The Unforgivable Menace of Israeli Apartheid: Israeli Settlers Impose Fascistic Intimidation on Palestinians

 

By David Starr

 

Even the slightest criticism of Israel and its ultra-nationalist policies would compel hardline supporters of Israel to whip out the antisemitic card. It is the go-to tactic to try and discourage people from expressing anything negative about Israel. Such is the denial of hardliners.

 

The Anti-Defamation League is one source supporting Israel that may be in denial. The ADL published a paper attempting to counter criticisms of Israel being a “Settler Colonialist Enterprise.” Its tone was sophisticated and provided intelligent examples of comparing empires with Israel. There was mention of the European colonial empires and their subjugating native peoples in places like the Middle East, Asia and Africa; and stealing natural resources from the indigenous. 

 

The purpose of this comparison was to show that Jews were/are not like those who imposed colonialism on others because Jews are indigenous to the land now called the nation of Israel. It also mentioned that Palestinians are indigenous to the land in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the European colonists were not indigenous to the lands they conquered. 

 

There was also mention of Jews going to Israel due to persecution while European colonists were not persecuted. But, there were colonists who were persecuted in Europe because of their religion, and thus left to go to foreign lands. After that, they themselves persecuted indigenous peoples. 

 

But the author(s) of the paper then portray Israel in a too-good-to-be-true fashion: “… Israel enjoys international legitimacy including recognition by the United Nations. It is a democracy that extends rights and protections to all its citizens–Jews and non-Jews alike.” This may be the case for Jews but there have been times when non-Jews were not treated equality; especially, the Palestinians. 

 

The author(s) go further: “…the modern Zionist movement’s raison d’etre was never to subjugate the existing population and steal their resources.” Then why has it been happening to the Palestinians? The settler problem is a major blot on Israel, with land being stolen and houses demolished that belong to Palestinians. And the United Nations has condemned Israel for its treatment of them. Still, the author(s) of the paper seem to side-step the illegal actions of the settlers, writing that the term “settler colonialism” is a “distortion.” This is because of the Jews’ right to return to the “Holy Land.” But it’s been at the expense of Palestinian rights to the land, given the policies of the Israeli government. 

 

There was an interesting article in Al Jazeera by Haythem Guesmi, a Tunisian academic and writer. The title of the piece was “Israeli Settlers: The Face of US imperialism in the Middle East.” Guesmi provided details of a “Zionist nationalist march [occurring on June 15, 2021], celebrating the anniversary of Israel’s 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem. He wrote that it “had eerie similarities to not only last century’s Nazi rallies in Europe, but also with more recent examples of racial hatred we have seen in the United States.” 

 

In comparison, Guesmi noted that the only difference between the two “public declarations of racial hatred and genocidal intention was the fact that, unlike their American counterparts, the Israeli racists faced no backlash or punishment.” Guesmi provided examples of the hate expressed by the Zionist racists: “Death to Arabs!” and “May your village burn!”

 

Guesmi wrote that “Israeli American settlers have long been leading the efforts to dispossess Palestinians of their homes and land with the support of Israel’s Supreme Court and the Israeli government.” Thus, there is a U.S. connection to the situation.

 

Guesmi added, “Israeli settlers are the ‘Jewish face’ of U.S. imperialism in the region.” He quoted a passage from a 1979 essay by Edward Said: “There is an unmistakable coincidence between the experiences of Arab Palestinians at the hands of Zionism and the experiences of those black, yellow and brown people who were described as inferior and subhuman by nineteenth-century imperialists.” Further, “Zionism never spoke of itself unambiguously as a Jewish liberation movement but rather as a Jewish movement for colonial settlement in the Orient.”

 

Guesmi wrote, “In light of the global dominance of the US, there is little doubt that Zionism, and thus Israel’s settler colonialism, is an extension of American imperialism. And not only Palestinians, but also Jews across the globe, are its victims.”

