The monstrosity of the occupation has dropped its facade of decency since the infamous attack on October 7. Having banked for years on forcing precisely such a backlash from the purposely segregated, fenced-off pen of Gaza, Israeli forces let loose by far the most appalling of their many bombings and destructive incursions into that Stri…
The monstrosity of the occupation has dropped its facade of decency since the infamous attack on October 7. Having banked for years on forcing precisely such a backlash from the purposely segregated, fenced-off pen of Gaza, Israeli forces let loose by far the most appalling of their many bombings and destructive incursions into that Strip. That genocidal action not being sufficient for the crazed Israeli right, they have increased murders and extrajudicial disappearances in the grindingly repressed occupied West Bank. The overwhelming majority of the many thousands of abused detainees no more merited imprisonment than any of the hostages taken by Hamas on that insanely self-destructive 10/7 outpouring of anger. Less so, in fact, because they were already living in practical captivity under an illegal occupation.
The real ugliness here is the absolute failure of these people in positions of power in the Israeli authoritarian regime to view their Palestinian neighbors - any of them - as human beings of the same sort they are, with perhaps less lust for seizing land belonging to others on the basis of some invented theological order absolving them of their sins. The Gvirs and Smotriches and Netanyahus of Israel are happy to slaughter their way out of their Palestinian entanglement, while too many others are happy to look the other way while the gore flows - for the sake of "peace" and "security".
As someone who grew up supporting the ideals of the side of Israel presented to young New Yorkers in the sixties and seventies, feeling deeply the horrors of mistreatment inflicted on Jewish minorities around the world, it has been an ugly awakening to learn the realities of life in Palestine and within the illegally, but theoretically almost justifiable, gifted land within the borders of Israel under the then-new occupation. Watching, through a painful maturation of my political mind, the Israeli right rewrite history, manipulate, fabricate, and assassinate its way to divorcing the Israeli government from every ideal its people imagined it would uphold, while the opposition wavers between a rightward slide and typical political infighting over small points.
"Show no joy at being released" from forty-four years of unjustified captivity indeed. Can you imagine the reaction of Israelis to such a decree from Hamas to Israeli captives and their families? But then we have an imbalance of power here, and the position of Israel as perpetual victim shields it from a real reckoning with being the rogue state it has become.
The potentially sizable Israeli opposition needs to get up on its hind legs, unified in making a course correction (with the "unity" element absolutely necessary) including a rapid recognition of a defined, sovereign Palestinian state, and a program of reparations put in place for its stabilization. Funding and coordination should include forceful input from the US (alas, we have our own minority-rule, criminal government coming in two days, fully approving of the destruction and genocidal intent of the Gaza assault) and UK, states that have been involved in creating and shielding Israel for its mistreatment of the local people from its creation. Without a radical change of course, we cannot continue to misdescribe Israel as a "democracy" or as a reliable ally. It is a loose-cannon state planted on appropriated land, and the depraved treatment of its neighbors and the minimal tolerance of its now-minority "arab" population needs, after all these years, to stop - by international force, if necessary. That would be a sad, crazy necessity, but one way or another, we need a course change. Right now, the government of Israel is not supportable.
The monstrosity of the occupation has dropped its facade of decency since the infamous attack on October 7. Having banked for years on forcing precisely such a backlash from the purposely segregated, fenced-off pen of Gaza, Israeli forces let loose by far the most appalling of their many bombings and destructive incursions into that Strip. That genocidal action not being sufficient for the crazed Israeli right, they have increased murders and extrajudicial disappearances in the grindingly repressed occupied West Bank. The overwhelming majority of the many thousands of abused detainees no more merited imprisonment than any of the hostages taken by Hamas on that insanely self-destructive 10/7 outpouring of anger. Less so, in fact, because they were already living in practical captivity under an illegal occupation.
The real ugliness here is the absolute failure of these people in positions of power in the Israeli authoritarian regime to view their Palestinian neighbors - any of them - as human beings of the same sort they are, with perhaps less lust for seizing land belonging to others on the basis of some invented theological order absolving them of their sins. The Gvirs and Smotriches and Netanyahus of Israel are happy to slaughter their way out of their Palestinian entanglement, while too many others are happy to look the other way while the gore flows - for the sake of "peace" and "security".
As someone who grew up supporting the ideals of the side of Israel presented to young New Yorkers in the sixties and seventies, feeling deeply the horrors of mistreatment inflicted on Jewish minorities around the world, it has been an ugly awakening to learn the realities of life in Palestine and within the illegally, but theoretically almost justifiable, gifted land within the borders of Israel under the then-new occupation. Watching, through a painful maturation of my political mind, the Israeli right rewrite history, manipulate, fabricate, and assassinate its way to divorcing the Israeli government from every ideal its people imagined it would uphold, while the opposition wavers between a rightward slide and typical political infighting over small points.
"Show no joy at being released" from forty-four years of unjustified captivity indeed. Can you imagine the reaction of Israelis to such a decree from Hamas to Israeli captives and their families? But then we have an imbalance of power here, and the position of Israel as perpetual victim shields it from a real reckoning with being the rogue state it has become.
The potentially sizable Israeli opposition needs to get up on its hind legs, unified in making a course correction (with the "unity" element absolutely necessary) including a rapid recognition of a defined, sovereign Palestinian state, and a program of reparations put in place for its stabilization. Funding and coordination should include forceful input from the US (alas, we have our own minority-rule, criminal government coming in two days, fully approving of the destruction and genocidal intent of the Gaza assault) and UK, states that have been involved in creating and shielding Israel for its mistreatment of the local people from its creation. Without a radical change of course, we cannot continue to misdescribe Israel as a "democracy" or as a reliable ally. It is a loose-cannon state planted on appropriated land, and the depraved treatment of its neighbors and the minimal tolerance of its now-minority "arab" population needs, after all these years, to stop - by international force, if necessary. That would be a sad, crazy necessity, but one way or another, we need a course change. Right now, the government of Israel is not supportable.