The widening gulf between those who condone Israel's daily atrocities committed against innocent Palestinians and those who daily scream in pain and shout in anger against them, is reflected in a catalogue of divided language. Increasingly this language becomes a means of controlling the narrative, and restricting the viewpoint of the target audience to that which suits the great violator of humanity currently occupying the holy city of Jerusalem - Al Quds. It is necessary to develop and refine our own language of resistance to this dreadful aberration of human society - an aberration one might even call 'tragic' given its likely consequences for the world - consequences that will be felt finally by 'Israel' and its supplicants more than by their victims. But before we can define such a language that reflects the experiential reality for those victims we must find a word for the country - the political and strategic territory - that is called the State of 'Israel'. The preferred name for this state - the 'Zionist Entity' is strictly correct, in as far as Zionism is a quasi-theological term not restricted to Jewish proponents, and 'entity' lacks the geographical definition and legitimacy of 'State'. As has been recently proposed and explained for those who don't know or refuse to accept it, the boundaries of this 'State of Israel' are not yet defined under international law, pending a resolution and agreement with both the indigenous Palestinian population and 'traditional owners' of the land, and the governments of neighbouring states, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. All five currently suffer from occupation or bullying by the Zionist state, which continues to act in defiance of UN resolutions and International law. Such behaviour, and the pursuit of extreme racist and apartheid policies within the country it occupies defines 'Israel' as 'fascist', while the behaviour and actions of its army and military leaders aligns the entity with that of the Third Reich and Nazism; I would propose the term "Nazionism" as an appropriate descriptor. That the 'neo-Nazi' state currently holding power in Kiev has become one of 'Israel's' closest partners and allies under the leadership of the Jewish Mr Zelensky seems to validate this description, however 'odious' an idea it may be to the supporters of Tel Aviv. The frightening and ever-expanding array of Nazi-like atrocities being committed by 'Israel's' army in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank have certainly persuaded most of those in the Muslim and Arab world that they are fighting such a 'Nazionism'. Spokesmen for Hamas no longer hesitate to refer to the 'Nazis' in the Israeli government; they are merely stating the obvious. Illustrations abound - and perhaps one day a new Nuremberg trial will certify and prosecute - but a recent stand-out is the bulldozing of a refugee tent encampment outside Al Awda hospital in Northern Gaza, as witnessed by one of Al Jazeera's most committed reporters, Anas Al Sharif. He recently returned to the now almost deserted area to report on the end of Israel's 21 day 'lockdown' of the hospital, and provided this video:
As he and others have reported, many men were taken from within and around the Al Awda hospital to unknown locations where they were treated with no regard to international law or human rights of prisoners. This video appeared today showing the astonishing mistreatment of ‘detainees’, reduced to humiliating submission to Israel’s oppressive army.
We seem to have seen this all before, though it happened long before everyone had a video camera and could expose the crimes committed by the Nazis. Where we have seen it - and quite astonishingly continue to see it, is in movie recreations of Nazi Germany and its occupations. There seems to be a whole industry manufacturing material to 'keep the nightmare alive' - and preserve the identity and exclusivity of the 'Jewish Holocaust' as the only event in World War 2 that must 'never again' be repeated. Other than by the victims, who are given carte blanche to exact retribution for that gross injustice however they like and for as long as they see fit. In fact there is little about the Third Reich's campaign against Jews - ethnic cleansing or genocide - that distinguishes it from the other atrocities committed by the German regime. (or for that matter those also committed by the Allies) During the German occupation of France, the oppressive brutality and ruthlessness of the SS also broke all laws and conventions, with the collective punishment of innocent French villagers used routinely to expose resistance members they may have been sheltering. An excellent and long-running French series - "Un Village Francais" tells the whole story of the German occupation, resistance and of collaboration, representing the reality as far as possible without selective bias, and without special emphasis on the Jewish population's traumas. So as we look at the live scenes from Gaza, and learn news of the atrocities carried out daily and the intolerable conditions for the terrified population, we might question why Israel's army does not induce the same reaction as that afforded to the German army. Did anyone question whether the allied armies were justified in launching a full-out war against them, and effort to kill or drive them out of France? Meanwhile the language used to describe the killings carried out by both sides was starkly different, just as it is now. Germany's actions were all "atrocities" by definition, even when carried out against enemy soldiers, while atrocities carried out by us against innocent civilians could only be called "tragedies", where "non-combatants" were "caught in the crossfire". In the case of the Allies' fight against Hitler's armies in World War 2 this distinction was mostly justified, as most actions in self-defence against an aggressor can be seen as justified. And in the case of Israel's war on Gaza, it is now clear to the majority of people and nations that whatever the Palestinian resistance and its allies may do in self-defence against Israel's shameless onslaught will be justified. Nothing less than the complete vanquishing of Israel's army of occupation and its disarmament will suffice; we may well call this a 'tragedy' for those millions of Israelis who will need to learn to live with whatever is left for them, and be grateful for it. To remind us of what Palestinians now have to live with, and die with - here is my Christmas card - a woman says goodbye to her martyred son in the ruins of the Great Omari mosque - a 'Gaza Nativity' :
DM 30th December 2023