[News] ‘Turning Gaza into ashes': Israel propaganda vs the world

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeastmonitor.com
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231031-turning-gaza-into-ashes-israel-propaganda-vs-the-world/>
‘Turning Gaza into ashes': Israel propaganda vs the world by Dr Ramzy Baroud
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/6-author/178473/>- October 31, 2023
------------------------------

Gaza has changed the political equation in Palestine. Moreover, the
repercussions of the ongoing devastating war are likely to alter the
political equation in the entire Middle East and to re-centre Palestine as
the world’s most urgent political crisis for years to come.

Since the establishment
<https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/may/31/londonreviewofbooks> of
Israel in 1948, facilitated by Britain and protected by the United States
and other Western countries, the priorities have been entirely Israeli.
“Israel’s security”; Israel’s “military edge”; “Israel’s right to defend
itself”, and much more, are the mantras that have defined the West’s
political discourse on the Israeli occupation and apartheid
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210112-israel-is-apartheid-state-concludes-major-human-rights-group/>
in Palestine.

This bizarre US-Western understanding of the so-called conflict, that an
oppressor has “rights” over the oppressed; the occupier has “rights” over
the occupied, has enabled Israel to maintain a military occupation over
Palestinian territories that has lasted
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/06/israel-occupation-50-years-of-dispossession/>
for over 56 years. Indeed, many would argue that it is for more than 75
years.

It has also empowered Israel to neglect the roots of this “conflict”,
namely the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, and the long-denied, and
very legitimate, Right of Return
<https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/06/right-return-palestinian-refugees-must-be-prioritised-over-political>
for Palestinian refugees.

[image: Hundreds killed in Israeli attack on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in
Gaza - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]]

Hundreds killed in Israeli attack on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza –
Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

Within this context, every Palestinian-Arab overture for peace was
rejected. Even the supposed “peace process”, namely the Oslo Accords
<https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2023/09/14/thirty-years-after-the-oslo-accords-no-one-wants-to-acknowledge-their-failure_6134578_23.html>,
turned into an opportunity for Tel Aviv to entrench its military
occupation, expand its illegal settlements and corral Palestinians in
Bantustan-like spaces, humiliated and racially segregated.

Some Palestinians, whether enticed by American handouts or shattered by a
lingering sense of defeat, lined up to receive the US-Israeli peace
dividends: pitiful crumbs of false prestige, empty titles and limited
power, granted and denied by Israel itself.

However, the Israeli war against the Palestinians in Gaza is already
changing much of this painful status quo. The occupation state’s constant
insistence
<https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/this-is-not-a-war-with-palestinians-but-hamas-israel-envoy-at-un-4517770#:~:text=Israel's%20permanent%20ambassador%20to%20the%20United%20Nations%2C%20Gilad%20Erdan%2C%20said,Palestinian%20people%2C%20peace%20or%20dialogue.>
that its deadly war is against Hamas, against “terror”, against Islamic
fundamentalism, and all the rest, may have convinced those who are ready to
accept the Israeli version of events at face value. However, as the bodies
of thousands of Palestinian civilians, including thousands of children,
began piling up
<https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/27/middleeast/gaza-death-toll-report-intl/index.html#:~:text=The%20report%20stated%20that%20between,than%20stated%20in%20the%20report.>
at Gaza’s hospital morgues and, tragically, in the streets, the narrative
began changing.

The pulverised bodies of Palestinian children, of whole families who
perished together, stand witness to the brutality of Israel; to the immoral
support of its allies; and to the inhumanity of an international order that
rewards the murderer and reprimands the victim.

Of all the biased statements made by US President Joe Biden, the one where
he suggested
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/biden-says-he-has-no-confidence-palestinian-death-count-2023-10-26/>
that Palestinians are lying about the body count of their own dead was
perhaps the most inhumane. Washington may not realise this yet, but the
repercussions of its unconditional support for Israel will prove to be
disastrous in the future, especially in a region that is fed up with war,
hegemony, double standards, sectarian divisions and endless conflict.

*READ: US will not deploy troops to Israel for Gaza offensive, VP Harris
says
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231030-us-will-not-deploy-troops-to-israel-for-gaza-offensive-vp-harris-says/>*

The greatest impact, though, will be felt in Israel itself. When
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour gave a powerful, emotional
speech
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/27/as-the-united-nations-votes-on-gaza-palestine-can-only-observe>
on 26 October, he could not hold back his tears. International delegations
at the UN General Assembly clapped non-stop, reflecting the growing support
for Palestine, not only at the UN, but also in hundreds of towns and
cities, and on countless street corners around the world.

