( The Middle East Monitor ) – The ongoing genocide in Gaza is unprecedented. Nothing that Israel and its supporters can say or do will avoid the historical accountability of the extermination of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The above assertion is critical, both for ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine and achieving Palestinian freedom. This is why.
In all past wars and related war crimes, Israel has managed to push the reset button in its relationship with occupied Palestinians. Following each war, the Israeli hasbara — propaganda — machine, clicks into overdrive, utilising the ever-willing Western mainstream media, to paint Palestinians in a negative light and to present Israel as the perpetual victim in a permanent state of self-defence, or even the lone defender of Western civilisation.
This campaign always runs parallel with the whitewashing of Israel in popular entertainment, from Hollywood movies to TV sit-coms and magazine covers with such headlines as “Gorgeous Photos Capture The Unseen Lives Of Female Soldiers In Israel”. Generally, Western politicians of varied ideologies, along with intellectuals, talking heads on news bulletins and church leaders, all praise the “miracle” that is Israel.
At the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war in October 2023, for example, British playwright Tom Stoppard said that, “Before we take up a position on what’s happening now, we should consider whether this is a fight over territory or a struggle between civilisation and barbarism.” He, of course, leaned towards the latter.
This Israeli tactic always includes the demonisation of Palestinians, where the victim becomes the “terrorist” and those under siege become the besiegers. This last claim, in particular, was expressed in the words of former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright who said, in an August 2000 interview with NBC, that, “The Israelis feel under siege from the Palestinian rock throwers and the various gangs that have been roaming around.”
Why will such Israeli tactics fail this time?
Because they will fail, but not due to a lack of trying. In fact, Israel is already bracing for the hasbara fight of a lifetime.
One new tactic that Israel is already employing in “friendly” countries, like the United States, is to push its bought and paid for elected politicians to pass laws to block any and all conversations about the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Israel, alone, must have exclusive access to the American public through the media and political discourse.
On 14 November, the US House of Representatives passed two bills: H.R.6408 and H.R.9495. The latter, in particular, is aimed at giving the Treasury Secretary the authorisation to revoke an organisation’s tax-exempt status and decide when the designation might end. Once these bills pass the Senate and are approved by the president, the most democratic and peaceful expressions of rejecting the Israeli occupation of Palestine and demanding a sensible US foreign policy will be equated with a direct violation of the law and, in some cases, to terrorism, as defined by the Treasury Department, and at the behest of the pro-Israel lobby.
However, even these desperate attempts will not quell public anger or distract attention from the need for such open conversations about what is being done in occupied Palestine (much of it courtesy of US tax dollars). Here’s why: Not only is Israel committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, but this genocide is also being investigated and is acknowledged by the world’s highest legal institutions, namely the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Palestine Exception,” Digital, Dream / Dreamland v3, 2024
Unlike previous investigations — the Goldstone Report probing the 2008-09 war on Gaza, for example — the international community has already taken some practical steps to hold Israeli war criminals to account. The ICC has issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Moreover, those who routinely come to Israel’s defence, such as the US and other Western governments, are now clashing directly with the same canon of international law that they helped articulate after World War II, depriving them of any credibility as “neutral” parties in this issue. For example, US President Joe Biden called the warrants “outrageous”, while the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs claimed that Netanyahu and other ministers enjoy immunity since Israel is not a party to the ICC.
There is also the fact that, despite the inherent pro-Israel bias of Western media, Palestinian journalists, isolated and killed in large numbers, have still been able to communicate details of the genocide to the rest of the world, making it impossible for Israel to hide its crimes.
Indeed, many Israeli soldiers have posted videos and photos of themselves committing war crimes on social media.
The impact of the Israeli genocide on Gaza has thus already penetrated many layers of public opinion, a fact which is unprecedented in history.
Until now, the conversation on Palestine has generally been confined to specific strata of society, reaching academics, social justice activists and other groups interested in politics and global issues. Today, though, ordinary people have been made aware of the conversation, to the extent that it is believed widely that anger over Gaza has contributed towards determining the outcome of the latest US presidential and other elections.
In Africa, the growing political and public interest in the Palestinian struggle has re-enlivened the spirit of anti-colonial, liberation struggles on the continent, bringing many countries, from South Africa to Algeria, back to the front lines of global solidarity.
No amount of Israeli propaganda, unjust laws, unfair categorisations of Palestinians or claims about Israel’s “most moral army” will ever succeed in reversing these realities. There can be no reset buttons. Rather, the global momentum of Palestine’s liberation will accelerate in the coming months and years.
The price exacted from the Palestinian people for this earth-shattering moment has been high and painful, but the history of all national liberation struggles, Palestine included, demonstrates that freedom doesn’t come cheap.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
© 2024 All Rights Reserved