By Mark Taliano
The state of Israel brands itself as a peaceful, democratic, civilized oasis, steadfast in the midst of a hostile desert, surrounded by barbarity and threats to its very existence.
None of it is true.
Another day of life in the Gaza strip
Greater Israel is increasingly a rampaging Zionist project that has lost its sense of Judaism, and its democratic, civilized ideals.
It is a militarized, racist, apartheid country that denies and negates the rule of international law at every convenience as it deludes itself and its allies by manipulating the memory of one of history’s most hideous moments: the holocaust.
Memories of the obscenity of the holocaust should teach values of cultural pluralism, empathy and acceptance of the “other”, tolerance and respect for the downtrodden.
Instead, it is being exploited to serve the darker agenda of an ethnocentric, imperial, settler/colonial polity.
Renowned author Ilan Pappe explains these subterranean manipulations in The Idea Of Israel:
“From vindication of the brutal killing of Palestinians in 1948 and subsequently, in the war against Palestinian infiltrations, through the instigation of public panic on the eve of the 1967 war, to the justification of intransigent official positions on peace following the war, to the present oppressive policies against the Palestinians in the occupied territories, — Holocaust memory has been a supremely useful and accessible means of silencing criticism and pushing a policy of belligerence.”
A snap-shot of the “policy of belligerence” embraced by modern-day Israel looks like this:
Palestinian Israelis are second-class citizens. The Admissions Committee Law, for example –- which was recently upheld by the Israeli Supreme Court — legalizes racial segregation. According to this law, 43% of Israeli residential areas are legally entitled to deny entrance to Palestinian Arab citizens of the Israeli state. Most of this land, to which the Palestinians are not welcome, was originally confiscated from Palestinian refugees. Clearly, legal segregation laws are not compatible with “democracy” or “moral governance”.
Israel’s segregationist policies extend outwards as well. Israel engages in serial denial and negation of international law by constructing and maintaining rather than dismantling its Separation/Apartheid walls.
The International Criminal Court (ICJ) ruled in 2004 that the West Bank wall was “illegal in its entirety,” and that compensation should be paid to those affected. Additionally, the U.N General Assembly passed a resolution supporting the ICJ’s call to dismantle the wall.
Not surprisingly, construction and maintenance of the Gaza “security fence” as well as the West Bank Apartheid wall, continues to this day.
Furthermore, the blockage of Gaza – a strip of land on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, has essentially reduced Gaza to the status of a “concentration camp”. Professor Richard Falk – world-renowned professor of international law and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied territories – characterizes the blockade of Gaza as collective punishment, and therefore a violation of the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law.
The notion that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is “moral” or “righteous” also rings hollow: during the recent invasion of Gaza, known euphemistically as Operation Protective Edge, Israeli’s military murdered 501 children, and 1,473 civilians, plus 157 combatants.
Palestinian combatants killed 71 Israelis: 66 soldiers, one security coordinator, four civilians, and a foreign national.
In what appears to be yet another operation of ethnic cleansing, Israel also targeted schools, hospitals, and the sole power station.
Operation Protective Edge seemingly satisfies the definition of “genocide”, as defined by Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide:
“Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide. ”
In an earlier article, I referenced the slaughter of North America’s indigenous peoples starting in 1492, and I remarked that the genocidal cycles are repeating themselves time and again.
If humanity were to internalize the real lessons of the holocaust, we could break these toxic cycles and avert further disasters. The on-going tragedies in Palestine (and elsewhere), however, indicate that we have failed to learn our lessons.
Mark Taliano is a Niagara, Ontario resident and regular contributor of news and analysis to Niagara At Large.
(Niagara At Large invites you to join in the conversation by sharing your views on the content of this post below. For reasons of transparency and promoting civil dialogue, NAL only posts comments from individuals who share their first and last name with their views.)
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Mark – Be prepared for the name calling.
As for the end of genocides….Rwanda, Central African Republic, Darfur, Iraq, etc., etc., etc.
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Thank you, Mr Taliano, for your incisive clarification of the present status of the Arab-Isreali conflict.
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Why are “We” now having to help Clean up the mess Bush, Chaney, Blair and U.S. other warmongers have caused in Iraq. There was no reason or right for the last invasion except “Oil” and Chaney’s need to full the coffers of Halliburton…Bush is certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed for he was led by the nose by Chaney.. Thank You Mark and there are many who agree with you…few brain dead Americans though
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What complete, utter drivel!
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Well said Mark. The history of aggression by Zionist radicals has destroyed what Israel was meant & hoped to be. They are even too radical for Israeli historians like Pappe who have monitored the nation since its inception & has to teach in the UK like some kind of pariah. Radicals within Israel don’t even want women swimming in the same pools as men!
Unfortunately, anyone who speaks out against the Zionist radicals is automatically labelled an an anti-Semite which is totally false. There is no way that Rabbis who have spoken out against Netanyahu’s followers are anti-Semites. That’s like saying those who hate the Westboro Baptist church are Anti-American or anti religion.
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Good comeback Will MacKenzie, backed up with….
Mark, an admirable piece and one that I am certain you must have written with some trepidation. Nonetheless, there are people, worldwide that share you views, but are afraid to express them. Congratulations.
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You’ve got to admire the resolve of Israel, with so much opposition out there, and in here. They are a resourceful people with a right to exist and defend themselves. I don’t know how people come off blaming Israel for everything, when it’s the other side who sponsor and promote all-out terrorism and a pledge to exterminate anyone who’s an “infidel” by their own belief standards. I guess an errant cruise-missile doesn’t get the same level of forgiveness as a couple thousand scuds or whatever the Hamas are hurling these days, since they make sure there are always women and children ushered in for them to hide behind and create the news-breaking, shocking collateral damage. I suppose the people who knock Israel are also in support of ISIS tactics to quell the bombings by Western coalition forces. “Jihadi John” would be very happy to realize his intimidating propagandist theatrics have gotten such rave reviews within civilized society, and found an ally with so many peaceniks who prefer to let evil flourish unabated. We haven’t had such a tough time keeping our heads since the French Revolution.
