Episode 274 of RevolutionZ offers and comments on a searing critique of the champions of democracy and human rights from Arundhati Roy, plus a disturbing but compelling view of pro-war sentiments of various prior supporters of Palestine within Israel. Why do some progressives rally behind Israel's war machine?
Episode 274 of RevolutionZ offers and comments on a searing critique of the champions of democracy and human rights from Arundhati Roy, plus a disturbing but compelling view of pro-war sentiments of various prior supporters of Palestine within Israel. Why do some progressives rally behind Israel's war machine?
Hello, my name is Michael Albert and I am the host of the podcast that's titled Revolution Z. I hope you will take a moment to visit our Patreon page at patreoncom slash revolutionz or our archive page on znetworkorg A. Znet is our sponsoring organization, where you can access all past episodes and learn how to get automatic delivery. This is our 274th consecutive episode and, like last episode, this time too, I'm going to present an article and interject my own comments spontaneously as I do so, and in this case, too, what I am going to present was written not by me, but by a woman I consider an unparalleled writer Aaron Dottie Roy. Aaron Dottie's piece was first published on Z on March 8th and then continuing.
Speaker 1:Once I have offered Aaron Dottie Roy's essay and some comments, I'm going to take up a different question than assessing Israel's and the US's role in the current genocidal massacres. That is how it is that some people, many people, even many progressive people, come to support Israel's war. To do so, I use an article I have recently read that describes a phenomenon inside Israel and then briefly try to extrapolate to the US as well. The latter part of this episode is, I fear, eye-opening, rarely addressed, if at all, but perhaps of extreme importance and bearing on more than just Israel, the US and this war. So to start, roy begins her article. The richest, most powerful countries in the world, those who believe themselves to be the keepers of the flame of the modern world's commitment to democracy and human rights, are openly financing and applauding Israel's genocide in Gaza. I interject, let that resonate a bit. In one short sentence the pretense of the West is stated and obliterated. The richest, most powerful countries in the Western world, those who believe themselves to be the keepers of the flame of the modern world's commitment to democracy and human rights, are openly financing and applauding Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Speaker 1:Roy continues the Gaza Strip has been turned into a concentration camp. Those who have not already been killed are being starved to death. Almost the entire population of Gaza has been displaced. Their homes, hospitals, universities, museums, infrastructure of every kind has been reduced to rubble. Their children have been murdered. Their past has been vaporized. The future is hard to see. I interject, not an inflated or exaggerated word in that. No wonder so many so like Roy's writing Effortless, yet like a painting, roy continues Even though the highest court in the world believes that almost every indicator seems to meet the legal definition of genocide.
Speaker 1:Idf soldiers continue to put out their mocking victory videos, celebrating what almost look like fiendish rituals. I interject To me too. While massacres are almost commonplace, israel's brazenness about not denying their actions and instead celebrating them seems to have blazed its own scale of hellishness. What they are doing doesn't approach in gross magnitude the mass murders the US has repeatedly done, but in its I don't even know what words to use scale given the size of the target, and in its pornographic posing for congratulations at conducting such mayhem, it seems to be on a whole new level. The thing about charging genocide is you have to not only show genocidal actions, outcomes, you have to show genocidal intent. It can't be, or even able to be described as unfathomably humongous collateral damage. It has to be demonstrably unfathomably humongous intended damage, rather like Hiroshima and Nagasaki were Roy, continues they, the IDF, believe that there is no power in the world that will hold them to account. But they are wrong. They and their children's children's will be haunted by what they have done. They will have to live with the loathing and the apparence the world feels for them and hopefully one day everybody on all sides of this conflict who has committed war crimes will be tried and punished for them.
Speaker 1:Keeping in mind that there is no equivalence between crimes committed while resisting apartheid and occupation and crimes committed while enforcing them where it continues, racism is, of course, the keystone of any act of genocide. The rhetoric of the highest officials of the Israeli state has, ever since Israel came into existence, dehumanized Palestinians and likened them to vermin and insects, just like the Nazis once dehumanized Jews. Indeed, it is as though that evil serum never went away and is now only being recirculated. The never has been exised from the powerful slogan never again, and we are left only with again. I interject. So why is racism the keystone of any act of genocide?
Speaker 1:You can't exterminate humans and look in the mirror. You want to be able to look in the mirror, so you have to redefine the target to be insects and vermin to rationalize your acts. Maybe Hannibal Lecter could have you as a meal, or gerbils could gas you or kiss. A jerk could carpet bomb you While acknowledging you were just as human as they are. But most cannot do that. Most have to work themselves up to such disgusting acts. Maybe Netanyahu is like Lecter, but most in the IDF and most in Israel have to dehumanize you to be able to exterminate you.
