The utter slaughter, ethnic cleansing and genocide that Israel has carried out over the last six months has, of course, been harrowing to watch. The glory that is instantaneous communication in the digital age has made information, up to and including video of these war crimes, available to anyone with a device in their hands. Such information should lead to the utter condemnation of Israel, and its identification as a rogue nation in the international sphere. But this is not the case, or at least it has not been up to this point.
The international response to this callous, intentional massacring of more than 40,000 people has been weak to put it very mildly. Leaders in the West (Britain, the US and Australia specifically) have spoken of ‘anger’ and ‘concern’, but have done precisely nothing tangible. Why is this? This is one of the issues I want to explore today. The other issue concerns the Western reaction to the recent murder of those international aid workers.
Inconvenient Truth, Part One a): The International Mafia
In my younger days, I used to conceive of international affairs as run like a mafia organisation, with the United States as the Godfather pulling the strings. If you were ‘outside the family’ (that is to say outside of the influences of American capital) you were a rogue nation that might ‘need some democracy’, especially if you had natural resources that Western capital wanted to exploit. In light of recent events, I have modified this description somewhat. It still very much holds, but the role of the United States has changed.
America is no longer (if it ever was) the Godfather of this international mafia organisation. It is merely the muscle. As the owner of the largest and most powerful military apparatus in human history (for now), the Americans have great influence, but they still cower in fear when it comes to the true Godfather of international affairs: Israel. Israel has carried out what the International Court of Justice has said there is reasonable evidence to call a genocide, but the Americans continue to fund, and more importantly arm, this rogue nation.
Israel is a paper tiger propped up by American money and weapons. The Americans do not know (or are choosing to ignore) the fact that this gives them tremendous power when it comes to Israel. If the US made its funding and arming of Israel conditional on, oh I do not know, adhering to international law, the Jewish state’s policy would change right quick. But they do not do this. Why? What are they afraid of?
Inconvenient Truth, Part One b): Israel’s ‘Secret Weapons’
The Jewish state has, in recent times, adopted a new secret weapon. You may have noticed that anyone, regardless of who they are, or how many facts they have on their side, is labelled, for even the most tepid criticism of Israel, an anti-semite. This pathetic conflation of disagreement with the policies of one state with hatred of an entire people, members of which live all over the world, seems to keep nations in line. Think of it as a form of extortion, as in ‘Nice international reputation you have there; be a shame if anything were to happen to it’. This slimy tactic effectively renders Israel ‘the nation who cried anti-semite’. The word is now meaningless.
Israel has another secret weapon, one of geography, which gives them power over certain American christians. There is a twist to this which I will get to in a minute, but for now some facts. There is a subset of American christians who believe that the end-times cannot happen until all the land in the middle east is under Israeli control. This partially accounts for their obsessive, almost religious, support of Israel. They need Israel to ‘win’ so jesus can come back.
But there is a twist. There is a great unspoken truth about the fate of the Jews in Israel when jesus comes back. According to this subset of christians, those Jews will be tossed into the lake of fire for eternal torture because they never accepted jesus like the christians did. That’s right: the religious support of Israel is a total con. Every Jew in Israel is to be obliterated because they did not fall in line with this very narrow subset of christianity. But remember, it is critics of Israel who are the anti-semites.
Inconvenient Truth, Part Two: The Hypocrisy of The West
The world was recently set alight with outrage over the murder of those seven international aid workers in Gaza. It was this event, rather than the indiscriminate slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians, that got international attention. The cynics among you may have noticed that the West, for all its bleating about ‘equality’ and all the rest of that crap, actually gives less than two sh*ts about Palestinians. But you kill our citizens? Oh now we’re outraged.
The utter hypocrisy of the West is thereby exposed: if you’d just stuck to killing Palestinians, everything would have been fine. We could have gone on ignoring your obvious genocide since no-one really cares about ‘Palestinians’ anyway. But you f*cked it up. By killing UK, Australian and American citizens, we have to respond now. Our citizens expect us to. We won’t actually change our policy in any way, we promise, but we have to be seen to be doing something. Maybe a few days’ delay on the next weapons shipment. Maybe.
Analysis: Voltaire and Who Rules You
Anyone who thinks the idea that Israel is in control of international affairs is some sort of conspiracy should consider the quote attributed to Voltaire:
If you wish to know who rules you, find out who you are not allowed to criticise
In light of this, the status of Israel as hegemon (leader) in international affairs is no conspiracy. Any and all criticism of Israel has to be premised with statements about ‘Israel having the right to exist and to defend itself’ and ‘I condemn Hamas’. When medicine is given to an animal, it is commonly concealed in food to make it as palatable as possible. The comparison to criticism of Israel needing to premised with the aforementioned statements is apt. And they will still call you an anti-semite.
Conclusion
I realise I have gone for the jugular here, but I do not apologise. Israel is subject to a different standard (read no standards) precisely because it is Israel. If Iran or one of the other so-called ‘rogue nations’ bombed the living hell out of a region to this extent (whatever the provocation) the American and other nations’ response would not be strong words. The response would be a bombardment so vicious that Dresden would say ‘calm down’.
