[News] Israel should be worried about the global uprising against racism

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200616-israel-should-be-worried-about-the-global-uprising-against-racism/
Israel
should be worried about the global uprising against racism
Oraib Al-Rantawi - June 16, 2020
------------------------------

June 16, 2020 at 11:31 am

Israel should be worried as it watches the global uprising against racism
and racial discrimination. It should fear for its future as it sees symbols
of slavery, racism and ethnic cleansing fall in the United States and
Europe. It should be taking serious notice of the popular revolution
against the historical narrative imposed by victorious white men after
their wars against indigenous peoples and nations.

Why? The founding narrative of the State of Israel is no different to that
of the colonial enterprise behind the current global superpower, the United
States of America, where immigrants and adventurers seized land through the
barrels of their guns. Whether they were there searching for a better life,
or criminals fleeing from justice, they combined to threaten the very
existence of the indigenous people and exposed them to genocide and ethnic
cleansing. Those who survived were forced into reservations and ghettos,
like so many endangered species.

There is no official recognition of this crime; no formal apology; and no
reparations or compensation for the children and grandchildren of the
victims. Quite the opposite, in fact. Monuments glorifying the people
behind the massacres and atrocities are erected and revered, from
Christopher Columbus to the slave owners and those who led the conquering
armies.

*The ‘Palestinian Chair’: Exposing Israel’s direct role in US violence
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200615-the-palestinian-chair-exposing-israels-direct-role-in-us-violence/>*

There is no fundamental difference between this history and the founding
narrative of Israel. Immigrants and adventurers have entered Palestine from
the end of the nineteenth century and have not stopped coming. Massacres
and ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population followed as surely as
night follows day. The founding myth that this was “a land without a people
[Palestine] for a people without a land [the Jews]” is a lie.

There is daily enslavement of cheap Palestinian labour, and a system of
racial discrimination in every aspect of daily life at the hands of Israel.
The rights of the people in their own land are denied at every level, while
colonial-settlers seize more land and build their illegal settlements.
Israel’s US-sanctioned annexation of ever more Palestinian land reflects
its expansionist ideology — Zionism — just as the native Palestinians
reflect the plight of the native Americans, and their proposed
non-contiguous population zones reflect the native reservations across the
US, ghettos by any other name.

[image: Israelis gather to stage a demonstration to protest against
Israel's annexation plan for the illegal settlements in West Bank and
Jordan Valley, in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 6, 2020 [Nir Keidar / Anadolu
Agency]]

Israelis gather to stage a demonstration to protest against Israel’s
annexation plan for the illegal settlements in West Bank and Jordan Valley,
in Tel Aviv on 6 June 2020 [Mostafa Alkharouf / Anadolu Agency]

There is no difference between Chaim Weizmann and Columbus; nor any
difference between racist slavers and Israeli terrorists and generals such
as Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, David Ben-Gurion,
Ariel Sharon, Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres,
Benjamin Netanyahu, Tzipi Livni, Naftali Bennett, Ovadia Yosef and Amir
Peretz. Their names are a roll call of shame.

As statues of racists and slavers fall in US and European cities, Israel
must fear the collapse of the idols it has built in the minds of Europeans
and Americans who pay respect bordering on worship to its founding fathers
and leaders.

*READ: Black lives should matter in the Middle East too, so where is the
rage?
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200609-black-lives-should-matter-in-the-middle-east-too-so-where-is-the-rage/>*

Not only does Israel need to be worried about its history and narrative as
the West is starting to address its own dark past, but it should also be
worried about its future. Its plans and “solutions” for the “Palestinian
problem” are racist in very ugly ways. The world no longer has any
tolerance for racism; George Floyd’s murder wasn’t the first, and may not
be the last, but it was certainly the straw which has broken the camel’s
back. Racism is now a dirty word, more so than before, and the world will
soon be disgusted by Israel’s racism.

The protests in America and Europe are more radical than those before.
People are not satisfied with condemning racist policies and practices, nor
are they looking simply to reform the police and justice system. They are
not talking about equal citizenship or demanding it for everyone without
exception. Rather, the protesters are digging deep into history to the root
of the racism problem. It is probable that we will see a wave of new
historians in the West, who will rewrite the history of their countries.

Such historians may well include Israel within their remit, founded as it
is on terrorism and the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous population. They
will refute the official racist, colonial narrative and replace it with a
more objective version of history. We may then see Arabs and Jews rushing
onto the streets and squares to overthrow the symbols of aggression and
enslavement that are Israel’s racist idols.

*Translated from The New Khalij
<https://thenewkhalij.news/article/194562/%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A3%D9%86-%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%84%D9%82>,
14 June 2020*

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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