Erasing Palestine in the name of Jewish trauma
JVL Introduction
Joseph Finlay has gifted us a patient, courageous, step-by-step account of the evolution of the now-dominant Israeli world view – that historical Jewish trauma justifies the erasure of the Palestinian people.
He traces the development since the 1960s of the claim that Israel faces enemies intent on genocide. Attempts by Palestinian refugees to return home, or to regain territory in Palestine, were conceived as attempts to destroy the state of Israel and this was elided with attempts to murder all Jews.
“With this mindset,” Finlay says, “any Arab leader could be painted as a new Hitler.”
Recognising October 7th as not genocidal but a cruel and brutal act of anti-colonial violence intended to free Palestinian prisoners and put Palestine back on the agenda, could make responses other than total annihilation possible.
Tragically, as things stand, Israel’s success in branding any and all critics antisemitic makes the solutions suggested in the article almost inconceivable.
NWI
This article was originally published by Torat Albion on Wed 20 Nov 2024. Read the original here.
Seeing Things Clearly
How projecting past persecution onto Palestinians only perpetuates the war
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‘The trauma of the Nazi Holocaust is deep rooted and pervasive amongst many Jews, and it should be heard, respected and honoured. We need regular opportunities to express that trauma and to mourn the victims of the Shoah.’
Of course there were some atrocities but they pale into comparison with what has happened since. Contrary to the ’40 beheaded babies’ stories just 1 baby died – accidentally. About 36 children died in total. Compare that to the literally thousands of children who have died at the hands of the Zionist war machine.
It is my view and that of Asa Winstanley and others that a majority of civilians died at the hands of Israel’s military and the mass car graveyard bears this out. Mass Hannibal was responsible since Israel preferred to kill its hostages rather than have them exchanged for prisoners. That is still the case.
I don’t think we should condemn anti-colonial violence. How else is colonialism to be removed?
I agree with Yehuda Elkana. It’s time to forget because remembrance of the holocaust is bound up with the genocide of the Palestinians. It is not possible today for Jews to remember the holocaust other than as a justification of the Zionist settler colonial project.
Immediately after the holocaust the Arabs were painted as the new Nazis. Ben Gurion was first in the field.
As for October 7. All anti-colonial violence is cruel and brutal. October 7 was far less brutal than Algeria and the slave revolts.
A helpful article. But it is still afflicted by what is termed ‘the hierarchy of the oppressed’. We do not see this sort of argument for the people of the Congo, where the effects of the genocide by the Belgium occupation still continue. And such parallels should also apply to the descendants of the slaves transported to the Americas; the Native Americans; the Maori and the Aborigine people.
There should be no attempted justification for settler colonialism.
yes Tony but why was not Israel set up in Europe because the Holocaust was in Europe and the vast majority who suffered and were murdered were European not Palestinian. Palestine is Palestine not Europe ?? Just asking.
I know it’s simplistic – but I wish we all saw each other as unique, special, unreplaceable individuals, all of us on this Earth for a relatively short period.
The social, ethnic, religious and political trappings around each individual don’t matter in comparison with that basic truth.