TThank you, Donald Trump. Thank you, Benjamin Netanyahu. Thank you, Jared Kushner. Let's all stop and pay tribute to these three wise men who finally brought peace to the Middle East. Blessed peacemakers!
And, of course, thank you to the Israeli military, which I, as a US taxpayer, have contributed to supporting. relief fund. To repeat Kushner: “Instead of copying the barbarity of the enemy, [Israel] decided to be exceptional.”
I am sure that it took extraordinary restraint not to level every building and destroy all the arable land in the Gaza Strip. Instead, just about 90% of houses estimated to be damaged or destroyed. The school system was also destroyed: a UNESCO-Unosat satellite study estimates that more than 95% of school buildings require restoration or reconstruction. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said the same thing 97% of planted trees, 95% of shrubs and 82% of annual crops disappeared.
I'm sure it took extraordinary humanity not to kill every child in the Gaza Strip. Instead, only 20,000 children probably died underestimateand an unknown number rot under 50 million tons garbage. Toxic debris is now home to largest cohort children with amputated limbs in the world.
So again: thank you, thank you, thank you.
What do you think? Am I doing this right? Am I grateful enough? Because, judging by the coverage of this supposed “peace agreement,” this is exactly the kind of gratitude that is expected from the Palestinians right now. We are expected to be very grateful that the Gaza Strip was not completely atomic bombed or completely occupied. We're expected to ignore the growing number brutal attacks by settlers in the West Bank, as if it were a problem completely unrelated to the Gaza Strip. Ignore the fact that Israel continues to arbitrarily imprison Palestinians like Serve Nasir without bringing charges and without presenting any evidence against them. We are expected to rejoice that the “war” is over. We are expected to believe that this is what the path to peace looks like.
Don't get me wrong: I'm certainly glad that the bombing in the Gaza Strip has stopped and a ceasefire has been established. I'm delighted that more aid is now coming into this sector, although Israel, which has long food turned into weaponsholds threatening to limit the amount of supplies coming in.
But I don't celebrate the end of the “war” because it wasn't a war. Children And kids During war, snipers do not systematically shoot in the head. IVF centers And maternity hospital patients are not inclined to become victims of wars. The place is not intentional became uninhabitable during the war. No, it wasn't a war. This was, as many human rights experts and international organizations concluded, genocide.
Genocides do not happen overnight; dehumanization is usually decisive preparatory step. Conversely, humanization is an essential foundation for long-term peace, justice and accountability. There can be no real path to peace until the dehumanization of Palestinians stops. Until the Israelis and their allies view the Palestinians as equal people and not as “barbarians” and “people animalsUntil Israeli politicians such as Nissim Vaturi, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, feel comfortable that every child born in Gaza today, “already a terrorist from the moment of his birth“
Over the past two years, more people have learned about 100 Years War on Palestine. Israel's support is at record lows in the USA, when people learn more about apartheidsettler violence and occupation. Palestinians have become humanized among many ordinary people who cannot fully come to terms with the idea that burning displaced civilians alive is allegedly “safe zones” And healthcare workers are just an unfortunate part of a normal war.
However, among world leaders, politicians and the media, the dehumanization of Palestinians appears to have only intensified. See, for example, a recent episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, where CNN commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones jokingly mentioned, “dead babies of Gaza“He has now apologized for his 'insensitivity,' but can you imagine a similar joke made by a major media figure about dead Israeli hostages? Of course not, because Israelis are considered human. It's also worth noting that Jones' fellow panelist, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times, didn't object to the 'joke' at all.” what should he do? This is the man who wrote a column comparing the Middle East to animal kingdom and Arabs insects.
Van Jones, by the way, joked about dead Gaza babies, saying Iran and Qatar are running a disinformation campaign to manipulate young Americans into caring for Gaza. Ironically, however hundreds of millions of dollars is now being spent on a propaganda campaign trying to convince young Americans not to care about the Palestinians. US marketing companies are working on “bot based program” to amplify pro-Israel rhetoric on Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube and other platforms. Google has $45 million contract with Netanyahu's office to disseminate Israeli government talking points. AND Reported news release from the site As of last week, Jones himself, along with journalists from publications such as the New York Times, are now “mentors in a community founded for pro-Israel 'information warfare'.” This is not what the path to peace looks like; This is what rehabilitation of the image of a country that committed genocide looks like.
And the genocide, I should note, has not stopped. Yes, there is a ceasefire, but it is already quite clear that this is an Israeli-style ceasefire, similar to the “truce” in Lebanonwhere Israel is still allowed to shoot. On Tuesday, at least five Palestinians were killed during the Israeli attack on Gaza City. Israel said its soldiers fired at “suspects“who “crossed the yellow line”, that is, the line to which the Israeli military retreated in accordance with the ceasefire agreement. Israel has a habit of shooting people who cross invisible lines; IDF soldiers are on record stating that they were ordered to shoot anyone who entered the area, which the soldiers had designated as a no-go zone, regardless of whether they posed a threat. “There is an imaginary line that we are told that all Gazans know it and know they are not allowed to cross,” one IDF soldier told Sky News in July. – But how can they know?
Again, I'm grateful that the killings have slowed down. But let's not be naive here. Gaza became uninhabitable for a reason; settler attacks And demolition of houses in the West Bank have intensified for a reason. When people like the Israeli Prime Minister talk about “peace” in the region, they seem to mean a world in which the existence of the Palestinians can finally be ignored. A world in which the Palestinians were driven from their homeland. In May, for exampleAs Haaretz notes, the Israeli daily Maariv reported that Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee: “We are destroying more and more houses. They have nowhere to return. The only expected result is that Gazans will want to emigrate from the Gaza Strip.” Netanyahu often referred to the idea of a mass population. transfer from Gazathe so-called “Trump plan”. This is the “peace” that Israel and the US seem to be striving for.
