[News] Israel and “Self-Defense”

[Anti-Imperialist News]

July 24, 2015


  Israel and “Self-Defense”
  <http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/24/israel-and-self-defense/>

by Robert Fantina <http://www.counterpunch.org/author/robert-fantina/>

*http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/24/israel-and-self-defense/*

Occasionally, this writer will read an article from an Israel 
publication. Often, there is a survey which pops up when he clicks on 
the article, and the question often is this: ‘Do you believe Israel has 
the right to defend itself?’

The question is not a valid one. Any nation, one supposes, has such a 
right, but Israel has not had to defend itself for decades, if ever. 
Responding to ineffective ‘rocket’ fire from the Gaza Strip is not 
defense. An occupied nation has the internationally-recognized right to 
resist with violence the occupation. The occupier is not ‘defending’ 
itself; it is merely enforcing the occupation.

So why ask the question? Let’s look at the two possible answers that may 
shed light upon that reason.

A ‘yes’ response indicates that Israel is justified in its periodic 
carpet-bombing of the Palestinians. The publication issuing the survey 
can proclaim, therefore, that X% of its survey respondents support Israel.

A ‘no’ response, on the other hand, will be seen as anti-Semitic, 
denying Israel its basic right of existence. Why, the publication can 
ask, do Y% of respondents deny Israel its right to self-defense? People 
would only respond in this way if they hate Jews.

The question, in many ways, is reminiscent of the old political 
question, ‘Do you still beat your wife?’ ‘Yes,’ is wrong for obvious 
reasons. ‘No’, however, is still wrong, since it would indicate 
fantinathat spousal abuse was, at one time in the past, something the 
responder did, but no longer does. So a man who never beat his wife 
would have no right answer for that question.

So in answering the question about Israel’s right to defend itself, the 
thoughtful respondent has no right answer. ‘Yes’, gives Israel more 
ammunition to say that the world supports it, and ‘no’ is dismissed as 
the response of an anti-Semitic bigot, showing again, in Israel’s view, 
the great existential threat that it faces.

Israel and the people and publications that support it must resort to 
such deceitful tactics, since they are without a moral leg to stand on. 
Reviewing a few facts of international law relating to occupation, and 
Israel’s blatant and constant violations of them, may be helpful:

/Law: An occupying power must not move its own citizens permanently onto 
the occupied nation’s land. Temporarily housing soldiers on a short-term 
basis there to maintain peace and the safety of the occupied people is 
allowed./

Israeli violations: Israel has moved over half a million Israelis into 
the West Bank, and Israeli Prime Murderer Benjamin Netanyahu has stated 
categorically that not one of them will be removed.

/Law: The people of the occupied lands must not be displaced permanently./

Israeli violations: Millions of Palestinians have been forced from their 
homes to make room for illegal Israeli settlers.

/Law: The culture of the occupied land must be respected./

Israeli violations: Israel has done much to destroy and obliterate the 
culture of Palestine. The destruction of entire towns and villages, 
mosques and historical sites is ongoing. In one particularly egregious 
example, Israel bulldozed the ancient Ma’man Allah cemetery, dating at 
least to the 12^th century and possibly earlier, and constructed a 
‘Museum of Tolerance’ on the site.

/Law: The occupying power must ensure the safety of the occupied peoples./

Israeli violations: Bombing the Gaza Strip, breaking into the homes of 
Palestinians in the West Bank at all hours of the day and night, 
arresting men, women and children without charge, shooting peaceful 
protesters in the back, cannot be seen as ensuring their safety, and 
protesting these atrocious crimes does not make one anti-Semitic.

The list is long; a short, representative sample is all that has been 
given here.

In addition to this, Israel refuses to cooperate with any investigation 
into its ‘alleged’ war crimes. If, as Israel continually proclaims, it 
has the most moral army in the world, why would it not welcome such 
investigations, to prove the falsehood of such allegations? Why not 
assist the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court, in 
thoroughly examining each charge, if Israel is confident that each is false?

Of course, Israel knows it is guilty of war crimes, and labors under the 
mistaken belief that it can continue to commit them, because the United 
States will always protect it.

Although it can’t be said that anyone has neglected to advise Israel 
that the rules of the game have changed, for some reason, the 
information has not been received. Transmission, obviously, does not 
equate to reception. Today, Israel continues to destroy entire 
Palestinian villages to make room for illegal settlements; IDF (Israeli 
Defense Forces) terrorists continue to shoot and kill innocent men, 
women and children in the West Bank, and arrest without charge men, 
women and children. None of this is new; what is new is that the world 
is now aware of it. The news media, which now actually gets paid by 
organizations and individuals to run ‘news’ stories that are written by 
lobbyists, corporations, and other major advertisers, has not seen fit 
to report this information. Massive demonstrations in support of 
Palestinians in major cities in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East are 
not seen on the evening news, but that is no longer the only venue for 
information. Social media gives everyone with a camera and an internet 
connection a worldwide audience, and that audience is seeing atrocities 
it never knew existed. As a result, the ostracization of the rogue state 
of Israel is ever growing, as more churches and businesses divest from 
Israeli companies, and performers and academics refuse to appear in that 
apartheid nation.

This writer always ignores the question, ‘Does Israel have a right to 
defend itself’, and will continue to do so. A ‘yes’ only gives Israeli 
atrocities a false veneer of legitimacy which is untenable.

Apartheid Israel is a world power in decline, and therefore very 
dangerous. Yet despite the mad behaviors it may still indulge it, its 
decline is snowballing, and cannot be stopped by anything but justice 
for the Palestinians, and the Arabs, Africans and other people living 
within its much-disputed borders. That day cannot come soon enough.

/*Robert Fantina’s* latest book is Empire, Racism and Genocide: a 
History of US Foreign Policy 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0692252355/counterpunchmaga> (Red Pill 
Press)./

-- 
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863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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