When the Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, who had promoted many
of the lies communicated by Tel Aviv, especially in the early days of the
war, finished his speech, not a single person clapped. The contempt was
palpable.

The Israeli narrative had clearly crumbled into a thousand pieces. Israel
has never been so isolated. This is definitely not the “New Middle East”
that Netanyahu had prophesised
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/22/palestinians-must-not-have-veto-over-arab-israel-deals-netanyahu-tells-un>
in his UN General Assembly speech on 22 September.

Unable to fathom how the initial sympathy with Israel turned so quickly
into outright disdain, the settler-colonial state resorted to old tactics.
On 25 October, Erdan demanded
<https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/israelhamas-war-israel-calls-for-resignation-of-un-chief-over-remarks-on-action-in-gaza-101698167413112.html>
that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should resign for being “unfit
to lead the UN”. The UN chief’s supposedly unforgivable crime was to
suggest that “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum”. Which, of
course, they didn’t.

As far as Israel and its American benefactors are concerned, however, no
context is allowed to taint the perfect image that the Israelis have
created for its genocide in Gaza. In this perfect Israeli world, no one is
allowed to speak of military occupation; of siege; of the lack of political
prospects; of displacement; of the absence of a just peace for Palestinians.

Even though Amnesty International has said
<https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/israel-opt-urgent-call-for-an-immediate-ceasefire-by-all-parties-to-end-unprecedented-civilian-suffering/#:~:text=Serious%20violations%20of%20international%20humanitarian,Callamard%20Amnesty%20International's%20Secretary%20General.>
that both sides have committed “serious violations of international
humanitarian law, including war crimes”, Israel still attacked it, accusing
the organisation of being “anti-Semitic”. In Israel’s thinking, even the
world’s leading international human rights group is not permitted to
contextualise the atrocities in Gaza or dare suggest that one of the “root
causes” of the conflict is “Israel’s system of apartheid
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220201-amnesty-labels-israel-an-apartheid-state/>
imposed on all Palestinians”.

Israel is no longer all-powerful, as it wants us to believe. Recent events
have proven that its “invincible army” — a branding that allowed Israel to
become
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-ranked-worlds-10th-largest-weapons-exporter-in-past-five-years/#:~:text=Israel%20was%20ranked%20the%2010th,independent%20global%20security%20think%20tank.>,
as of 2022, the world’s tenth-largest international military exporter —
turned out to be a paper tiger.

This is what is infuriating Israel the most. “Muslims are not afraid of us
anymore,” former Knesset member Moshe Feiglin told
<https://www.rt.com/news/585800-israeli-politician-gaza-dresden/> *Arutz
Sheva-Israel National News*. To restore this fear, the extremist politician
called for burning “Gaza to ashes immediately.”

But nothing will turn Gaza into ashes. Not even the more than 12,000 tons
of high explosives dropped
<https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-media-office-says-over-12-000-tons-of-explosives-dropped-by-israel-since-oct-7/3031524#:~:text=GAZA%20CITY%2C%20Palestine,office%20said%20in%20a%20statement.>
on the Strip in the first two weeks of war which have already incinerated
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/26/satellite-images-show-scale-of-destruction-in-israels-assault-on-gaza>
at least 45 per cent of its housing units, according to the UN’s
humanitarian office.

*READ: Israeli missile strikes Gaza UNRWA school
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231008-israeli-missile-strikes-gaza-unrwa-school/>*

Gaza will not die because it is a powerful idea that is deeply entrenched
within the hearts and minds of every Arab, of every Muslim and of millions
of people around the world. This new idea is challenging the long-held
belief that the world needs to cater to Israel’s priorities, security,
selfish definitions of peace and all of the other illusions.

The focus should now be on where it should have always been: the priorities
of the oppressed, not the oppressor. It is time to speak about Palestinian
rights, Palestinian security and the Palestinian people’s right — in fact,
obligation — to defend themselves.

It is time for us to speak about justice — real justice — the outcome of
which is non-negotiable: equality, full political rights, freedom and the
right of return.

Gaza is telling the world all of this, and much more. And now it is time
for us to listen.

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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