Source: Eurasia ReviewRamzy Baroud
‘Sooner or later, there will be no escape from conducting a
significant operation [in Gaza],’ said Israeli army Chief of Staff
Lieutenent General Benny Gantz on December 27, the third anniversary of
Operation Cast Lead.
Gantz’s chillingly casual remarks were cited
as just another nonchalant declaration of war against a besieged,
impoverished, overcrowded and routinely bombarded stretch of land. From
the Israeli military and political point of view, Gaza merely exists as
an opportunity for the Israeli army to test its latest weapon technology
and send political messages to Israel’s foes in the region.
As if
to validate Gantz’s logic, the ardently rightwing Israeli Jerusalem
Post elaborated on December 28: “The Israel Air Force, working with the
Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency], fired a missile at Gaza terrorists
[fighters] involved in recent attacks on Israel, killing one and
injuring two others.” They were ‘terrorists’ because Israel has
designated them so. There was no due process and none was expected. When
it comes to reporting on Israel/Palestine, corporate media largely
relies on Israeli lies and propaganda. And one moral crisis begets
another. The Israeli propaganda is predicated mostly on racism, not just
in its view of Palestinians in Gaza, but of all Arabs.
Let’s
examine the curious logic of Yuli Edelstein, Israel’s Propaganda and
Diaspora Minister. In a recent talk in Or Yehuda, the man laid out his
understanding of how peace can be achieved. “As long as the Arab nation
continues to be a deplorable nation, which continues investing in
infrastructure for terrorism, education to hate, and welfare for the
families of shaheeds [martyrs], there will be no peace,” he said,
according to Yossi Gurvitz in +972 online magazine.
Gurvitz
further wrote: “I phoned the minister’s office for comment, and asked
his spokesman: ‘Are you aware of the fact there are some 80 million
Arabs in the world, from Sudan to Syria?’ He replied: ‘Yes, there are —
and the minister meant them all.’”
I must admit that cogent
political analysis becomes difficult when a country’s foreign policy and
military strategy are constructed on unabashed racism, ignorance and a
reproduction of 19th century Orientalism. How is one to forecast the
possibilities of a just peace in Palestine when a well-regarded Israeli
minister places a condition on the ‘Arab nation’ to become less
deplorable? How can Gaza avoid another ‘Operation Cast Lead’ if its fate
has already been sealed, with the ambiguous timeframe of ‘sooner or
later’?
