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Photo by Mihriban, pexels.com

The leaders of Israel have waited for this moment: to press the button on the total annihilation of Gaza. Cheered on by their crazed American and European friends (and supported by people who only started watching at the weekend), I ask who will stop Israel from killing over two million people or displacing the ones who somehow manage to escape. Yet they cannot escape. Three and a half days since the Palestinian fighters broke through the Gaza walls, Israel claims it has regained control of the perimeter fences and has bombed the only viable route out of Gaza, the crossing into Egypt at Rafah.

Netanyahu told the Palestinians of Gaza to leave now and yet he knows they are locked within the walls of a prison created by Israel's apartheid regime, so they have nowhere to go.

Truth is hard to find when the bloodlust has reached the level of a zombie horde. Netanyahu retraced his steps and said civilians must leave the buildings and neighbourhoods where Hamas operate - but the Israelis never cared about that before. They have been bombing Gaza indiscriminately for years. It is a city the size of The Isle of Wight, yet unlike the Isle of Wight, with a population of 140,000 (374 people per square kilometre), Gaza has over two million people crammed into its buildings and streets. 6,340 people occupy every square kilometre, meaning it is impossible not to murder innocent children when smart bombs blast into residential areas looking for people with guns. 

The term 'Smart bomb' always makes me shake my head. It's like saying "happy bullets".

Following the surprise, unprecedented, terrorist breakout from Gaza prison, the Israelis feel justified in turning a whole city into rubble, with all the people still inside. "It's our 9/11", claim the Israelis after the horror of the weekend. Just like the US after their 9/11, the Israelis feel justified enough to kill whoever they want in their war on terror. All this means is they are fed up pretending. The Israelis just want to exert full-throttle genocide on the Palestinians and finally, after 75 years of inconvenience, (because these human animals have been in the way for that long), they can at long last create their precious nation of one blood. If that isn't fascism in its purest form, I don't know what is.  

I have underlined the rhetoric used by the leaders of Israel throughout this article, just in case you think this is a propaganda piece. I don't need to write propaganda because the truth is far more powerful.

"I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed"

Yoav Gallant, Israeli defence minister 09/10/2023

The Israelis are not one. It is important to understand their differences because there are Jewish people who believe their leaders do not act according to their faith. These Jews detach themselves from the zionist beliefs of mainstream Israel.

“The U.S. must work to immediately de-escalate to prevent the further loss of life, and not fuel and exacerbate the violence by sending more weapons to Israel.

There is only one way to end violence: to address its root cause, 75 years of Israeli military occupation and Apartheid. We must end U.S. complicity in this systemic oppression”.

JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE

Zionism is the fascist element in Israel, not Judaism. The division between Palestine and Israel is not religious, it is political. It is about the control of land. Politics often hides behind concepts like religion, democracy and peace. War hides in the same way. Politics and war are the stage management of power and everything you see is stage-managed to give industrial-scale violence just cause. Every war is based on a lie and the audience is primed, ready with their popcorn and flags. 

Israelis have grown up to hate Arabs because they have been told to hate Arabs. What did Arabs do? They got in the way. Why are Palestinians killing Israelis now? Because the apartheid state of Israel has killed Palestinians for 75 years. It has occupied their land and imprisoned them for 56 of those years. The occupier (Israel) has to hate the people it occupies so their actions can be seen as justified and reasonable. "Arabs are subhuman". "They are dirty." They hate us". "They live in squalor, like rats". Israelis hate Arabs because they are told to. Palestinian Arabs hate Israelis because for generations, they have been victims of hate and the brutality inflicted upon Palestinians has increased year after year. The aim is simple. Eradicate Palestine from the map. Two weeks ago, Netanyahu stood at the UN showing off his map of a Palestine-free Middle East.

The taste of Palestinian blood is turning half the world crazy. We can only hope, although right now it’s looking too little too late, that the ever-awakening population of the world knows the true story of Palestine and will remember what is happening. If you know the story you must try to speak for those who have no voice. The last Palestinian who survives will remember these horrendous days in October 2023. They will also never forget the people who stood by and cheered the Israelis on. For me, the lack of outrage at the terror being inflicted upon a city of two million innocent people is unforgivable. We cannot pick and choose which violence is okay and we should never justify the industrial-scale bombing that is turning Gaza into a mass grave.

You can kill a revolutionary but you cannot kill the revolution 

Fred Hampton

The murder and kidnapping of Israeli citizens at a music festival are a horrifying example of what happens when hate breeds hate. Kidnapping and murder are unacceptable and can never be tolerated. The individuals who perpetrated these acts are guilty of the worst crimes on humanity, however, people must not react by rejecting the Palestinian cause. The crimes perpetrated at the weekend do not represent the future that Palestinians and Israelis must seek. They represent the past. They represent the oppression Palestinians have endured for over a 100 years. Crimes against humanity did not start three days ago, they began when colonialism was easy to do and easy to hide. The future looks bleak right now but one factor may help the cause of peace: perpetrators of violence can no longer hide. They will be seen and their crimes will no longer fade into the distance of time. 

“Deliberate killings of civilians, hostage-taking, and collective punishment are heinous crimes that have no justification. The unlawful attacks and systematic repression that have mired the region for decades will continue, so long as human rights and accountability are disregarded.”

Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch

Accept your enemy exists and you will find a way to peace. Deny their right to exist - and deny their right to resist - and you will always have an enemy waiting to strike.

May the UN force Israel to stop its inhumane, indiscriminate bombing and blockade on Gaza before the killing escalates on both sides.

Stop press: Hamas has warned the Israeli city of Ashkelon to evacuate. The escalation has already begun. May our strength as one humanity put an end to this horror.

One humanity must prevail in peace.

Reporting from Gaza on Tuesday 10th October, Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian academic, writer and activist, describes the horror and devastation after three days of bombing. He goes on to express his anger at the support Israel is receiving from the West, despite the genocide that is happening as the world looks on.

(20-minute video - warning, viewer discretion advised, contains scenes of injury and war.)

You Tube: Democracy Now! 10/10/2023

poem and image by Stephen McLaren

The views expressed in this blog do not represent Humanism in Scotland. They are a personal reflection by the author who campaigns for peace for all.