You will hear Israel refer to itself as a democracy during this conflict. It is a dog whistle for the ears of Americans– we will always respond with “we must defend democracy.” But it is false. The Israeli government does not equally represent its Palestinian heritage citizens, or its Muslims, or its Druze, or anyone non-Jewish.
Let us be clear that Israel is an apartheid state, as many human rights groups have determined. It was formed as one at its founding, elevating Jewish people and oppressing Palestinians by using different rules for them than for Jewish people, for their movement, for their livelihoods, for their speech. That is the definition of Apartheid. Israeli citizens of Palestinian descent do not speak openly for fear of retribution. Being Palestinian means you are a second, or third class citizen or resident.
In July this year, the Knesset passed a law limiting the ability of the supreme Court to deem government decisions unreasonable. It is the removal of a check on the executive and legislative branches that particularly affected Palestinians. But it also gave extreme power to PM Netanyahu. Israelis protested in the thousands on a daily basis. The military protested. That was the beginning of the current slide to the chaos and unchallenged military force we see today in Gaza and beyond.
At the same time, there was an ongoing war in Ukraine that the US was beginning to fully support against Russia. Iranian and Russian relations were warming and Russia saw an opportunity to leverage the relationship Iran has with Hamas –an organization you will hear labeled terrorists by most governments due to their subversive activities against Israel, but is the elected if ineffective government of Gaza. It is clear that Iran’s support of Hamas launched the attack on Gaza. The US is now faced with supporting Israel against Hamas/Iran and Ukraine against Russia. Russia is betting the American public will quickly weary of supporting two wars. Ukraine will lose because Americans have a somewhat unhealthy unconditional support for Israel. However, as is often the case with war, we may not be able to control the borders of this one.
Gaza holds about 2 million Palestinians and 65% live below poverty level. It is important to point out that the UN considers the Gaza strip (about the size of Washington DC) an occupied territory since 1967. It has been described as an open air prison. There is no escape. Gazans rely on Israel for water, electricity and utilities, medical supplies, food supplies, everything must pass through Israeli control of the borders. The IDF has completely blockaded it since 2007, about the time Hamas was elected to govern there. Gazans have no freedom of movement, no imports and limited exports. On Oct 7, Hamas militants carried out a targeted attack against Israel punching through the northern border of Gaza with bulldozers and paragliders. About 1400 Jewish Israelis were killed.
As of today Israel has retaliated against Gaza, the West Bank (another Palestinian exclave controlled by Israel), Lebanon and Syria. The world is waiting for a full-fledged ground offensive into Gaza to begin, but more than 5,700 Palestinians have been killed so far. The war of public opinion is also ramping up with both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrations throughout the Western world, and pro-Palestinian demonstrations being encouraged throughout the Arab capitals. Arab nations have historically used the Palestinian conflict to divert attention from their own travails by feigning moral outrage. They say there are two sides to every story, but this story is prismatic with at least 5 sides or more.
There is 1) Israel–the initial victim, 2) the Palestinians in Gaza–the current and historic victims, 3) Iran– the instigators, 4) Russia–the abettors, 5) the US– the Israeli abettors, 6) the Arab nations–the disingenuous supporters of Palestinians. And maybe the list goes on because the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has long been the conflict that everyone could point to with the left hand while the right hand was shaking hands elsewhere.
Believing in “Peace in the Middle East” has become like believing in unicorns in modern lexicon. The conflict is 75 years old, as old as the establishment of Israel. But it’s important to remember that there are civilians being killed in this war. This is no fair fight, on either side. Do not believe the propaganda. Do not believe that those that are dying are less than human. Do not believe that either opponent has any kind of moral upper hand. Because the people who are dying, they deserve better. Do believe that many political leaders in many nations are using the conflict for their own political power—including Netanyahu. Unfortunately, we may now be headed to a regional conflict in which nuclear weapons could come into play.
My plane landed in Tel Aviv in July of this year and a young Palestinian-American man looked at an elderly Jewish Israeli man and said, “We’re home Papa.” The Israeli man bristled. Both were traveling from the U.S.—a country where both were welcome and were treated as equals –traveling to a place where one man will always have an advantage over the other. That is no democracy.