Speaker 1:A couple of months back, I think it was, I saw a video of teenage Israeli girls gleefully singing a song about killing Palestinians. It was incredibly sad and sickening. The kids were scarring themselves for life. The parents how could they produce and abet? This was beyond my comprehension. The IDF soldiers hate is understandable, but, as Roy says, they and their children's children will be haunted by what they have done. Indeed, when war rages, it is ugly, but it is something else. Again when the previously warred on, who supposedly understood the horror of the actions, instead reenact what they themselves suffered. Do unto others what was done unto you.
Speaker 1:Roy continues. President, joe Biden, head of state of the richest, most powerful country in the world, is helpless before Israel, even though Israel would not exist without US funding. It's as though the dependent has taken over the benefactor. The optics say so. Like a geriatric child, joe Biden appears on camera licking an ice cream cone and vaguely mumbling about a ceasefire, while Israeli government and military officials openly defy him and vow to finish what they have started. I interject. I don't have much moral expectation for people who manage the world, but I nonetheless wonder why Biden is not giving in more than a hypocritical inch to public opinion, when to do so would perhaps ensure his reelection. Roy continues to try and stop the hemorrhaging of the votes of millions of young Americans who will not stand for this slaughter in their name. Kamala Harris, us Vice President, has been tasked with the job of calling for a ceasefire, while billions of US dollars continue to flow to enable the genocide. I interject. I think there is some evidence, since Roy wrote that, that there are cracks in the policy, that cracks are forming. Descent has effects, but after first Israel, second the US, next third Roy turns to her own country, india.
Speaker 1:Roy continues and what of our country? It is well known that our Prime Minister is an intimate friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, and there is no doubt where his sympathies lie. India is no longer a friend of Palestine. When the bombing began, thousands of Modi supporters put up the Israeli flag as their DP on social media. They helped spread the vilest disinformation on behalf of Israel and the IDF, even though the Indian government has now stepped back into a more neutral position. Our foreign policy triumph is that we manage to be on all sides at once. We can be pro as well as anti-genocide. The government has clearly indicated that it will act decisively against any pro-Palestinian protesters. And now, while the US exports what it has in an abundant surplus weapons and money to aid Israel's genocide, india too is exporting what our country has in abundant surplus the unemployed, poor to replace the Palestinian workers who will no longer be given work permits to enter Israel, people who are desperate enough to risk their lives in a war zone, people desperate enough to tolerate overt Israeli racism against Indians. You can see it expressed on social media if you care to look. Us money and Indian poverty combined to oil Israel's genocidal war machine. What a terrible, unthinkable shame.
Speaker 1:The Palestinians, facing down the most powerful countries in the world, left virtually alone even by their allies, have suffered immeasurably. But they have won this war. They, their journalists, their doctors, their rescue teams, their poets, academics, spokespeople and even their children, have conducted themselves with a courage and dignity that has inspired the rest of the world. The young generation in the Western world, particularly the new generation of young Jewish people in the US, have seen through the brainwashing and propaganda and have recognized apartheid and genocide for what it is. The governments of the most powerful countries in the Western world have lost their dignity and any respect they might have had yet again. But the millions of protesters on the streets of Europe and the US are the hope of the future of the world. Palestine will be free, and that was Aaron Dottie's rise statement at a meeting of working people against apartheid and genocide in Gaza at the press club in New Delhi on March 7.
Speaker 1:So what comes next? It feels like, when reason is hibernating, to try to reason as a fool's errand. But to me it seems Biden is trying to salvage votes and reduce international outrage by now pressuring Israel at least a little. If it was a lot, I believe the massacres would end and ceasefire would commence. But if the pressure to stop remains only a little, I suspect what will happen is Israel will continue while creating ostensibly safe zones to herd people into yet again, before escalating anew and then attacking the safe zones as well. That seems to me to be the plan. Kill or banish the vermin. That aim does seem to explain all IDF policy to date. Blow up schools, blow up hospitals, demolish dwellings of all sizes. It is all consistent with kill or banish the vermin. But given the unexpected scale of criticism, okay, do it with just enough seeming human concern to ward off the worst possible optics For those horrified and hoping for better than a new escalation right into Rafa, the only option is to spread true perceptions and counter malignant interpretations, and to dissent vigorously.
