<div dir="ltr">
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220124-israels-hasbara-in-sheikh-jarrah-on-gilad-erdans-terrorist-rock-and-faulty-logic/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel's Hasbara in Sheikh Jarrah: On Gilad Erdan's 'Terrorist' Rock and Faulty Logic</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Dr Ramzy Barou - January 25, 2022</div></div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-post-content"> <p>Israeli
Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, is leading his country's
anti-Palestinian propaganda, this time engaging in pre-emptive hasbara
in anticipation of a Palestinian response to the ongoing evictions in
the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.</p> <p>"Would you consider it a terror attack if a rock like this was thrown at your car while driving with your children?" Erdan<a href="https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-693992" target="_blank"> asked</a>
the United Nations Security Council members, while holding the rock in
his hands. "Would you, at the very least, condemn these brutal terror
attacks carried out against Israeli civilians by Palestinians?"</p> <p>This
Israeli logic is quite typical, where oppressed Palestinians are
depicted to be the aggressor, and oppressive Israel – a racist apartheid
state by any standard – presents itself as a victim merely engaging in
defending its own citizens.</p> <p>But Erdan's selective logic is, this
time around, compelled by something else. His UN charade is merely aimed
at creating a distraction from the ongoing horrific events transpiring
in Sheikh Jarrah and throughout occupied East Jerusalem. On Wednesday,
January 19, the Palestinian Salhiya family's home<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/19/israeli-police-evict-palestinian-family-from-sheikh-jarrah-home" target="_blank"> was demolished</a> by Israel, rendering 15 people, mostly children, homeless.</p> <p>A
few days earlier, a heart-wrenching event took place on top of that
very site, when members of the Salhiya family threatened to set
themselves ablaze as they agonised over the imminent loss of their
family home.</p> <p>"We have nothing left for us in Jerusalem. This is
ethnic cleansing. Today me, tomorrow my neighbours. We'd rather die on
our land with dignity than surrender to them," Mahmoud Salhiya, the
owner of the house<a href="https://twitter.com/jennineak/status/1483279348740542469" target="_blank"> said</a>, before he was dissuaded by neighbours not to set himself on fire.</p> <p>These
tragic events are being watched closely, first by Palestinians and also
by people around the world. If the momentum of Israeli destruction
continues, chances are we could witness another popular uprising.
Erdan's spectacle at the UN is a desperate act of propaganda to sway
members of the international community from criticising Israel.</p> <p><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200815-from-fighting-bds-to-fighting-delegitimisation-israels-ministry-of-strategic-affairs-code-for-battling-accountability/"><strong>From fighting BDS to fighting delegitimisation: Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs code for battling accountability</strong></a></p> <p>But Israel is failing at making a case for itself, similar to its failure to defend its horrific<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/10/4/october-2000-vs-may-2021-how-palestinians-defied-fragmentation" target="_blank"> violence</a>
against Palestinians throughout occupied Palestine in May 2021. Even
Israel's traditional allies are speaking out against the latest round of
ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah.</p> <p>The US envoy to the United
Nations expressed 'concern' over the forced expulsion in the Palestinian
neighbourhood. "To make progress, both Israel and the Palestinian
Authority must refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions
and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution," Linda
Thomas-Greenfield <a href="https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-by-ambassador-linda-thomas-greenfield-at-a-un-security-council-open-debate-on-the-situation-in-the-middle-east2/" target="_blank">said</a>,
using the usually guarded language. However, Thomas-Greenfield went on
to warn against the "annexations of territory, settlement activity,
demolitions and evictions – like what we saw in Sheikh Jarrah."</p> <p>Also on 19 January, US lawmaker, Rep. Mark Pocan<a href="https://twitter.com/repmarkpocan/status/1483900421018116097" target="_blank"> strongly criticised</a> the Israeli decision to forcefully evict the Salhiya family in Sheikh Jarrah.</p> <p>"Last
night, in the cover of darkness & freezing cold, the homes of the
Salhiyeh family in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, were destroyed by Israeli
forces leaving 15 people homeless. This is unacceptable and must end,"
Pocan<a href="https://twitter.com/repmarkpocan/status/1483900421018116097" target="_blank"> tweeted</a>, adding the popular hashtag #Savesheikhjarrah.</p> <p>For
his part, the UN Middle East special envoy, Tor Wennsland, strongly
condemned the expulsion of the Palestinian family by Israeli occupation
authorities.</p> <p>"I call on Israeli authorities to end the
displacement and eviction of Palestinians, in line with its obligations
under international law, and to approve additional plans that would
enable Palestinian communities to build legally and address their
development needs," the UN website<a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2022/sc14769.doc.htm" target="_blank"> reported</a> Wennesland as saying.</p> <p>Back to Erdan's display, where he showcased Palestinian 'terrorism' by presenting the supposedly damning evidence of a rock.</p> <p><strong>Opinion: <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210811-a-new-palestinian-generation-is-leading-a-different-media-strategy/">A new Palestinian generation is leading a different media strategy </a></strong></p> <p>It
must be said that criticising or defending Palestinian resistance,
however symbolic, allows Israel to engage in a misleading and frivolous
conversation that creates a moral equivalence between the occupier and
the occupied, the colonialist and the colonised.</p> <p>Whether Palestinians use a stone, a gun or a clenched fist to resist and defend themselves, their resistance is morally and<a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/right-to-resist-in-occupied-palestine-denial-and-suppression/" target="_blank"> legally</a>
justifiable. Israel, on the other hand, like all other military
occupiers and colonialists, has neither a moral nor a legal argument to
justify its oppression of Palestinians, the destruction of their homes –
like that of the Salhiya family – and the killing of their children.</p> <p>Judging
by the growing solidarity with Palestinians everywhere, it is clear
that Erdan's pathetic display is just another exercise in political
futility.</p> <p>Nothing that Israel can say or do will alter the
glaring reality, that a new generation of Palestinians is, once again,
unifying the Palestinian discourse, namely around Palestinian resistance
to the Israeli occupation. Whether Israeli oppression is happening in<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/sheikh-jarrah-and-the-renewed-israeli-palestinian-violence" target="_blank"> Sheikh Jarrah</a>, in<a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/timeline-humanitarian-impact-gaza-blockade" target="_blank"> Gaza</a>, or the<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/13/israeli-forces-violently-suppress-palestinian-protest-in-naqab" target="_blank"> Naqab desert</a>,
Palestinians now collectively respond as one unified political body.
Thanks to the May 2021 rebellion, gone are the days in which
Palestinians are expelled from their homes in the middle of the night as
if a routine event, with no consequence.</p> <p>Moreover, the political
language that is being used to describe events in Palestine in the
international arena is itself changing. Israel's 'right to defend
itself' is no longer the knee-jerk reaction that is often used to
describe Israeli violence and Palestinian resistance.</p> <p>And
finally, it seems that Israel is no longer the party shaping events in
Palestine and controlling the discourse around these events.
Palestinians, and a growing international movement of supporters, are
proactively shaping global perceptions of the realities on the ground.
Neither Erdan nor his bosses in Tel Aviv can reverse this
Palestinian-led momentum. His UN display merely reflects the degree of
desperation and intellectual bankruptcy of Israel and its
representatives.</p> <p><strong>Opinion: <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211230-the-un-war-crimes-probe-is-still-tarnished-by-decades-of-colonial-support-for-israel/">The UN war crimes probe is still tarnished by decades of colonial support for Israel</a></strong></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>
</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>