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<font size="1"><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200616-israel-should-be-worried-about-the-global-uprising-against-racism/">https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200616-israel-should-be-worried-about-the-global-uprising-against-racism/</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel should be worried about the global uprising against racism</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Oraib Al-Rantawi - June 16, 2020<br></div></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-line-height4 gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div> <p> <span> June 16, 2020 at 11:31 am </span></p></div><div id="gmail-post-content"><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p><strong><a title="The ‘Palestinian Chair’: Exposing Israel’s direct role in US violence" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200615-the-palestinian-chair-exposing-israels-direct-role-in-us-violence/">The ‘Palestinian Chair’: Exposing Israel’s direct role in US violence</a></strong></p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><div id="gmail-attachment_404958" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20200607_2_42837367_55708350.jpg?fit=933%2C622&quality=85&strip=all&ssl=1" alt="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]" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="451" height="301"></p><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">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]</p></div><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p><strong>READ: <a title="Black lives should matter in the Middle East too, so where is the rage?" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200609-black-lives-should-matter-in-the-middle-east-too-so-where-is-the-rage/">Black lives should matter in the Middle East too, so where is the rage?</a></strong></p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p><em>Translated from <a href="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" target="_blank">The New Khalij</a>, 14 June 2020</em></p><p>The
views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.</p> </div></div></div>
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