Author: Marwan Bishara
Affiliation: Al Jazeera English
Organization/Publisher: Al Jazeera
Date/Place: May 16, 2021/Doha, Qatar
Type of Literature: Opinion Article
Word Count: 1693
Keywords: Gaza Strip, Benjamin Netanyahu, collateral damage, Hamas.
Brief:
As Israel hits the Gaza Strip in its fourth major military offensive alongside mainly refugee inhabitants in the past dozen years, it is demanding a loftier moral code of conduct. As Israeli leaders would have it, the world should not be sidetracked by the descriptions of death and annihilation, for which Hamas should be held accountable, as it “hides” among the civilian population. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden, “Israel is doing everything possible to avoid harming innocent civilians.” Israel directs cautionary shots to Gaza residents so they can barely escape with their lives just before it abolishes their livings with bombs. Israel also asserts that it aims precise at terrorist installations, everything else is an accidental consequence. What Israel merely calls “collateral damage”, the Palestinians call loved ones: the women, men, and children they mourn every day. Netanyahu says that Israel targets Hamas for targeting Israeli population centers. But there is a significant disparity between the death and destruction the Palestinians and the Israelis face. One could only roll one’s eyes watching Netanyahu warning Palestinians in Israel against using violence, when they are the victims of organized violence, when they are trying to defend themselves against overwhelming police brutality and lynching by mobs of Jewish fanatics. Yet, Israel’s war and propaganda has brought nothing new to the art of deception, except perhaps a slicker delivery. Most other previous colonial powers called their enemies terrorists, accused them of cowardice, and of using civilians as human shields. But what became of these colonialists and their propaganda? It may be hard if not impossible to be optimistic about the short-term prospects of a solution. But when the dust settles on another aggressive Israeli war, Israelis will once again find themselves stuck with millions of Palestinians ever more strongminded to regain their liberty. Like the dozen colonial states that headed them, notably the white settler regimes in South Africa and Algeria, the Israelis will sooner or later have to make a choice: to live in peace or leave in humiliation. There is no point in postponing the inevitable and suffering in the process.
By: Maryam Khan, CIGA Research Associate
