The article by Fulvio Scaglione criticizes Israel for using military force as a means to avoid addressing the deeper historical and political issues underlying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Scaglione argues that Israel’s reliance on violence perpetuates a cycle of suffering and insecurity, preventing meaningful dialogue and resolution. He highlights the hypocrisy of the international community, particularly the West, in supporting Israel’s actions while ignoring the root causes of the conflict and the need for a just and lasting peace.
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by Fulvio Scaglione
We could have done it. We could have published the video showing the Palestinian child decapitated by Israeli bombs, held in the arms of a desperate father. At least it would have shown the stark difference between a truly decapitated (and charred) child and the 40 children not decapitated by Hamas but widely reported by the propaganda press of the Jewish state and its local counterparts. But we didn’t. Out of natural respect for others’ pain and also to avoid resembling, on the other end of the spectrum, certain “quality information” sources that today do not headline the umpteenth massacre in Gaza but rather the fact that an investigation has been opened in Israel (as if we didn’t know that 95% of such investigations end in nothing) or that Hamas terrorists launched some rockets towards Tel Aviv.
We cannot expect politics to act. But we ordinary people must say enough. Enough with the mountain of words poured on us to hide a single, obvious truth: war leads nowhere. Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine itself are proof of this. Regarding Israel and the Palestinians: the Jewish state, with all its military power, supplied for free from outside (a few weeks ago, another $26 billion in arms from the US), has never managed to feel completely safe since 1948; and the Palestinians, since 1948, have lost further portions of territory and political viability in every armed clash.
We must say enough, even knowing it might not work, just as the massive peace marches did not prevent the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003, and student protests worldwide might not stop the Gaza massacre. We must do it to save ourselves, our humanity, our capacity to reason.
It is clear to every conscience and every sentient mind that the massacre of Israeli civilians organized by Hamas on October 7, 2023, has nothing to do with “Palestinian resistance.” Perhaps with the rage of the Palestinians, but not with the goal of returning the territories occupied by Israel since 1967. It was a hate crime, a senseless act of terrorism. Without purpose, without justification other than the mere urge to kill.
Similarly, it is clear that the military expedition launched by Benjamin Netanyahu against Gaza has nothing to do with the stated goals, primarily eradicating Hamas. The US intelligence services have already explained that two-thirds of Hamas militants are still active, as well as most of the tunnels that serve as their base and refuge. Meanwhile, 35,000 civilians, mostly women and children, have died. The real goal is not to neutralize the terrorists but to decimate the Palestinians in Gaza, push them to flee to Egypt, expel them from that strip of land. The propaganda of Netanyahu’s government, with military censorship, lies to its own country. Like the bombing of the refugee camp, they’ll say they killed a Hamas leader among others, and some newspapers and TVs worldwide will certainly repeat the story. As if killing 40 people to eliminate one, two, even ten militants, and repeating this practice until it reaches tens of thousands, were not terrorism. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague was right to call for the arrest of both Hamas leader Sinwar and Israeli leader Netanyahu: equal crimes, equal treatment.
Enough also with the hypocrisy and stupidity of the West. The hypocrisy because, while we distribute words of pity for the dead with one hand, we arm those who shoot with the other. Take Italy: the Israeli government accused UNRWA (the UN agency for Palestinian aid) of collaborating with Hamas, without producing a shred of evidence, and our government immediately suspended funding to the agency, only to resume it in recent days after months of “gap.” This behavior, depriving women, elderly, and children of vital aid, is also “shooting” at the Palestinians. The stupidity because Israel, like all colonial regimes, like those that operated in Africa or Asia, will eventually come to an end. Collaborating on the solution of “two peoples, two states” was also in its interest. Its leaders preferred to turn the glorious and dignified Jewish state of its founders into a “rogue state” for two-thirds of the world. And lead it towards the inglorious and undignified end of all colonialisms. France, which not long ago was bombing Libya and today is being slapped by half the African countries it once dominated, should have taught something.
South Africa dragging Israel to court and two-thirds of UN countries voting for Palestine to join the United Nations tell us that what was allowed yesterday is less so today and will not be allowed tomorrow. Another world is emerging from the ruins of the 20th century. There are two ways to face the changing world: with conscience and reason, helping it change for the better; or with weapons in hand, helping it get worse. History, as always, will ask us where we stood.
InsideOver, May 27, 2024
