of the settlements to Israel limits freedom of movement for Palestinians. The ideology behind the settlement enterprise is clearly exposed in a New Yorker interview with Daniella Weiss, a Zionist settlement movement activist and former mayor of the Kedumim Occupation settlement. When asked what her emotional reaction was, seeing Palestinian children dying, she answered: “I go by a very basic human law of nature. My children are prior to the children of the enemy, period. They are first. My children are first.”

In the interview, Daniella Weiss also voiced, frankly and unashamedly, the Zionist determination to obliterate Palestine – she said:

“In Israel, there’s a lot of support for settlements, and this is why there have been right-wing governments for so many years. The world, especially the United States, thinks there is an option for a Palestinian state, and, if we continue to build communities, then we block the option for a Palestinian state. We want to close the option for a Palestinian state, and the world wants to leave the option open. It’s a very simple thing to understand.”

In an article by journalist, Caitlin Johnstone, there are many examples of racist Zionism to be found in the speech of members of the Israeli military, government ministers and even a former Israeli Ambassador to the UN. Some years ago, the American journalist, Abby Martin, also put together a devastating exposé of Zionist ideology as she walked around the streets of Jerusalem with a camera and microphone, seeking the views of Jewish Israelis towards Palestinians.

No two-state solution possible

It is more than 50 years since the UN ordered Israeli Occupation forces to withdraw from the West Bank but Israel has not just defied UNSC Resolution 242, adopted on 22 November 1967, it has incrementally been stealing more and more Palestinian land. Zionism is working towards an eventual single state for itself. Since 2018, the United States has been contributing more than US$3.8bn a year to Israeli military forces, which are among the most powerful in the world. Israeli and US officials describe the aid as an example of the “unbreakable bond” between the two nations. The US support for Israel continues, in total disregard of the Security Council Resolution referred to above as well as Israel’s violations of countless UN human rights provisions.

From the river to the sea

The Palestinian Resistance slogan ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free‘ has been condemned as anti-Semitic by Zionists and their supporters because it challenges the pretence that there could ever be a two-state solution. At its heart, the Palestinian Resistance call also means – from the river to the sea, let every human being be free. The Palestinians have not-in-my-name anti-Zionist Jewish friends, both within Israel (for example B’Tselem, Neturei Karta and Zochrot) and also around the world. They are all united in their call for an end to Zionist racism and division that is denying their right to respect each other and live together in peace and friendship.

Restore respect for international humanitarian law

The mighty United States‘ “unbreakable bond” with Israel and the hypocritical, lying, pro-Zionist stance of its NATO-aligned allies, such as the United Kingdom, must continue to be challenged. The tragically hard-won United Nations’ human rights provisions, the Fourth Geneva Convention and relative Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions concerning Israeli human rights violations both represent and belong to us – to humanity. The present Israeli atrocities are so impossible to hide, even the mainstream media are reporting them with greater clarity then ever before. They are getting the message, loud and clear, that they can no longer convincingly cover completely for Israel.

The world’s providers of medical support for the victims of war are united in their condemnation of Israel’s war crimes. The orthopaedic surgeon Dr Ang Swee Chai has spent more than 40 years working in war zones including refugee camps. She was once a Christian Zionist until she went to attend victims during the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982. On 16 November, Dr Swee was interviewed concerning the present massacre taking place in Gaza and emailed friends in the UK, saying: “I was really upset since I just received news that they (Israeli forces) had surrounded Al Ahli Hospital the only Christian Hospital in Gaza with tanks . . .” She said that the hospital is the oldest in Gaza, looking after the poor, destitute and the sick in northern Gaza. She said the hospital had already been hit on 17 October, with around a thousand people killed and many more wounded. Now the wounded cannot be treated and the staff are being threatened.

There is an urgent need for the world community to join in and support the outspoken, professional health providers. Their example should strengthen our resolve to put an end to the corrupt political complicity of so-called ‘leaders’. Shame and eternal shame, keep challenging them! Demand respect for, and adherence to, international law until we get it. We owe it to future generations.