The Unresolved Dilemma
Israel's Path to Unintended Extinction
It all started in 1948. In the collective consciousness of the West, initial perceptions of Israel are commonly tinted with true compassion. The narrative we inherit teaches us to extend unconditional understanding to this nation, rooted in the trauma of a people whose history has been marred by persecution and suffering. Taking that one fateful step further, we're often urged to extend an olive branch by subliminally accepting guilt for the way European Jews were abused during the Holocaust.
Now we enter dangerous territory - particularly if we conflate the land with the people and their religion or, even worse, when no distinction is made between the Jewish people and the Zionist cause which tends to label any criticism of Israel as being anti-Semitic. What usually never enters our heads is the possibility that it might have been feelings of deep remorse, pressure from the Zionist movement that intensified after the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and increasing riots between Jews and Arabs during the period when the British were governing the land of Palestine, that resulted in the UN's 'solution' of 1947.
The UN's 'two-state' Partition Plan, with Jerusalem nominated as an international city, was accepted by Jews - but not by Arabs. Nevertheless, on May 14th 1948, David Ben-Gurion, head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel - announced just before the British mandate was set to expire. Jews around the world were elated, with very good reason. Here at last was a sanctuary of hope after the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust. But immediately following this declaration, neighbouring Arab states invaded, leading to a protracted and bitter conflict. By the end of the war in 1949, Israel had expanded its territory beyond the boundaries set by the UN partition plan. The stage was set for continuing tensions.
This explains some of the harrowing context which led to the attack by Hamas on October 7th 2023. I am not excusing that sickening assault. But it needs putting in perspective. If Israel was waiting for an excuse to commit genocide, then October 7th delivered the justification. What does seem clear is that Israel has never seriously sought peace with the Palestinians since the death of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Today, what seems just as clear, is Israel's thirst for blood and killing. Visitors, as well as officials like Richard Falk, the former UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Rights, have had no hesitation in calling Gaza a ‘giant concentration camp’.
Our instincts compel us to assume complexity in this unfolding saga, resisting the simplistic notion that the Jewish state is innately vindictive or immoral. After all, we were all raised on parables that echoed 'never again' - fostering an ethos of empathy toward the Jewish experience - although it should be applied to all such atrocities of course. But such instincts are challenged daily by the rapacious actions of the IDF.
As we peel back the layers of this narrative to engage more deeply with realities on the ground, our initial perceptions are being assaulted from all sides. We begin to confront a stark truth: the state of Israel does not operate merely as an ordinary nation, but as an extension of Western settler-colonialist endeavours. Its conduct resonates with an historical pattern of dispossession, genocide, ethnic cleansing, theft and abuse on the indigenous population of the land that other Western settler-colonialist projects like Australia, the US and Canada inflicted in earlier centuries.
This realization extends beyond the confines of government policy, penetrating the very fabric of Israeli society. The pervasive indoctrination, instilled from birth, creates a worldview in which many Jews still express the rather forlorn belief that they are the 'chosen' people (as it happens a misinterpretation of the original Hebrew-Aramaic Tanakh) with non-Jewish populations consistently rendered less than human. On the other hand, that is further compounded in a tit-for-tat cultural foible by the mean images and descriptions of Jews to be found in Western literature. From Shakespeare's vengeful moneylender Shylock to the manipulative and deceitful Fagin in Charles Dicken's novel Oliver Twist, Jews have often been unjustly depicted in negative stereotypes and caricatures.
We should really not be surprised, then, if these ideological twists and emergent conditionings served to set one group of 'victims' against others ('assailants') at least psychologically. Nor should we be surprised if it led to a situation where a relatively minor ethnic group of around 16 million people globally were to become psychologically traumatized - distressed to the extent that they are given (and expect to be given almost as a judicial right) preferential treatment. But that indeed has become the norm, particularly in the US given the power of the Israeli lobby to mobilize unlimited support for Israel regardless of what it does.
Meanwhile, the establishment of the State of Israel was deemed an abomination by its Arabic neighbours, objectors to any actions taken by Israel are universally condemned as being anti-Semitic, (even though the Palestinian people are also Semites) and all the while the rich history and sovereignty of those who occupied this land centuries before is overshadowed. No wonder we have a state of permanent conflict when the original Balfour Declaration seems to have been a serious error of judgement.
Today we're jolted into awareness by the chilling echoes of social media comments or disturbing images that reveal a culture steeped in dehumanization - depictions that evoke the darkest chapters of human history. But what are we supposed to think when we see photographs of Israeli soldiers contemptuously dressing in the clothes of displaced or dead Palestinian women, or playing with the toys of displaced or dead Palestinian children, or when we read polls of Jewish Israelis supporting their government's daily massacres in Gaza and Lebanon? Is this just what it looks like when an entire society is indoctrinated from birth into viewing their neighbours as savages?
It becomes increasingly clear from the past year's events that this societal mindset is not an anomaly but a systematic framework, akin to the ideologies that fueled Jim Crow and other apartheid regimes.
Simultaneously, we recognize our own indoctrination - our media narratives consistently frame Israel as both friend and victim, a position perpetuated by political figures who equate dissent with betrayal. This alignment serves the interests of a Western empire that views Israel as key to its geopolitical endgame, essential for maintaining influence in a resource-rich and volatile region.
Joe Biden has often said that if Israel didn't exist, the US would have to invent it to protect their interests in the Middle East. This reveals a central yet disconcerting truth: the artificiality of Israel's very existence is linked inextricably to Western hegemony, allowing for the perpetual justification of military interventions and a destabilized Middle East that prevents any unified challenge to Western interests.
Thus, the barrage of pro-Israel messaging we encounter is not merely a reflection of unthinking loyalty; it's a calculated deceit that exploits the Jewish historical narrative to legitimize a warmongering regime that thrives on oppression and conflict. In this light, it becomes evident that while kind-hearted, intelligent and good people do not start out with a hatred for Israel; an enduring commitment to truth and justice can lead some people to a profound repugnance of the Zionist project. This also accounts for the mass street protests we're seeing around the world calling for a halt to the genocide in Gaza.
Israel has faced considerable aggression from various groups and nations since its establishment in 1948, with ongoing conflicts and tensions primarily involving Palestinian groups and neighbouring countries. The sentiment of existential threat and feelings of defensiveness are common themes in Israeli discourse, reflecting the historical context of wars, uprisings, and ongoing hostilities.
Israel does live with significant security concerns of course. It's hardly surprising that many Israeli citizens feel unsafe - even in their own homeland. It has also been argued that the Israel's peculiar mix of paranoia and exceptionalism, even if it was warranted, has contributed in large part to enmity with its neighbours. Even when Israel's security was guaranteed by the Arab League in 2003, based on certain conditions being fulfilled, the country was too fearful or suspicious to agree.
The recent mass bombardment of residential areas with high concentration of civilians in Beirut by Israel has seen an escalation of brutality and a serious breach, not just of international law, but also every moral code by every major religion, including the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Even so, it's clear that Netanyahu, Gallant, and their ilk in the IDF have been on a killing spree of civilians in the name of fighting terror, while generating the worst form of terrorism the world has witnessed since WWII.
This intolerable behaviour must be stopped before it spirals into a regional war involving Turkey and Iran, who have so far exercised admirable restraint, or a world war if the US accepts Israel's blatant 'invitation' to join the fray.
In the end, embracing the complexity of the situation compels us to confront the uncomfortable truths of our complicity and the imperative to advocate for justice in the face of systemic oppression. Only then can we transcend the conditioning of our past and strive toward a future grounded in empathy and equity.