There is a reason why Israel has been so ostentatious in its savaging of Gaza and its people. And it is the very same reason Israel felt emboldened to violate the diplomatic sanctity of Iran’s consulate in Damascus. Because for decades Israel has been guaranteed protection and assistance from the West, whatever crimes it commits. Israel’s founders ethnically cleansed much of Palestine in 1948, far beyond the terms of partition set out by the UN a year earlier. It imposed a military occupation on the remnants of historic Palestine in 1967, driving out yet more of the native population. It then imposed a regime of apartheid on the few areas where Palestinians remained. In their West Bank reservations, Palestinians have been systematically brutalised, their homes demolished, and illegal Jewish settlements built on their land. The Palestinians’ holy places have been gradually surrounded and taken from them. Separately, Gaza has been sealed off for 17 years, and its population denied freedom of movement, employment and the basics of life. Israel’s reign of terror to maintain its absolute control has meant imprisonment and torture are a rite of passage for most Palestinian men. Any protest is ruthlessly crushed. Now Israel has added mass slaughter in Gaza – genocide – to its long list of crimes. Israel’s displacements of Palestinians to neighbouring states caused by its ethnic cleansing operations and slaughter have destabilised the wider region. And to secure its militarised settler-colonial project in the Middle East – and its place as Washington’s top-dog client state in the region – Israel has intimidated, bombed and invaded its neighbours on a regular basis. Its attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus was just the latest of serial humiliations faced by Arab states. And through all of this, Washington and its vassal states have directed no more than occasional, lip-service calls for restraint towards Israel. There were never any consequences – only rewards from the West in the form of endless billions in aid and special trading status. This is an extract from my latest article The West now wants 'restraint'- after months of fuelling a genocide in Gaza: middleeasteye.net/opinion/west-g…
This assessment sounds plausible. I wil read the entire article. I wonder of late if Israel has now crossed lines from which it will never be able to return, in the court of global opinion…. To play devil’s advocate, what is your response to the suggestion that Hamas employs war crime tactics (using civilians as “human shields”), which have proven successful in previous wars—both as military strategy and also in swaying international opinion/support? Coleman Hughes made this argument on the Joe Rogan podcast, recently.
@Jonathan_K_Cook @wtfarchives The sanctity of Irans consulate?! The IRGC are a designated Terrorist organization. They are not affiliated with the UN. Why is this difficult?! The building was NOT a diplomatic facility!
@Jonathan_K_Cook It’s all true. But one thing Iran has showed the world is there’s only so far the West will go to support this failing garrison state. And that’s not nothing.
@Jonathan_K_Cook @WyvernGules Nice summary, agree with most points, but I cannot help feeling that the Israeli side of the story (not the most recent one obviously) should be carefully studied as well. It's a very complicated situation - not straightforward at all (I am pro-Palestine)