The Horror

February 6, 2024 at 12:49 am (Uncategorized)

Horror. Just horror.

When Hamas launched its attacks against Israel, reports of indiscriminate killings of civilians, rapes, and execution-style murder filled the media, and for the most part the world reacted in horror. But also there was the notion, the realization that whatever Hamas was attempting, it had failed, and that Israel would strike back bringing even greater horror. But the world could not have anticipated the degree. The horror of Hamas was swiftly replaced by the horror of Israel.

On October 17, When al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City was destroyed by a rocket, suspicion fell on Israel deliberately targeting it. Israel denied this accusation and claimed a rogue missile by Islamic Jihad was responsible. Each side proffered video to support its claim. But within a short period, Israel was to move from the position that “we never destroy hospitals” to “we have destroyed every hospital because we had to.” Governments of the world, nodded solemnly in agreement.

But more than anything, it is the sheet scale of the destruction, the disregard for human life. For the Israeli forces, every Palestinian is Hamas, and Hamas must be destroyed. When the Israeli leaders acknowledge the existence of the Palestinians (which it does not always), it is as Hamas. Even some of the hostages taken by Hamas were caught in the crossfire of obliteration on this conflation. Israel presents every atrocity as an act of self-defence.

Israel has moved from accusing the Palestinians of genocidal impulses in the popular slogan, “From the River to the Sea / Palestine shall be free” to using it themselves. The phrase was essentially a founding principle of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, and it is a phrase which Netanyahu and his cabinet have begun to use again.

I have no sympathies for the politics of Hamas. Until its replacement in 2017 by a new document, the Hamas charter was filled with anti-semitic canards. It saw the Jews behind the French and Russian Revolutions. But to its leftist supporters, such as the British Socialist Workers Party, “Hamas are Freedom fighters who must use any means at their disposal, and we must not criticize.” It is the logic of Pol Pot, of the Tamil Tigers, and others

A growing group which calls for a cease fire seeks a return to some version of the existing status quo, thus guaranteeing these atrocities will continue in other forms. There is another option, which looks beyond the contending forces, which looks at the root, capitalism itself. I’ve included links to three articles from Internationalist Perspective’s website which outline this viewpoint.

Capitalism’s Death World (October 22, 2023)

Warmongers Left and Right (November 19, 2023)

No War in Gaza: Fight the Nightmare that Haunts Us All (December 8, 2023)