If we want to understand the complex situation in the Middle East, we need to start with two basic facts on which everything else is based.
First, Israelis are civilized people just like Westerners. You should believe anything the Israeli government says, and they clearly have no intention of lying. Israeli soldiers and Settlers Even when they commit terrible acts, they are not seen as a factor in the nation’s reputation, but as bad people who should be held accountable. Rarely In short, Israelis are good people who want peace, and any violence they use is justified because they have an absolute right to self-defense.
On the other hand, Palestinians, and Arabs in general, BarbarianThey’re hardly human, they’re not even mammals, they’re more like wasps, caterpillars or spiders, to borrow an analogy from a famous New York Times columnist. Thomas FriedmanYou can’t trust a single word they say. If Palestinians do something terrible, they are not “bad apples”, but an example that all Palestinians are corrupt to the core. Palestinians should not be thought of as innocent civilians. They are all terrorists. Children are no exception. In short, Palestinians are bad people who want war and have no right to self-defense, so none of their actions can be justified.
Right-wing extremists in the Israeli government and American politicians are honest about their biases and are happy to talk about these biases. Frank wordsMeanwhile, more respected politicians and journalists generally don’t say the quiet parts out loud. Objectivity, These underlying assumptions are often revealing.
They were very clear when Joe Biden repeated his unverified statements. And lies – Reports that Hamas beheaded a baby on October 7. Repeating such inflammatory claims without evidence would be unthinkable under normal circumstances. The Biden administration has been outspoken about the dangers of disinformation. But in this particular case, evidence was not needed; the evidence was that the defendants were Palestinian. (By contrast, Biden has been silent on social media about videos of Gaza children decapitated by U.S.-made missiles.)
These assumptions were also evident when Biden doubted the death toll in Gaza and said he didn’t think the Palestinians were telling the truth. Again, Biden had no evidence that the Palestinians were lying. The only evidence Biden needed was that they were Palestinians.
These assumptions are also reflected in the language used to describe the conflict. Take, for example, who is classified as a hostage and who is not: If Israeli soldiers enter a civilian’s home, capture him at gunpoint and put him in a cage, he is a “detainee.” Or “prisoner.” When a Palestinian fighter does the same thing, he becomes a “hostage.” These are important differences. The word “detainee” implies guilt; the person has clearly done something wrong. The word “hostage” implies innocence; the person is clearly a victim. The word “detainee” suggests due process according to international law; the word “hostage” suggests terrorism.
The civilians captured by Hamas on October 7 are clearly hostages. There is no debate about that. There is no debate about the taking of hostages being a war crime.
The real debate is why the same designation has not been given to the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and detention centers in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, many of whom are held under a system of administrative detention that observers say violates international law. Administrative detention is a form of arbitrary detention that allows Israel to detain people without trial or crime simply because it suspects someone might break the rules. Future LawBecause this is a precautionary measure, there is no limit to how long they can actually be held. Years of research into Israel’s treatment of Palestinian detainees have shown that many of these detainees are, in some cases, Sexual Abuse and torture.
However, these detainees are clearly terrorists, not hostages. Israeli apologists may scoff: Are they terrorists? Are they terrorists because Israel says so, often without any evidence? Or are they terrorists simply because they exist as Palestinians?
Ask yourself: why isn’t 23-year-old Rayan Nasir considered a hostage? Earlier this year, Israeli forces stormed Nasir’s West Bank home at around 4am and took her from her parents at gunpoint. Soldiers reportedly told her father, “We are at war, we can do anything.” It is unclear what Nasir’s crimes are, other than the fact that she is Palestinian. Her parents do not know where she is being held, and Israel In fact, she She is being held indefinitely without proof. She faces unknown charges that cannot be disproved. This week, an Israeli military court I decided to update She will be held in administrative detention for a further four months.
Nasir’s case has attracted some attention because she is a Christian, with people like Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby saying: made a statement“Israel’s widespread and routine use of administrative detention of Palestinians as a tool of occupation is highly discriminatory.” [and] “It is neither legally nor morally justifiable.” But while there has been outrage over Nasir’s case, most detainees, including children, in Israeli custody rot in prison, unknown to anyone.
“We are at war, we can do anything.” What the soldier told Nasir’s father was not a threat, but a statement of fact. Israel has such great impunity from the US and other Western countries that it can basically do whatever it wants. It can break international law, knowing full well that the US will undermine institutions like the ICC on Israel’s behalf.
While it is not clear what conditions Nasir is being held in, we do know what conditions are faced by thousands of Gaza prisoners held in Israel’s Sde Teyman detention camp. Whistleblowers have spoken out about torture and sexual abuse. After months of reporting by the United Nations and several media organizations, Israel took the unusual step on Monday of arresting nine soldiers for allegedly raping a detainee. Much of the reporting on the case has Assert The victim in question “was allegedly a senior Hamas official.” No evidence of this seems to be presented. But you know what this accusation means, right? It suggests that he got what he deserved. He was not a real victim. Here again, there is an underlying assumption that Palestinians cannot be real victims.
Indeed, many Israelis do not seem to believe that the man who was sexually abused by nine soldiers was a victim. On Monday, far-right Israeli nationalists stormed two military facilities to protest the detention of an IDF reservist suspected of abuse. Members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party also Justified rape and abuse. A Palestinian prisoner said: “If he is Nukba, then any kind of mistreatment is legal.” [Hamas](This is extremely convenient when you think of all Palestinians as “Hamas.”) Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, also justified the abuse: In essence, there were protests in Israel to defend rape rights.
Let us be clear that what is happening in Sde Teyman is not an aberration, nor is it a result of October 7th. Again, human rights groups have reported for over a decade that Israel is abusing Palestinian “prisoners.” They are held captive for the crime of throwing stones, subjected to physical and psychological abuse, and “Confession” Forcibly tortureReports of Palestinian minors being threatened with sexual assault.
Israel has been allowed a certain amount of impunity up until now, but now there seems to be no real limit to the violence it can inflict on Palestinians. I can’t be the only one to say the last 10 months have been mind-blowing. Watching Netanyahu get the red carpet treatment in the US and standing ovations from politicians from both sides while helping starving children in Gaza suffer from bombs, malnutrition and polio feels like gaslighting of the highest order.
Since it is obviously impossible to convince some people that Palestinians are people, I will not even try any further. Instead, I appeal to Israel’s apologists: if you support Israel, I ask that you support holding Israel accountable. Unchecked and unpunished violence stains everything it touches. Violence does not just destroy those who are the targets of it; it also destroys its perpetrators, as this week’s rape rights protests so clearly demonstrate. When we inflict violence on others, that violence always comes back to haunt our own country.
