Fear and loathing inside Israel
JVL Introduction
We commend this powerful, pessimistic piece by an Israeli-American historian Prof Omer Bartov, looking at the reality of Israel today as well as at key aspects of its history. A deep concern is the seeming inability of so many Israelis to consider the humanity of the people in Gaza – and almost certainly those in the West Bank or Palestinians anywhere.
Bartov’s conversations with left leaning Israelis show many are so overcome with grief at Israeli losses on October 7th and the fears that were also engendered that they cannot even express compassion for the children in Gaza who have suffered so greatly.
Not for the first time in his life, Bartov makes comparisons with the German Army in World War Two in relation to the extreme dehumanisation of “the enemy” – Jews, Bolsheviks and now Hamas and all in Gaza:
“Thousands of children were killed? It’s the enemy’s fault. Our own children were killed? That is certainly the enemy’s fault. If Hamas carry out a massacre in a kibbutz, they are Nazis. If we drop 2,000-pound bombs on refugee shelters and kill hundreds of civilians, it’s Hamas’s fault for hiding close to these shelters. After what they did to us, we have no choice but to root them out. After what we did to them, we can only imagine what they would do to us if we don’t destroy them. We simply have no choice.”
LL
This article was originally published by The Guardian Long Read on Tue 13 Aug 2024. Read the original here.
As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I was deeply disturbed by my recent visit to Israel
This summer, one of my lectures was protested by far-right students. Their rhetoric brought to mind some of the darkest moments of 20th-century history – and overlapped with mainstream Israeli views to a shocking degree
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Most Israeli’s are so far gone that if Netanyahu publicly confessed and admitted that he knew months in advance that hamas was planning a big attack and that he deliberately let it go ahead, they wouldn’t have any problem with it. The power of propaganda and manipulation is second nature to the psychopathic elite.
Brilliant insightful article.
The unsaid conclusion seems to be, that the genocide will only end with the defeat of apartheid Israel, as that is how the Nazi holocaust ended [as the current colonisers are overwhelmingly inured to the suffering of the Palestinians].
Revenge is OK for us as we are only human but if when do it it only proves how inhuman they are. OK.
A very long very interesting read .BUT..
1) most of the atrocities blamed on Hamas have now been discredited as FAKE and many Israeli deaths were at the hands of IDF..
2)The Times of Israel reported weeks ago that Hamas had offered to release ALL the Hostages on Oct9th . Israel said NO..
Not one Israeli interview or article mentions that Israel signed contracts with BP for the Gaza Gas field nearly 3 years ago.. and that Israel KNEW Hamas were due to retaliate as Israel had been escalating the violence since…in fact Israel was warned by Egypt..
I do think this lecturer thinks he’s even handed but yet again he made excuses for ISRAEL.. and surely the name IDF has become a horrible lie.. 76 years of Israeli occupation & ethnic cleansing.. IGF is the correct term..or at the very least IOF..
A brave analysis by a brave historian … but I think Prof Bartov sees more than he’s yet willing to say.
It isn’t just one “elephant in the room” that no-one wants to talk about, it’s a whole herd of them jostling around. Under that kind of pressure, who knows how long the “walls” of the state of Israel will stand? And what happens after they fall?
I’m sorry but these first five replies do not do justice to what Bartov recognises. His analysis calls for everyone to take action to stop what is happening. Not just words, not just marches, not just UN meetings, but UN action and action by all of us who recognise that there can be only one aim — peace. His message is that the Second World War is not yet over; it has gone on and on and on in the Middle East. It must be ended finally because it will destroy everyone in the Middle East and fester far beyond as well. The ICJ and the ICC must also act, not just talk. I fear that if such action is not taken it will also be the end of the United Nations, and that absolutely cannot be allowed to happen. What was said at the end of the Security Council meeting yesterday by Palestine and then Israel illustrated this with horrific clarity as well. Along with everyone else who hears Bartov’s plea, I think JVL, JVP and every other Jewish group who are calling for peace and reconciliation must join together with fellow supporters of peace and reconciliation, first in the Muslim world but also everyone, to make this call public across the world alongside and with all the UN agencies and councils. I hope JVL will consider calling an urgent meeting with the aim of taking an active role in making this happen. I’m volunteering to be involved. Who else??
ZionNazism and Jewish superiority of those supporting this movement, promotes antipathy to all non-jews, but especially to the Palestinians whose people are all terrorists or potential terrorists and thus deserving of death.
Probably all of us share Marge’s pain over our inability to STOP the ongoing horror, by any of the means we’ve tried so far. One thought ….
Often the most effective actions individuals and relatively small groups (eg JVL) can take to frustrate – and hopefully end – evil is by working harder at the job of focusing and co-ordinating the efforts of the many different groups which are each trying to achieve broadly similar goals.
The individuals co-ordinating the UK and other protest marches for Gaza week in and week out, for example, have slowly changed how the world and the world’s media view Israel and Palestine. Similarly, there’ve been co-ordinators amongst the lawyers working to mount and fund dozens of cases against their national governments for their failures to block arms supplies being used for genocide. Some national governments have now changed path (perhaps because of this pressure?). Better co-ordination improves outcomes.
At local level, Marge and fellow thinkers might could plan a small campaign of emails for their local paper’s online letters page perhaps to encourage new thinking by the public. Local readers won’t take much notice of just one letter … but their awareness of what the problems and potential solutions are should grow by the time the twentieth email appears!
Perversely this article perfectly ‘Others’ Israel, the logical conclusion is we would not shed a tear if they were wiped off the face of the earth
The fact that they seem determined to force that concludion does not excuse us
So called friends of Israel and the rest of humanity must find a way to stop this utter madness
Cathy said the following in her comment:
The Times of Israel reported weeks ago that Hamas had offered to release ALL the Hostages on Oct 9th . Israel said NO..
So I just did a search on the Times of Israel website to try and find the article and found this one from April 26th headlined ‘”No doubt” Netanyahu preventing hostage deal, charges ex-spokesman of Families Forum’, in which it says the following (quoting Haim Rubenstein, the ex-spokesman of Families Forum):
“We later found out that Hamas had offered on October 9 or 10 to release all the civilian hostages in exchange for the IDF not entering the Strip, but the government rejected the offer.”
At another point in the article/interview Haim Rubenstein says the following:
“You need to understand that Netanyahu set up Hirsch’s team because the Prime Minister’s Office didn’t want there to be an external body criticizing the government for its conduct surrounding the hostages.”
And this, when asked why he resigned as the families spokesman:
Why did you resign as the families’ spokesman, a role you defined as the project of your lifetime?
“After five months of 24/7 work for the families, my own family needed me. There were also other reasons, such as the Prime Minister’s Office’s meddling in the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, in an attempt to divide [the families].”
(Some families have started to openly call on Netanyahu and his government to resign, while other families reject those messages. Rubinstein rejected claims leveled against him of “politicizing” the hostage families’ cause: “The opposite is true: Netanyahu’s people were the only ones making it political.”)
https://www.timesofisrael.com/no-doubt-netanyahu-preventing-hostage-deal-charges-ex-spokesman-of-families-forum/
The UN Security Council now have the chance to prevent the devastation that could be rained down on Israel if there is no Ceasefire, for their own sake
A peacekeeping force should be sent into Gaza and the West Bank
The alternative does not bear thinking about