[News] Occupation good for Palestinians, says Israeli opposition chief

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/occupation-good-palestinians-says-israeli-opposition-chief 



  Occupation good for Palestinians, says Israeli opposition chief

Ali Abunimah <https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah> - 10 
September 2019

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Benny Gantz <https://electronicintifada.net/tags/benny-gantz>, chief of 
the Israeli army during Israel’s 2014 massacre in Gaza 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/balance-un-gaza-report-cant-hide-massive-israeli-war-crimes>, 
is borrowing apartheid South Africa’s talking points to boost his 
election campaign.

Gantz heads the allegedly center-left 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-this-what-israel-s-center-left-has-to-do-if-it-wants-to-take-netanyahu-down-1.7371299> 
opposition coalition hoping to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s 
elections later this month.

In a campaign attack on Israel’s prime minister, Monday, Gantz declared 
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-gantz-tlaib-omar-would-have-seen-west-bank-is-second-best-place-for-mideast-arabs-1.7824436> 
that, unlike 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/democrats-watch-their-words-israel-bars-congresswomen> 
Netanyahu, he would have allowed US congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida 
Tlaib to visit Israel and the occupied territories.

Had they visited, Gantz claimed, they would have seen “with their own 
eyes” that “the best place to be an Arab in the Middle East is in Israel 
… and the second best place to be an Arab in the Middle East is the West 
Bank.”

Gantz’s contention that Israeli military occupation and colonization is 
a blessing to Palestinians is a direct echo of South Africa’s apartheid 
rulers who insisted that their brutal white supremacist regime was good 
for Black people.

Writer Ben White pointed to a 1977 /New York Times/ interview 
<https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/17/archives/excerpts-from-interview-with-prime-minister-vorster-on-south.html> 
with John Vorster, who was then prime minister of South Africa’s racist 
regime.

“The standard of living of the South African Black is two to five times 
higher than that of any Black country in Africa,” Vorster claimed.

    Even Israel's leading *opposition* politician echoes South African
    Apartheid era talking points.https://t.co/CsOp8ZR8YD
    pic.twitter.com/Egayq8mTeI <https://t.co/Egayq8mTeI>

    — Ben White (@benabyad) September 10, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/benabyad/status/1171338533518422016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

This assertion was a staple of South African propaganda as the global 
boycott, divestment and sanctions movement gained strength during the 1980s.

It is not surprising, as colonialists always claim that their violent 
rule is a gift to the people they exploit and oppress.

    Gantz is the cliched colonial overlord who thinks his people are so
    enlightened, and ours so barbaric, that he's doing us a favor by
    keeping us under his military boot. https://t.co/XgY42DmVqL

    — A Man in the Sun 🌞 (@AManInTheSun) September 10, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/AManInTheSun/status/1171329295635144704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The echoes of apartheid South Africa’s propaganda in Israel’s current 
efforts are strong:

    Apartheid advertising, Israel 2019 vs South Africa 1987
    pic.twitter.com/FsfaYUS1Xo <https://t.co/FsfaYUS1Xo>

    — Michael Bueckert (@mbueckert) August 24, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/mbueckert/status/1165304047236276230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

And similar to the South African racists who tried to fight the 
isolation of their regime, Gantz declared that “everybody who cooperates 
with BDS is operating against the state of Israel.”

The former army chief also claimed that BDS – the boycott, divestment 
and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights – is a “form of 
anti-Semitism.”

It is in fact an anti-racist movement rooted in international law and 
universal rights 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israel-boycott-part-global-anti-racist-struggle>.

Gantz’s statements show that despite efforts to whitewash him as an 
alternative, he represents nothing different from Netanyahu.


    Gantz faces war crimes lawsuit

Israel’s re-do election falls on 17 September.

That same day there will be a court hearing in the Netherlands in Ismail 
Ziada’s lawsuit against Benny Gantz 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/netanyahu-challenger-benny-gantz-faces-dutch-war-crimes-case>.

    PLEASE SHARE WIDELY The #Ziada
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ziada?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    court case on September 17 in the Hague is the first ever civil
    claim against the #Israeli
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israeli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    army for killing civilians during its attacks on #Gaza
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> in
    2014. We are demanding #justice
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/justice?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    for #warcrimes
    <https://twitter.com/hashtag/warcrimes?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
    You can read more here https://t.co/iT7Q61Yqej

    — Ziada Justice Campaign (@JusticeZiada) September 9, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/JusticeZiada/status/1171178180348133376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

Ziada, a Palestinian-Dutch citizen, is suing Gantz and another Israeli 
commander for the 20 July 2014 attack on his family’s home in Gaza’s 
al-Bureij refugee camp.

The Israeli bombing killed seven people – Ismail Ziada’s 70-year-old 
mother Muftia Ziada, three brothers, a sister-in-law, a 12-year-old 
nephew and a friend who was visiting.

The 2014 assault on Gaza 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/balance-un-gaza-report-cant-hide-massive-israeli-war-crimes> 
commanded by Gantz killed 2,200 Palestinians, including 550 children.

Far from being ashamed of his crimes, Gantz actually ran ads in Israel’s 
April election – which failed to produce a clear winner, thus 
precipitating this September’s poll – boasting about how many 
Palestinians he slaughtered 
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-election-ad-boasts-gaza-bombed-back-stone-ages> 
in 2014.


    EU “dialogue” with a war criminal

Gantz’s blood-soaked record and advocacy of colonialism also provide a 
yardstick by which to measure the European Union’s alleged support for 
human rights.

Instead of standing with Gantz’s victims and their campaign for justice, 
the EU is boosting the perpetrator.

Just last month, Emanuele Giaufret 
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/emanuele-giaufret>, the EU 
ambassador in Tel Aviv, and his European colleagues met for a cozy chat 
with Gantz.

    With my EU colleagues it was a great pleasure to host @gantzbe
    <https://twitter.com/gantzbe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw> today as part of
    our regular 🇪🇺 Ambassadors' meetings with 🇮🇱 political leaders
    to discuss the domestic, regional & security situation and EU-IL
    cooperation. We look forward to continuing the dialogue
    https://t.co/YkzmOauhHJ

    — Emanuele Giaufret (@EGiaufretEU) August 29, 2019
    <https://twitter.com/EGiaufretEU/status/1167132885314342912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

“We look forward to continuing the dialogue,” Giaufret tweeted.

It goes to show that there is no level of racism and crime that an 
Israeli leader can commit against Palestinians that will disqualify them 
from the EU’s warm embrace.

Let’s hope Dutch judges have the sense of justice, decency and courage 
that most of Europe’s diplomats and politicians so abjectly lack.


-- 
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