Watching the utterly mendacious news reports on Israeli’s murderous siege of Gaza is overwhelming & terrifying. What’s overwhelming in the stinking mendacity is the attempt to make it two-sided & Israel’s aggression a response to Palestinian provocation. But Palestinians have no army, no navy, no air force. There is no war, just genocide. That makes so clear the ethnic cleansing intentions of Israel’s Zionist siege of Gaza. The monstrous media lies serve even more monstrous political goals in the Middle East both of Israel & its US financier & political ally. So the fight for Palestinian justice is not just imperative but the very heart of the fight for human justice not just in the Middle East & for the Arab peoples but for those suffering US depredations everywhere.
Zionism is a rancid & racist political ideology combining a commitment to Jewish superiority with defeatism against the racism of anti-Semitism. Zionist doctrinaires insist on inextricably linking all Jews to the monstrous crimes of Zionism against the Palestinians & in hog-tying Jews to racism & ethnic cleansing. In that way, they increase the quotient of anti-Semitic hatred & endanger the Jewish people. In that way, they are despicable & damned.
The Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement of Palestinian supporters has been growing in strength around the world over the past many years, attracting more activists & threatening Israel economically. The military siege against Gaza can be daunting to BDS activists & make them think “Oh what’s the difference, no matter what we do, you can’t win against Israel & its US ally.” Well that demoralization is precisely one of the points of such overwhelming military aggression--to generate pessimism & defeatism.
But a defeat of the Palestinian people & their just cause against apartheid & genocide means a triumph of racism & ethnic cleansing. It would demoralize & intimidate the fight for justice & against racism--one of the pivotal conflicts of our historic epoch. It could only set back humanity for generations--so defeatism in Gaza is surely not an option. Lying down & playing possum or crying our eyes out doesn’t do a damn thing--but redoubled efforts will.
So-called left Zionists try to maintain a foot in both camps: Zionism & Palestinian solidarity. They’re for a theocratic Israel & the Palestinians too. This is not a case of cognitive dissonance; it is a case of trying to have it both ways, of trying to pretend you’re progressive while supporting a reactionary, racist ideology resting on the concept of Jewish superiority. And the problem with this school of thought is that it can never be completely on the side of Palestinians because it is so wedded to Jewish exceptionalism rather than the fraternity & sorority of humankind.
So this is a call to arms! Even while we grieve at the suffering of our Palestinian brothers & sisters, this is the time to do more than we think we have time for by telling everyone we know about the boycott of Israeli products, by organizing speak-outs & forums & rallies, by making phone calls of protest, & by creating new forms of protest & solidarity. For those who want to be full participants in the historic struggle against racism & injustice anywhere in the world, the defense of our Palestinian brothers & sisters against Israeli injustice is now center stage & a political priority.
Here a Palestinian protestor runs through a cloud of tear gas while protesting Israel's murderous siege of the Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah. (Photo by Majdi Mohammed/AP)
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