In one of the scariest moments in modern history, we're doing our best at ScheerPost to pierce the fog of lies that conceal it but we need some help to pay our writers and staff. Please consider a tax-deductible donation.
Yakov M. Rabkin Informed Comment
Israel is a democracy. This makes it difficult to hide the inconvenient fact that it is profoundly racist. The recent episode involving Minister Ben-Gvir taunting an international group of pro-Palestine activists is in many ways revealing. The activists were on board unarmed boats bringing food and medical supplies to the long-besieged Palestinians of Gaza when Israeli forces seized the boats in international waters, then arraigned and detained the activists in Israel. The high official waved an Israeli flag before the crouched detainees, whose hands were tied behind their backs, and sarcastically proclaimed, “Welcome to Israel. We are the owners here.”
In fact, the suffering of the activists pales in comparison with what is being done to the Palestinians. A recent exposé in the New York Times reveals systematic sexual abuse, including the use of specially trained dogs to rape prisoners. This sadistic method surpasses the “achievements” of the otherwise sophisticated Nazi torturers in humiliating their victims.
Minister Ben-Gvir performed in Hebrew and posted his video for all to see. The targeted audience was regular Israelis. The country is gearing up for an election, and the episode was broadcast to gain him votes. The hundreds of clips that Israeli military personnel posted of themselves gloating and chanting as they blow up houses, hospitals, and schools in Gaza clearly suggest that they expected admiration rather than opprobrium from their society.
As usual, Israel and its vassals treated this as a public relations problem. The Israeli ambassador in Washington called it a sledgehammer blow to Israel’s diplomatic efforts to burnish its deteriorating reputation. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Saar also criticized Ben-Gvir’s performance. Even the U.S. ambassador, Reverend Huckabee — who is often more pro-Israeli than Israel — chimed in. These damage-control measures focus on the episode itself and, predictably, ignore its context and purpose.
A few years ago, Ben-Gvir ran for election under the slogan “Nobody is to the Right of Me,” and he came out triumphant. He is often portrayed in mainstream Western media as a regrettable outlier. But he is anything but. The minister of national security knows his society and embodies its dominant trends. This is why he shows how tough he is not only with the Palestinians but also with their supporters from abroad. Cruelty and vindictiveness are winning cards in Israel.
He never misses an opportunity to display these qualities. Ben-Gvir was one of the sponsors of the recent law authorizing the death sentence by hanging for Palestinians. The law was approved by the Israeli parliament, which, thanks to the proportional voting system, fairly reflects the country’s public opinion. Ben-Gvir celebrated this democratic achievement with champagne brought into the hallowed parliamentary chambers, and — needless to say — the entire scene of jubilation was in full view of the public.
But that was not the end. Soon thereafter, the honorable member of the legislature was celebrating his 50th birthday. His wife offered him a birthday cake decorated with a noose, and this too was broadcast for all to see. There is no record of Frau Himmler offering her husband, the head of the SS, a birthday cake in the shape of a crematorium. In fact, the Nazis tried to hide the genocide they were committing. They were afraid the German citizenry might not approve. Israeli leaders have no such fear.
Finally, a few words about Western reactions. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States — all complicit in the genocide in Gaza — deplored the Israeli mistreatment of the activists in stronger terms than they ever reacted to Israel’s torture and slaughter of Palestinians. This showed once again the racist hypocrisy of their commitment to human rights. Palestinians, Lebanese, Iranians, and other “less white” peoples do not deserve the same human rights as Europeans and their descendants settled elsewhere, usually by means of perpetrating their own genocide against the local inhabitants.
One can only admire the perspicacity of the Martinique poet Aimé Césaire, who wrote in 1955 in his Discourse on Colonialism: “What he [the white man] does not forgive Hitler is not the crime itself, the crime against man, it is not the humiliation of man in himself, it is the crime against the white man, it is the humiliation of the white man, and for having applied to Europe colonialist procedures hitherto only applied to the Arabs of Algeria, the coolies of India, and the negroes of Africa.”
Photo of Gaza by khalid kwaik on Unsplash
Anticolonial sentiment briefly prevailed during the few decades of the Cold War. The Soviet Union had long supported anti-colonial struggle, and the West did not want to “lose Africa to the Russians.” The times have changed. Significantly, it was during the twilight of the USSR that the U.N. General Assembly revoked its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism. Later on, a French president called on his compatriots to be proud of the achievements that France brought to its former colonies. And at the recent security conference in Munich, the U.S. Secretary of State Rubio praised the European colonization of America as “a sacred inheritance.” He also called on Europeans to be “unapologetic in our heritage and proud of this common inheritance.”
No wonder that Israel’s settler colonial project continues to enjoy impunity from most Western governments. These democratic regimes continue to sell arms to Israel and allow overflight of American transport planes carrying bombs to kill Palestinians, Lebanese, and Iranians. After all, this state terrorizing everyone around is “the only democracy in the Middle East.” Democracy has never been an obstacle to racist terror.
Yakov M. Rabkin is Professor Emeritus of History at the Université of Montréal. His publications include over 300 articles and a few books: Israel in Palestine, Zionism Decoded in 101 Quotes Science between Superpowers, A Threat from Within: a Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism, What is Modern Israel?, Demodernization: A Future in the Past and Judaïsme, islam et modernité. He did consulting work for, inter alia, OECD, NATO, UNESCO and the World Bank. E-mail: yakov.rabkin@umontreal.ca. Website: www.yakovrabkin.ca
Editor’s Note: At a moment when the once vaunted model of responsible journalism is overwhelmingly the play thing of self-serving billionaires and their corporate scribes, alternatives of integrity are desperately needed, and ScheerPost is one of them. Please support our independent journalism by contributing to our online donation platform, Network for Good, or send a check to our new PO Box. We can’t thank you enough, and promise to keep bringing you this kind of vital news.
You can also make a donation to our PayPal or subscribe to our Patreon.
Please share this story and help us grow our network!
