The most deceptive factor in the genocide being wrought on the Palestinian people by the state of Israel, and the mirage of a two-state solution, is the dreary normality of the political actors - from the Hamas leadership, to the Houthi rebels, to the most fervent of Zionists in a religiously ultra-conservative Israeli cabinet.
Ultimately, people like Abi Jibril of Yemen, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, and Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, are ordinary, well-educated, middle-class people caught up in the mundane banality of daily dramas in a region unduly infected with conflicting religious dogmas. Like us they dine, they laugh, they send their children to school and hope for a better life. Like us, their lives are enmeshed in ties of love and family. They are not monsters, though what they do is monstrous. How can this be?
Some acts of brutality we know about, but others we cannot witness owing to the slaughter of journalists who would normally reveal these atrocities of war to the rest of the world, are poisoning the minds of the perpetrators. Their phonyappeals for peace are actually part of an undertaking to eliminate anyone who does not share their beliefs. They believe it will keep them safe – an illusion that only becomes clear when you view a map of the region and see the extent of the Arab world surrounding Israel. In this regard the loud, oft-repeated cries of anti-semitism are false flags.
The lack of tolerance among the Zionist elite and the carnage they inflict on others will condemn them, as well as traumatising the next generation. Sibling affection will turn to cruelty. Neighbourly acts will cease. Empathy will vanish. Nor is it likely that forgiveness waits in the wings. This evil is already normalising the unthinkable and in so doing making it commonplace. Proximity to the horrors occurring in Gaza scar us, leaving none of us untouched, regardless of age, political persuasion, or privilege.
I am reminded of two recent stories which I found profoundly unsettling. One was of a Russian babushka applauding the low price of strawberries in the local market, seemingly unaware that the low cost stemmed from them having been stolen from war-torn Ukraine. The other was a TikTok clip of a young Israeli couple leaving their home, as missiles rained down on Gaza, expressing appreciation to their government for the security they feel knowing these bombs were killing innocent children, demolishing homes, hospitals, and schools, and traumatising entire communities.
If we can strip away morality and sentiment, what we see in Israel today is a nation of ordinary people, just like you and me, caught up in the destructive machinery of barbarism. The commentary should shift for a few moments at least, away from Zionism, division, and hate, to the universality of the human experience and its potential for complicity. What’s happening in Gaza is not just about two communities at war with one another. It’s about you and me and the manner in which those chosen to govern, the political class, do so with a callousness, hubris, and sense of sanctimoniousentitlement that is staggering.
We all benefit from barbarity in some form. We may not be as directly complicit as Benjamin Netanyahu, or live next door to the children sewing our garments in sweatshops. But we all have our blind spots, where self-interest prevails. And however much we despise individuals like Bibi and his ilk, I doubt he is the fanatic casually portrayed by the media, as much as a desperately dull and manipulative individual, trying to keep his allies appeased in order to keep at bay the criminal litigation that will engulf him when he leaves office.
This manufactured veil of “normalcy” will remain intact until the menacing effects of what these killers are doing in the name of self-defense, under the pretence of making the world safer for “the chosen people”, intrudes on the public consciousness in ways that lead to global outrage. The State of Israel’s massacre of the Palestinian people is violent nationalism and an assault on the Jewish faith. But by the time that reality sinks in, any attempt to scrub the smoldering ashes and pain of Gaza from our memories will be out of the question.
What is happening today in Palestine could so easily pre-empt the end of the State of Israel. Some people I speak to cast the Jews, so brutally butchered by the Nazis during the 20th century, as having now become the butchers they themselves once feared. And Israel, a project quite possibly doomed from the beginning, is staring at international condemnation and its own downfall – not because of what people most desire, but because elected state representatives have power etched into their minds. In these circumstances it would be best for everyone if Israel did not exist.
Today, those of us that live in relative peace and safety can stop to smell the flowers and listen to the birds sing. We feign detachment from what’s going on in places like Israel and Ukraine. But there is no sanctuary for any of us. At some stage the pain and the blood of the victims of these wars will pour in, drowning us in humiliation that we did nothing to stop the slaughter. That shame will numb the soul, either facilitating or impeding progress towards a more peaceful future for Earth’s most destructive species.