Speaker 1:I am Jewish, not in any deep spiritual or historical way, but by birth, nothing more than that. Still, I am not self-hating. I of course, oppose anti-Semitism, like all racism and denigration, but I also see that the main creator and aggravator of anti-Semitism in the world today is Israel. Most often, I have found myself able to understand horrendous national policies and their popular support. After all, I live in the US, which has been at the center of unparalleled violence against others since it could brandish weapons. But now I nonetheless find myself wondering what are the mental gymnastics of Israeli citizens who today clamor for more violence, and also of American Jews who still oppose a ceasefire and support IDF violence? And even more, I wonder at those who have become supporters of genocidal policies, starting right after the October Hamas attack, but who, even just days before that, were, or seem to be, far more humane and even progressive.
Speaker 1:So when I saw a reference through it, I was attracted by the title War on Gaza how Israel's Leftists Quickly Lost their Compassion for Palestinians of an article that appeared in the periodical Mid-East Eye. The author of that article is Orly Noy, who is the chair of the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. I want to now do with her article what I did with Aaron Dottie Roy's piece above, that is, read it aloud, but also comment on it as I go. Someone asked me recently is this what it was like in Germany, referring not only to the war but also to Trumpism and perhaps most of all, to the insanely escalating levels of irrationality and hostility marching hand in hand. Perhaps His essay begins.
Speaker 1:These people insist that until October 7th they were humanistic seekers of peace, for whom the Hamas attack changed everything. In its wake, they molted their former selves and now passionately support the genocide that Israel was perpetrating in Gaza. For more than five months, they have continued to flog one another for the sin of their earlier left-wing innocence. After suitable ritual absolution, they entered into the bosom of the tribe and are now showered with forgiveness in the name of the people and the nation Already tire-sumly long. The ranks of these disillusioned persons continue to expand. Many of the newly added are from the entertainment industry and identified with the liberal camp. Everyone gets their 15 minutes of fame.
Speaker 1:Who reiterate the formulaic arguments I believed in peace. I wanted coexistence, but on the 7th of October I discovered that on the other side there are no humans, only human animals that must be fought to the bitter end. Noi continues. The ritual purification is complete with expressions of love and appreciation for quote, the Israeli defense forces, the most moral army in the world, plus thanks and congratulations to our heroic soldiers and some lip service paid to the plight of the hostages. I interject Noi is clearly not going to hear address why people who have always been aggressively hostile, or worse, towards Palestinians were now supporting the genocidal war. Rather, she is considering a more difficult case. Why did folks who were, at least compared to others, supportive of Palestinians and pro-peace change so dramatically, so quickly? Noi continues, as veteran actor Hany Namias has said. Quote we were the most in favor of coexistence, but now she wants a war. Quote to the finish.
Speaker 1:If we pay close attention to the newly disillusioned, the problem does not seem mainly to be their new change position, which now often embraces the total extermination of the Palestinians in Gaza. For example, popular singer Aiden Raishel, who is generally associated with progressive values and often collaborates with musicians from the Ethiopian community, is resentful that the residents of Gaza, displaced, brutalized, thirsty and starving, do not enter the tunnels and battle Hamas, even if it costs them thousands of casualties to affect the return of all the abductees. Raishel concludes that since they do not do so, they should be viewed as accomplices to the crimes of Hamas and hence as legitimate targets for attack by Israel. Anteject, it is not noise focus, but we ought to notice that if Palestine's whole population, according to these disillusionists, including its children, are legitimate targets because, despite their horrendous subordination, they have not taken up arms against Hamas, then surely it would follow and it should follow for those people who say that that Israel's entire population are also legitimate targets because not with respect to one rebellious, desperate event, but instead regarding decades of racist deprivations they haven't taken up arms against their government and IDF. The logic of Israel supporters within and without, turns out to justify what it purports to reject, both Israel's genocidal assault but also Hamas's violence as well, in fact continues Noy.
Speaker 1:The problem with these newly disillusioned persons seems rather to be in their interpretation of their quote leftist or liberal position prior to the disillusionment, in an interview on comedian Shalom As-Seggs' program Stronger Together, actor and TV presenter Zufit Grant stated that quote, my leftist side no longer exists. I thought we were all human, but no. On the 7th October, in her words, the attackers killed off quote some humanitarian part of the brain of overwhelming compassion the idea that we are all human beings. Grant no longer believes that we were all human. So now what she describes over two million Palestinians in Gaza within abhorrent vocabulary disgusting, stinky losers walking with flip-flops, repulsive people For someone for whom, until recently, a love of humanity was her guiding light. Grant is not alone.
