[News] Netanyahu and the Israeli protesters are on the same genocidal page

[Anti-Imperialist News]

aljazeera.com
<https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/9/5/netanyahu-and-the-israeli-protesters-are-on-the-same-genocidal-page>
Netanyahu and the Israeli protesters are on the same genocidal page
Belén Fernández
September 5, 2024
------------------------------

In July 2014, shortly after the kickoff of Israel’s “Operation Protective
Edge
<https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/11/6/israels-psychological-operation-in-gaza>”
in the Gaza Strip – a 51-day affair that ultimately killed 2,251
Palestinians, including 551 children – Danish journalist Nikolaj Krak
penned a dispatch
<https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/2014-07-11/when-bombs-receive-applause>
from Israel for the Copenhagen-based Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper.

Describing the scene on a hill on the outskirts of the Israeli city of
Sderot near the Gaza border, Krak noted that the area had been “transformed
into something that most closely resembles the front row of a reality war
theatre”. Israelis had “dragged camping chairs and sofas” to the hilltop,
where some spectators sat “with crackling bags of popcorn”, while others
partook of hookahs and cheerful banter. Fiery, earth-shaking air strikes on
Gaza across the way were met with cheers and “solid applause”.

To be sure, Israelis have always enjoyed a good murderous spectacle – which
is hardly surprising for a nation whose very existence is predicated on
mass slaughter. But as it turns out, the applause is not quite so solid
when Israeli lives are caught up in the explosive apocalyptic display.

For the past 11 months, Israel’s “reality war theatre” has offered a view
of all-out genocide in the Gaza Strip, where the official death toll
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker>
has reached nearly 41,000. A July Lancet study
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/8/gaza-toll-could-exceed-186000-lancet-study-says>
found that the true number of deaths may well top 186,000 – and that is
only if the killing ends soon.

Now, massive protests
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/4/why-are-hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-protesting-across-israel>
have broken out across Israel demanding that the government of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enact a ceasefire and hostage deal to free the
remaining 100 or so
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/1/israel-recovers-bodies-of-six-captives-held-in-gaza>
Israeli captives held in Gaza. On Sunday, when the Israeli military
recovered the bodies of six captives, CNN reported that some 700,000
protesters had taken to the streets across the country. And on Monday,
a general
strike
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/2/what-are-israels-protests-and-general-strike-about-and-how-big-are>
spearheaded by Israel’s primary labour union succeeded in shutting much of
the economy down for several hours.

Although certain wannabe peaceniks among the international commentariat
have blindly attributed the protests to a desire to end the bloodshed, the
fact of the matter is that Palestinian blood is not high on the list of
concerns. Rather, the only lives that matter in the besieged, pulverised,
and genocide-stricken Gaza Strip are the lives of the captives – whose
captivity, it bears underscoring, is entirely a result of Israeli policy
and Israel’s unceasing sadistic treatment of Palestinians.

As Israeli analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg recently commented
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/4/why-are-hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-protesting-across-israel>
to Al Jazeera regarding the aims of the current protests, “the issue of
returning the hostages is centre stage”. Acknowledging that “an
understanding that a deal would also mean an end to the conflict is there,
but rarely stated”, Flaschenberg emphasised that “as far as the protests’
leadership goes, no, it’s all about the hostages”.

The captives, then, have assumed centre stage in Israel’s latest bout of
blood-soaked war theatrics, while for some Israelis the present genocide is
evidently not nearly genocidal enough. During a recent episode of the
popular English-language Israeli podcast “Two Nice Jewish Boys”, the
podcasting duo in question suggested that it would be cool to just press a
button and wipe out “every single living being in Gaza” as well as in the
West Bank.

Time to break out the popcorn and hookahs.

At the end of the day, the disproportionate value assigned to the lives of
the Israeli captives in Gaza vis-à-vis the lives of the Palestinians who
are being annihilated is of a piece with Israel’s trademark chauvinism.
This outlook casts Israelis as the perennial victims of Palestinian
“terrorism” even as Palestinians are consistently massacred at
astronomically higher rates by the Israeli military.

During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, for example, no more than six
Israeli civilians were killed. And yet Israel maintained its monopoly on
victimisation.

In June of this year, the Israeli army undertook a rescue operation
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/8/israeli-army-says-it-rescued-four-captives-held-in-gaza>
in Gaza that freed four captives but reportedly killed 210 Palestinians in
the process – no doubt par for the disproportionate course.

Meanwhile, following the recovery of the bodies of the six captives on
Sunday, Netanyahu blamed Hamas for their demise, declaring
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/2/will-israels-protests-shake-netanyahus-hold-on-power>:
“Whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.” But what about “whoever”
continues to preside over a genocide while assassinating
<https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/7/31/israel-is-not-interested-in-peace>
the top ceasefire negotiator for Hamas and sabotaging prospects
<https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/8/14/less-flexible-just-say-it-nyt-israel-is-sabotaging-a-ceasefire-deal>
for a deal at every turn?

As the protests now demonstrate, many Israelis are on to Netanyahu. But the
issue with the protests is that genocide is not the issue.

Even among Netanyahu’s detractors, there persists a general consensus as to
the unilateral sacrosanctity of Israeli life, which translates into the
assumption of an inalienable right to slaughter Palestinians.

And as the latest episode of Israel’s “reality war theatre” drags on – with
related Israeli killing sprees available for viewing in the West Bank
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/5/five-reported-killed-in-israeli-drone-strike-on-car-in-occupied-west-bank>
and Lebanon
<https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/7/30/israel-is-in-no-place-to-talk-about-red-lines>,
too – this show is really getting old. One would hope Israeli audiences
will eventually tire of it all and walk out, but for the time being
bloodbaths are a guaranteed blockbuster.

*The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not
necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.*
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