Emma Bull was right when she said: “Coincidence is the word we use when we can’t see the levers and pulleys.” The timing of Israel’s recent assault on Gaza is not coincidental. It is the culmination of several factors: The Hamas-Fatah unity; Israel’s escalation of illegal construction in occupied territory; the collapse of the peace talks; the success of the BDS movement; and the growing number of Europeans warning against investment in occupied territories.
Israel’s expansionist agenda was at odds with the growing lack of sympathy around the world. So it pulled out is best card — the victim card. On June 12, three Israeli teens were kidnapped, thought by many to be another Israeli false flag operation. According to Israeli police records, “the voice of MK Shelly Yacimovich (Labor) could be heard who was being interviewed by Israel Radio as the kidnapping took place” (Jerusalem Post).
During the phone conversation, shots were heard while Hebrew language was blaring in the background. A gag order was put on this call. Immediately, Netanyahu launched on a campaign to solicit sympathy for this ‘victimization’ and to invoke outrage from world leaders blaming the kidnapping on Hamas (who denied responsibility), all the while giving the impression that the teens were alive.
Without provocation, on June 17, Reuters reported that Israel cracks down on Hamas “in a mobilisation on a scale not seen in years” to find the abducted shot teens. As sentiments of solidarity toward Israel and disgust toward Hamas increased, victim card in hand, IDF boots marched into Palestinian houses turning them into military observation posts, making arbitrary arrests and putting up road blocks to increase pressure on Hamas.
It took more than two weeks for the very competent IDF to find the dead bodies of the teens in a tiny area – and identifying all the ins and outs of Palestinians households. More sympathy and condemnation pored in as the teens’ bodies were found on June 30th. Standing center stage amidst Western media, Netanyahu said: “May God avenge their blood”. Thinking of himself as God, on July 1 arrest raids were ordered, hundreds arrested and a ‘Hamas member killed’. All hell broke loose.
The sympathies and framing of events on the ground by the Western media and sympathies of Western leaders gave justification to the bombing of Gaza. The burning alive of a teenage Palestinian boy got a passing mention in the press. As the death toll in Gaza keeps rising, always, not only must Palestinians defend their lives and livelihoods, but they must also contend with fighting the pro-Israel media narrative.
Meanwhile, the UN utters a pathetic whim but remains idle as bombs are dropped on toddlers. After all, they take their cue from their paymasters with US contributing 25% to the United Nations (the next largest contributors being Japan (12.53%), Germany (8.018%), the United Kingdom (6.604%), and France (6.112%). Lending their support in fratricide are the Arab leaders fratricide as their continued silence echoes the call to Genocide by Israeli lawmaker Ayelet Shaked.
As Israel is set for a ground invasion of Gaza, the alarming call of aHoly War is heard from an Israeli commander who tells his soldiers that they are engaged in a war to “wipe out” an “enemy who defames” God. Jewish extremism has always been concealed, and with it, the dangers. But the threat is very real – and very well understood even by those supporting this growing danger.
A 1997 article reviewing the Israeli Defense Force repeatedly stressed the possibilities of, and the need to guard against a religious, right wing military coup, especially as the proportion of religious in the military increases[i]. They have been on the increase. In 2009, it was reported “Israel’s army is changing. Once proudly secular, its combat units are now filling with those who believe Israel’s wars are “God’s wars”. If Israel determines “God’s wars”, none are safe.
World leaders have warned that the conflict could engulf the entire region, but Israel is not heeding their warnings. Perhaps Netanyahu is smug in the knowledge that even if all in the region (and beyond) perish, Israeli Jews, or at least some, will be safe in its Site 911. Site 911, funded by America, due for completion soon, “will have five levels buried underground and six additional outbuildings on the above grounds, within the perimeter. At about 127,000 square feet, the first three floors will house classrooms, an auditorium, and a laboratory — all wedged behind shock resistant doors — with radiation protection and massive security. Each door of the facility will have a detailed description of the mezuzahs written in “in-erasable ink”.
With the growing extremism in Israeli military, their “holy wars” and nukes, it is not just Gaza that is burning – this is a war on humanity and perhaps even human race. If we do not stop it today, tomorrow may be too late.
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and the role of lobby groups in influencing US foreign policy.