Speaker 1:Perhaps the strongest sentiment referenced repeatedly by many of the newly disillusioned folks is disappointment. The Palestinians have lost them. They, the leftists of the past, they the liberals and progressives of the past who claim that they were, after all, completely committed to coexistence and saw every person as a human being, and their reward was a criminal attack on the 7th of October. Yes, the Hamas attack on the Gaza adjacent communities was horrifying, continues Noi, but beware of the notion that the overlords mere goodwill was supposed to be sufficient to satisfy the Palestinians who were supposed to be grateful for the master's kindness and continue bearing their oppression in silence. Oh, that longing for the good old doors when Palestinians in Gaza, by dint of the kindness of Israel could enter Israel to work as day laborers and be grateful for it.
Speaker 1:Noi continues this stance was pure narcissism, at best, not a political position based on an analysis of reality and its distorted power relations. Some observers repeatedly mentioned that many of the residents from the Gaza adjacent communities that were attacked on 7th of October were peace-seeking people, some even activists, who regularly volunteered to drive Gaza's children from the areas crossing to Israeli hospitals. A reference meant to portray Palestinians is ungrateful and to justify the shift in their own political positions. This stance is tainted by the same narcissistic depoliticization that views everything through the lens of the good intentions of quote some Israelis. I interject I notice in this that the quick shift let's call it that seems to owe to a special nature of the prior relationship. The Israelis liberals, some progressives, saw themselves as caring, as helpful, as peace-loving, etc. But they also saw the Palestinians as needing the assistance that they generously gave. Instead of the label narcissistics, perhaps Noi might have used the label paternalistic, so that October 7th was, in response, unappreciative.
Speaker 1:Noi continues Undoubtedly, volunteering to transport sick Palestinians from Gaza is a noble act and the volunteers are people whose actions were prompted by morality and conscience. But a political position sees the larger context in which this volunteering takes place, that is, israel's long-term siege of the Gaza Strip and the destruction of most of its civilian infrastructure. Such a position inquires into how this reality came about, in which Palestinian civilians in Gaza must rely on the generosity of good Israelis and cannot receive suitable medical care in Gaza itself. It asks why there are no proper hospitals in Gaza and who prevents Palestinians from building them, and by what right. Such a position would highlight the significance of such a far-reaching denial of the freedom of movement for millions of people who require the overlords' permission not only to enter Israel but also to travel to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank. It would also point out the nature of the regime that for decades has controlled every breath taken by millions of disenfranchised subjects, and it would understand that such a regime inevitably must provoke an uprising. In contrary to all attempts to control how these realities are framed for public consumption, to understand them accurately is not the equivalent of supporting violence nor its justification, but quite the opposite a dispassionate analysis of this bloody reality to enable us to exit from it.
Speaker 1:The concept that the most the subject can aspire to is the master's recognition of his being human, a recognition that can be withheld as easily as it was given if the subject quote disappoints, is the hallmark of the colonial situation. I interject I don't think this is only so for colonialism. Consider any group which enjoys serious and substantial benefits that another group has had withheld. If you were in the first group, it could be a race, a religion or a nationality, but it could also be a class, a gender, etc. How do you understand the facts of your and the others' existence? Yes, if in the first group you can see clear to the truth, as Noy indicates. Seeing yourself as a master relative to the other, or you can see yourself as someone good, someone who benefits the other, albeit ignoring that their subordination isn't due to an inadequacy but to oppression that you abide or defend or pursue.
Speaker 1:Noy continues brilliantly. In this situation, the master deems himself so superior to the subject that the latter should be thankful for every moment in which the master's grip on his throat remains loose, while any resistance to the ever-present threat of that chokehold is tantamount to ingratitude. These are the same quote leftists of the past who, alongside their disappointment in the Palestinians, have also suddenly discovered the joys of embracing tribalism. Ed Sufit Grant has evidently done Since 7th of October. She says she has wanted to walk all day through the streets and kiss Israelis.
Speaker 1:I have become very Israeli, very Jewish, lamentably disastrously, in today's Israel this would seem to involve parting not only with the quote humanitarian portion of their brain, but with the brain itself.
Speaker 1:So ends Noy's peace. It offers much to consider, I think, for example, is this a part of why many in the Jewish community in the US have become so outraged at ungrateful, rebellious, violent Palestinians as to implicitly or even explicitly favor or at least abide their annihilation, a stance that just days earlier those same Jews would have considered absolutely vile. And do such reactions bear on responses in other times and conditions about other conflicts around racial, gender, sex power or class differences, as Noy puts it? Doesn't the white male owner coordinator display the same inclination wherein, quote the master deems himself so superior to the subject that the latter should be thankful for every moment in which the master's grip on his throat remains loose, while any resistance to the ever-present threat of a chokehold is tantamount to ingratitude? And with those words from early Noy and earlier Aridati Roy, this is Michael Albert signing off until next time for Revolution Z.