The time has come to remove Israel’s special status and hold them accountable under international law and the laws of war. This will never happen, of course, since setting a precedent of prosecuting war criminals who are ‘the good guys’ (read friends of America) is not in the interest of the international community. As Noam Chomsky said, if the Nuremberg Laws were actually enforced, every post-war US President would hang as a war criminal. Awkward.
This post is likely to cost me a friend or two, but that is ok. Friends like that I can do without. I abhor violence and indiscriminate killing of civilians and children. If condemning that makes me an anti-semite, then HH.
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You certainly haven’t lost me as a friend over this, John.
No friend loss here – I totally agree with you.
The only “friends” that you will be losing will be those who believe that Israel can do no wrong.
When we got news of the 7th October attack, I said to my friend “this is not going to end well”.
With the little we know of the whole truth, Tim, the way the Jews were allocated Israel and the inherent problems it created for not only the Palestinians but also the neighbouring countries, the Israelis have been a cruel mob.
Aided with extensive weaponry, by a two-faced war/money machine.
Netanyahoo thought financing the Hamas government was being clever, while treating the Palestinian population as slave labour and a subservient people.
What was he hoping for? Maybe a reason for what is happening now?
“This isn’t going to end well”.
Prior to the seventh, Israel had a decision to make.
Let it happen, or Make it happen, having completed the groundwork.
Whichever, their friends in USA will make their dream come true, and no surprise but Australia is a member of the enablers.
There will be no glory for this country while we go along with these criminals.
Bravo, took the words right out of my mouth. I have been saying similar since this nightmare began in Oct , not that the injustice didn’t start well before then…try the beginning of last century. I have been frequently and thoroughly ‘cancelled’ for speaking out, by those who like to cry, “cancel culture” with outrage.
The cruelty, stupidity and hypocrisy is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. The untold misery and suffering, unfathomable. Bryony
There had been a suboptimal stasis with Gaza with help from Qatar (years before Erdogan’s AKP), Hamas provoked Netanyahu/Israel, his corrupt regime/IDF reacted (gift from god?), disproportionately, now we have a war; well done.
One would add too there is much uninformed/misinformed ‘noise’ in media that precludes clear analysis e.g. media and influencers (like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) zoomed out from the specific events of 7 Oct., codependent narcissism between Netanyahu’s and Hamas’ regimes; both have tepid support from their own citizens while entertaining contrary allies or relationships in the region.
Further, zooming out seemed to absolve players of direct responsibility in media and narratives by focusing on the long term issues of Israel – Palestine and spraying blame all over the place, while western RWNJs have a bob each way pretending they’re neither anti-semitic nor Islamophobic, while the centre fight each other….
In the west, especially the Anglosphere, RWNJs in and around conservative parties eg. former PM Morrison, Trump, UK Tories etc. could never get enough of Netanyahu, Israel and Embassies in Jerusalem for ‘the Rapture’, now silence? Conversely many public supporters &/or activists for Hamas Palestine avert their gaze from Hamas leadership (their allies inc resumed ties with Syria’s Assad and meeting Netanyahu’s chum Putin* weeks before), ideology and suboptimal leadership?
*Another granular detail, Putin was one of the first to offer sympathy to (secular) Netanyahu, while the latter refused to take a call from Ukraine’s Zelensky (Jewish), and had also refused to support Ukraine vs. Russia (many of Israel’s are immigrants from former USSR, of late Russia and Ukraine).
I most definitely won’t be “unfriending” you, Dr. Smith! Every word you have written is emphatically true.(IMHO). Israel has been engaging in genocide, war & ethnic cleansing since at least the 1960’s, all the while maintaining self righteous denial, alternative facts, duplicity & hypocrisy at a level that would make Hitler proud.
If that makes me an anti-semite, then so be it.
Stope the supply of weapons to Israel today, provide genuine ,urgent & sustained aid to Palestinians & Palestine (what is left of it),imprison Netanyahu & all his cronies for the rest of their lives now- & demand better of our so called political elite in our own countries.
I simply cannot understand or accept the cow-towing to Israel. Why??
I did read something a long time ago which suggested Israel may have some unspoken “secret” control over the western world’s financial system . I don’t know- but it is just the sort of “got you by the balls” stuff, that makes any sense. Aren’t Palestinians human & have the right to exist peacefully- just as Israel claims they have the right to do? Why? Netanyahu & his fascist right wing idealogues are murderers & deserve & should have the absolute condemnation of every & any civilised nation & rational human person in this world. How can it be remotely acceptable that the US, UK, France & Australia are dithering over supplying weapons to Ukraine & openly condemning Putin (rightly so) but without the slightest thread of conscience, supply all manner of weapons to Israel on demand, stay silent (as you rightly suggest) over the massacre of 40,000 Palestinians, belatedly & insincerely appear to send just enough “aid” as to shut up the voters of their own countries & then latterly bleat about the death of 8 “foreign” aid workers?