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Clearly hiding behind the headline is an anti-Semitic rant that fails on many levels, namely the recent troubles in the Gaza were a response rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas using its own citizens as a shield. But lets not let a good story get in the way of the truth.
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It is with deep, very deep regret that I must say that if Doug Draper allows any further anti-semitic crap such as that espoused by Mr Taliano, Ms McKellar, Dr Hogg and Mr Gravelle, I will no longer support Niagara At Large. I have a great deal of respect for Doug as a journalist, but allowing this blatant form of anti-semitism is beyond decency.
It has taken me several days to become calm enough to write this. The drivel written above my Taliano et al is disgusting!
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That’s all Will, several days to calm down. It’s nice to see you have such composure. It’s damn awful that you have bought into the spiel that comes from Israel. This cancer has spread to Syria. But, of course precision weapons will only take out the terrorists. There will be no civilian casualties, just like there wasn’t any in the constant bombardment of Gaza.
How would you like to spend your years behind walls and fences? Sounds damn similar to the concentration camps, doesn’t it.
Go ahead, keep your head buried in the sand and believe the drivel from Sun News and Harper’s government, but I warn you now, be prepared for a similar experience here in Canada.
What does Doug Draper printing the opinion (similar to printing your comment) have to do with anything. It’s an opinion and like yours, you can take it or leave it. At least Doug has the balls to print articles that MSM won’t for fear of losing sponsors. Kudos to Doug and Niagara at Large for the continuance of a democratic newspaper. Others have been bought out, but not Doug.
I appreciate your comment, but please do some research into the recent developments in Gaza and stop living as if the holocaust happened yesterday. I deplored it and still do, but it is not an excuse to continue to use genocide on Palestinians.
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As I said, Israel HAS the right to exist and to defend itself. I too do not care for the rampant Antisemitism in the world today, nor the evidence of support for terrorism expressed here. Don’t go too hard on Will MacKenzie for his stand against this drivel, as he does have the correct perspective. I myself try not to let my blood-pressure get perturbed over such extremism and anti-Conservative viewpoints. However, I would question what the purveyors of such indoctrinations are smoking, and advise they at least wait until it is made legal, via the platform of the new Liberal administration they crave.
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Nice post Robert. I’m officially done with this article, but I most certainly agree with your final sentence, LOL.
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Glad I just spent 2 weeks in Italy so I didn’t have to listen to the unfounded accusations of anti Semitism (which I expected & which certainly appeared but with no historical documentation as backup). It’s easy to call others names isn’t it? Much harder A) – To defend oneself against name calling except to deny it & B) – Very hard for the accuser to justify such accusations. To them, just saying so is sanctimonious gospel.
Don Gravelle – Well said. We ALL hate terrorism, Hamas, Al Qaida, etc. & despised the holocaust, as has been said repeatedly, but we are talking about the innocents who suffer, not the viscious war mongering crazies on both sides of this issue.
-Netanyahu has publicly said he will not be satisfied until Palestine no longer exists.
-Hitler said he will not be satisfied until the Jewish race no longer exists.
-The difference is????
ROBERT – Israel has a right to defend itself.
Equally, Palestine has a right to keep its legally allotted lands but that is being violated & has been for decades.
Both the Israeli government AND Hamas are committing their own holocausts & there are new holocausts daily in the Middle East, Africa & many places in the world. Why? Because humanity sucks. Greed, religion, machismo. My weapon’s bigger than your weapon. In this we are not innocent….any of us…unless we promote peace by negotiation instead of by death & violence. If the average Palestinian citizens are treated fairly, there will be no further support for Hamas & it will wither & die.
Again I will ask…..Are the Rabbis who are condemning the war & Israeli seizure of Palestine’s legal homeland anti Semites? I NEVER get an answer to that. Why? THEY know Israel’s history. Their families suffered Hitler’s horrors.
C’mon WILL, ROBERT…answer that one! Don’t just tap dance around it by calling people names. Answer the question! In the meantime, call me whatever you want. I’m a big girl & I can handle it, especially from you WILL who never expounds on your beliefs with verified data, just slander & name calling. I’ve never called YOU any names. I have not heard a single valid historical point from you just “drivel” & “anti Semites”.
Robert, I don’t smoke or drink, never have.
As for Liberal/Conservative BS, this is an issue of HUMANITY, not politics. When lives & human justice are at stake, politics must be relegated to the garbage heaps….but sadly never are. I am not aligned with any political ideology because EVERY issue requires contemplation & self education & every issue is unique. To follow a single ideology without question in all areas of discussion is to be a lemming going over the proverbial cliff.
DOUG – Congratulations on allowing conversation on divisive issues. As far as this topic, you have remained pretty much out of the conversation, just provided a forum for discussion .THAT is true democracy, which is sadly missing in today’s mainstream press. The fact that slander, mistruth & half facts are taken as news today is a sign that we need people like you. We need both sides of any story & independent research to reach the truth. If we let slander without reasonable debate dominate & deny rebuttal we have lost our democracy. That is not an impossibility.
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Linda, I wish I could up a meme that I did regarding the civilian casualties in the onslaught and you would see that I condemn that. Hope Italy was fine and that you didn’t have to deal with any political uprisings. Now, it’s official, last comment.
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Hi DON – In “talking about the innocents who suffer”, that statement was just general & not a reference to you as I do understand you no doubt agree about civilian casualties.
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