And you dare to call me a terrorist While you look down your gun When I think of all the deeds that you have done You have plundered many nations Divided many lands You have terrorized their people You ruled with an iron hand And you brought this reign of terror to my land - Joe McDonnell, from ‘A Sense of Freedom’ (1983) Since the dawn of Saturday, recent attacks by Hamas have targeted Israel and engaged the rest of the world. Various media outlets are attempting to make sense of these ongoing events, whilst revealing how the information of various narrators is profoundly drenched in contrasting ideologies and opinions. The attempt to be ‘’neutral’’ is implausible in any recount, but this becomes impossible when the goal is explaining the relationship between Israel and Palestine. What is reported, what is ignored, who is the ‘’terrorist’’, who is the ‘’victim’’, who is the ‘’we’’: all of these implicit choices let the truth of one’s judgment seep through the cracks of language. For this reason, we believe this is a time for information, and journalism, to embrace the truly political power of pen. It is time to recognise how information can lead towards war, or steer us towards peace. Israel: a brief history and mythology
According to the Israeli historian, Ilan Pappé, the Israeli-Palestinian case clearly shows how historical disinformation and the manipulation of information can allow for the oppression of a population and legitimise a regime of violence and oppression. European mainstream media has often taken the narratives brought forth by Israel as objective, thus violating the moral right of the Palestinian people to their land. In his book “Ten Myths About Israel” (2017), Pappé aims to dispel these narratives through historical documentation. (1) Here a brief summary of some is presented, with an incorporated glossary, before attempting to make sense of recent events and their representation.
However this is only history: the heavy involvement of Europe and US in the Israeli-Palestinian case, as well as the complicity of international organisations and their failure to recognise the nature of Israeli violence persist today. Narratives have the power to create our world, and for this reason come with responsibilities. What happened last week Gaza has been under illegal Israeli military blockade since 2007. On Saturday morning, 7th October, the militant group Hamas attacked various Israeli areas surrounding the Gaza Strip, provoking one of the most severe attacks Israel has encountered for decades. Hamas is an Islamic fundamentalist military group, which over time had also gained popular support due to its provision of education, medicine and assistance to people who were suffering at the hands of Israel occupation in the Gaza Strip. This attack caused at least 200 deaths, while holding numerous Israeli civilians and soldiers hostages within the Gaza Strip. The Israeli response to this can be summarised in the announcement of a complete siege on Gaza by Yoav Gallant, Israel’s minister of defence: ‘’I have ordered a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity. No food. No fuel. No water. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.’’ Yet another narrative that validates the historical colonial and military project of Israel and its continued oppression of native people on the land. The violence that Hamas perpetrated against the Israeli state is not justified, but rather explained through this brief presentation of its historical and contextual origins. Along with this however, the violence that Israel has perpetrated against Palestinians for the last century MUST be explained. An omission of this is propaganda. The embracing of Hamas’s violent attack in the name of ‘’justice’’ is also falling prey to propaganda. But the recognition that Hamas is a fundamentalist and militarist group, as well as a symptom of the resistance to Israeli violence that stretches throughout history, can offer a more comprehensive way of framing of the problem, and hopefully shed light on its solutions. What is terrorism? According to a study conducted by the French site Le Grand Continent, the attack by Hamas divides the world in three groups: on the one side, countries such as in Europe, India and Kenya, that condemn the attack by Hamas and support Israel; a small minority that defends Hamas; and a great majority of countries that claims to be ‘neutral’ and supports a cautious de-escalation. In 1986, a young senator Joe Biden claimed that “were there not an Israel, the USA would have to invent an Israel to protect its interest in the region.” This was not only a political project, but “the best $3 billion investment we make”. The question here arises as to what Israel is a symbol of. Without looking back too far in time, the French president Emmanuel Macron wrote: “I strongly condemn the current terrorist attacks against Israel’’, while British Rishi Sunak reports his shock at the “attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli citizens” on the grounds that “Israel has an absolute right to defend itself.’’ If ''terrorist'' is understood as someone who advocates repression and violence, while disseminating terror for the achievement of their targets, then what makes the Israeli government less culpable than Hamas? The answer rests in narratives, propaganda, violence, silencing, manipulation and disinformation. The resistance and its victims To stand with the Palestinian resistance is not about legitimising the suffering of Israeli victims of violence who are most often civilians, young and old; but rather it means recognising the historical and ideological plays of power necessary to tackle the deeper problem that is occupation, imperialism and militarism. Resistance, particularly when this employs violent means for its survival, is often jeopardised by ethical contradictions: the suffering of one people, against another, for instance. However, in a military occupation, the play of power is not allowed to change without some form of it. To be violent against a system that oppresses and violates you is resistance, not terrorism. In the words of the Palestinian writer, activist and marxist internationalist, Ghassan Kanafani, “imperialism has laid its body over the world, the head in Eastern Asia, the heart in the Middle East, its arteries reaching Africa and Latin America. Wherever you strike it, you damage it, and you serve the world revolution.’’ The difference between terrorism and resistance is who is telling the tale, or rather who owns the most powerful means to make such a narrative come to life. The Palestinian cause is therefore not only a localised cause where the Palestinian people are expected to stand alone, but an opportunity for all those in the international community who wish to struggle against oppression and exploitation to stand in solidarity with the struggle of these people. Only in such a way, history will redeem itself from injustice and educate a future in which ‘’the oppressed will live, after their liberation by revolutionary violence, from the contradiction that captivated them.’’ Terrorism is an indication of power. More precisely, of who has the power to put forth such narratives of terror. To fight these, we must educate ourselves and find the root causes that lie at the feet of imperialism and militarism, as well as disinformation and propaganda. NOTES
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