Yes, their deaths are an utter tragedy- just like the 40,000 Palestinians.
I am utterly sickened & despairing at the depths to which so called “civilised” society& our political leaders (all of them!) have sunk.
After a rushed supposedly ‘independent’ inquiry into the targeted assassination of seven aid workers, two middle-ranking IDF officers have been dismissed and a general reprimanded acknowledging reluctantly a catalogue of failings by Israeli forces and reinforcing global criticism of Israel’s conduct of an invasion in which 33,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in six months.
In the meantime Israeli warplanes or drones bombed Iran’s embassy in Syria on Monday in a strike that Iran said killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders : oddly, the USA are warning Iran not to retaliate as this could escalate the situation in the Middle Eat into all out war.
Israel is certainly subject to a different standard when it comes to international norms.
Netanyahu’s “shit happens” shrug is no surprise, but neither is Albanese’s weak-kneed response. It “isn’t good enough” that an Aussie was killed? What about the (at least!) 33,000 Palestinians Israel has killed in Gaza? Will Albanese do anything more than bleat? Will he censure Israel, withdraw our ambassador, expel Israel’s diplomats, establish sanctions, boycotts and divestment and call for the world to do the same? Don’t hold your breath! POTUS Biden said he was “outraged” but apparently not outraged enough to stop sending billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel. One thing is for sure: the “anti-Semite” tag has lost all meaning.
Hatred and brutality towards Jews / Hebrews has been exercised by every man and his god since well before any notion of ‘the Holy Land’. It’s not worth going into the vast complexities of why. Albeit those of the Arabian peninsula seem to have given them a fair crack.
No-one seems to have done that hatred and brutality more supremely than the Christians.
From about 150 years ago, the devious aspirations and plans of the ‘western’ imperia ratcheted up havoc in the ‘east’, particularly, the British and French and Russians in the middle east. Progressively through the Great War, the Balfour Declaration, the ‘mandate’, and the Sykes-Picot Agreement, and on into the post WWII UN (Resolution 181 etc), the Jews were used as pawns in the greater plans, and the Jews in turn exercised their plans. All the way through, the Arabs, particularly the Palestinians extant were treated by all parties as inconsequential dust (which of course they weren’t).
Now of course, the devious and bungling British and Americans have themselves (and the world) in a bind. With prodigious wealth and resources across the Arab states, and ongoing stupidities in Iraq and with Al Queda and ISIS et al, and the states in the north / south axis – Israel to Kazakhstan, minds are blown and the Netanyahu / Likud criminality is taking its chances after intensive brainwashing of Israeli citizenry for since the days of Rabin and Peres.
The ‘anti-semitism’ thing has been corrupted to a meaningless device of convenience in the face of the west’s mock apologia.
Lots of talk, hand-wringing, crinkled brows and expressions of exasperation & despair over the failure of so-called civilised society in this current context of the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians by the Zionist military machine.
Let’s rip the scab off the wound and expose the raw detail for all to see.
Civilization is a veneer papered over an innate tendency towards aggression. Lift the tissue paper with its tenderly printed coding of civilized off most individuals, most groupings, most societies on the planet and what do you see? – exposure of the realities that underlie. Has murder of others ceased anywhere on the planet? Male violence towards women, or adult violence towards children, or random violence in public arenas conducted by strangers towards strangers, or state-sanctioned violence by so-called ‘protectors of the state’ – police, civil defence personnel, armed forces – towards citizens who cry for freedoms, democracy, rational governance, cessation of corruption and ecological vandalism?
The answers to all of these examples is, of course, a resounding NO! Violence is embedded within the human psyche and will continue to be displayed in preference to rationality when stresses catalyse the millions of years old psychological reactions that are the default to the inevitable provocations we face in our lives.
No amount of hand-wringing and debate will change this situation. All the great seers, sages, psychologists and others who share the intimate and essential knowledge of the human condition speak as one on this matter: nothing will change until man himself changes, and that change is an internal process, not something imposed from without or by others. Only the inner journey can bring about the fundamental understanding necessary to deflect and counter this tendency towards aggression and its brutal consequences.
Netanyahu’s hatred of Palestinians will never cease, nor his willingness to kill every last one of them. The same can be said of Hamas towards Israelis, or of America towards Russia, or latterly, China. Brutes we are, and brutes we be, and sadly, brutes we are likely to remain for the foreseeable future.
Lots of talk about the hostages but do you remember when three hostages held by Hamas escaped and Israeli troops shot them in Gaza on Dec. 15 when it mistook their cries for help as a ruse by Hamas militants to draw them into an ambush.
The IDF sheepishly took responsibility for killing the three Israeli hostages, who were abducted during the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
The military said footage showed the hostages had removed their shirts and that one of them was waving a white flag but they were only identified as hostages after their bodies had been examined.
And so it goes on with Netanyahu still avoiding a cease fire !