 

In December 2022, a new, ultra-nationalist right-wing government took over and proceeded to try and “weaken the judicial system and thereby granted itself unfettered power to enact its reactionary agenda,” this according to Richard Becker writing in Liberation News. Becker added that this government included “undisguised fascist ministers.” 

 

As a result, there were mass demonstrations by over 100,000 people in various cities of Israel. Becker wrote, “The protests, in the name of democracy, have been organized by multiple organizations and politicians…” Besides threatening the judicial system, the new government’s minister of communications introduced a bill that would shut down public broadcasting, supervise commercial media, and clamp down on investigative reporting. 

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put together the government that has been “dominated by unabashed bigots.” One example is Minister of Finance Belazel Smotrich, who had no shame in admitting in an interview that “I am a fascist homophobe.”  Another fascist, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, declared that anyone carrying a Palestinian flag would be arrested and put in jail. Protest organizers convinced Ben-Gvir not to carry out his threat, saying, according to Becker, “that they didn’t want to ‘confuse’ the message that this is a family dispute among Israel-loyal Zionists.”

 

While the protests were about preserving democracy in Israel, there was no mention of Palestinian rights or implementing democracy for them, particularly in the Occupied Territories.

 

These policies from the new government have encouraged fascist settlers to impose themselves more on Palestinian land. It’s no coincidence that Netanyahu pushes for more settlements with the goal of annexing what he perversely calls land that belongs to Israel. 

 

But in a scathing report in March 2022 from the United Nations’ Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, Israel’s government was understandably called “an apartheid regime.” Its’ practices have included “land grabs and settlement establishment, with illegally demographic changes and strategic fragmentation of the territory. The occupying power continued to enjoy impunity. Israel had flagrantly violated its obligations under international law, depriving the Palestinian people from enjoying their inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination and the right of return. Israel was committing the crime of apartheid in Palestinian territory, and this apartheid regime must be dismantled through all legal means.” 

 

Furthermore, “the illegal settlements activities constituted the main source of many human rights violations: the occupying entity continued to expand settlements, confiscate lands, and take natural resources…” And, “Israel had no interest of a just peace, and committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of apartheid.” 

 

It seems that Israel has ignored all this from the UN. Or has actually condemned the accusations. Hard-line Israel supporters probably used the antisemitic card as the “answer” to all those problems. 

 

According to a report published in Vox and a press release from Jewish Voice for Peace, a major incident occurred on February 26, 2023 when hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaged through the villages of  Huwara, Zatara, and Burin. They wound up torching 30 Palestinian homes and lit 100 cars on fire. There were about 370 Palestinians injured and one who was shot dead. It turned out that this was retaliation for a Palestinian who killed two Israeli brothers. 

 

While violence is not preferable, Palestinians do have an obvious right to be angry, with their land stolen from them and their houses demolished all for the sake of ultra-nationalist, Zionist goals to placate Israeli settlers. The objective of the settlers is influenced by religious fanaticism and wanting to live in what they think is parts of the “Holy Land,” meaning the Occupied Territories. With Netanyahu and other fascists in the Israeli government having the objective of annexing more Palestinian land, that lessens the chance for the Palestinians to officially establish a nation. 

 

With the settlers provoking violence through illegally moving into Palestinian territory, it can be said that the Palestinians must necessarily defend themselves somehow and some way. And for Israel to ignore Palestinians rights to the land, and the United States continuing its military aid to Israel and thus being an accomplice to apartheid, it is more than clear that this conflict has to be finally resolved. Ideally, a starting point would be for the U.S. to stop military aid to Israel and for the settlements to cease. Then, Palestinians must not commit violence against Israelis. Hopefully, the starting point will relax tensions and quell the violence.

 

But this apparently won’t happen soon. As long as the right-wing government in Israel carries out its fascistic objectives, the goals for peace and a Palestinian nation seem unrealizable. And the hardline supporters of Israel will continue to play the antisemitic card every time there’s criticism of the “Holy Land.”