Opinion Editorials, December 2012

“We need to flatten entire neighbourhoods in Gaza, flatten all of Gaza; the Americans did not stop with Hiroshima, because the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki too” (Gilad Sharon son of Ariel Sharon, OP Ed in The Jerusalem Post)

“There are no innocents in Gaza.... Turn it into rubble! Paint it red!” (Michael Ben-Ari Knesset member)

Consider how the West would have reacted, if Iran was behaving like the Israelis. They would not be pleading for restraint; instead there would be an outcry, with threats of military action, and instant UN sanctions imposed. History seems to support the notion that Israel will always get preferential treatment, no matter what it does. Hence, the blatant media bias in the West, combined with the unquestionable vocal support it receives from Westerns leaders. Accordingly, they have simply echoed the Israel propaganda: Hamas started this conflict with their rockets and Israel is merely acting in self-defence.

The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, blamed Hamas and supported Israel’s right to issue collective punishment on the citizens of Gaza. According to that sort of logic, the British government would have bombed the Catholics in Ireland for the actions of the IRA (Irish Republic Army). Yet, the British Foreign Minister was quick to endorse, Israel can do what the UK would not even contemplate! In tune with this sort of hypocrisy, western leaders continuously lecture about Israel’s security whilst ignoring the fact that the Palestinians have no security.

And the BBC media coverage followed the same pro-Israeli line that is more akin to the actions of a child molester like Jimmy Savile, rather than objective journalism; otherwise it would have shown the numerous images of the dead Palestinian children, and questioned the Israelis when they speak of acting in self-defence. Instead, like Jimmy Savile, Mark Regev of Israel representing the child killers is given a prime platform on the BBC media. So where is the Hamas representative on the ‘impartial’ BBC?

Despite Israel’s talk of self-defence, all I see are images of dead Palestinian children! Such images are absent from the Zionist dominated media like CNN, BBC, FOX NEWS, and Sky News of Rupert Murdoch (a well-known Zionist sympathiser). However, they are easily visible in the popular internet based media of Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and YouTube videos, where the voices of genuine individuals on the ground are heard directly, without the media spin and selectivity.

A genuine act of self-defence would be a proportional response to the action of the aggressor; applying Israel’s propaganda you have the absurd conclusion of: the defenceless Palestinians under siege as the aggressor. Moreover, proportional response would be reflected in the casualty figures. For this reason, the figures are conveniently kept out of the media headlines; so far around 170 Palestinians killed, many more injured, and very few know the figures from the other side, no one is happy to advertise that, only thing that gets mentioned repeatedly is that evil Hamas sends rockets.

In order to justify Israeli savagery, the media has always projected this conflict as one between two nations of equals; as if the rockets hurled by Hamas are comparable to the firepower (F16s, attack helicopters and warships) used by Israel, which is militarily and financially backed by the US and the West. It does not take much courage or ethics to bomb defenceless civilians from a distant, its ‘state-terrorism’, a term that is rarely found in the western media. Israel has a track record of using self-defence as a pretext to commit large scale massacres; in the previous carnage in Gaza, around 1500 Palestinians (one third were women and children) were murdered, whereas the Israel loss was less than 20.

For Israel to use the notion of self-defence is misleading and illogical, because that assumes Israel is the victim; the stronger bully rarely acts in self-defence against its adversaries. This leads to the next question of who escalated this ongoing war. Before the conflict started, here are the facts:–

· Ignoring international law and consensus, Israel continues to build illegal settlements in the West Bank; well why not, this is Israel, the chosen nation. Building of these illegal settlements alone justifies the rocket attacks.

· The continuing siege on Gaza has turned it into an open air prison, which is approximately 150 miles with 2 million people living on it. In the West Bank, the noose is tightening around the Palestinians with an apartheid wall, check points, and various other forms of restrictions imposed on them.

· The siege of Gaza combined with the settlement means the scope for a two-state solution is diminishing fast. The real truth is Israel has always aimed for a single state solution. Its argument has always been that the other Arab nations should simply absorb the Palestinians. So the indigenous Palestinians are expected to give up their homeland to make room for the chosen nation. What an irony coming from a people whose claim to this land is based on their ancestors going back thousands of years.

· Prior to the rockets, many reports of Israeli armed forces murdering the odd Palestinian civilians here and there went undetected on the western media radar. This has become the norm; thus, just after the cease fire, a Palestinian was murdered, and this sort of news never makes the headlines like the Hamas rockets.

Despite the facts, the media and the ruling elite in the west expect the world to believe this was started by the Hamas rockets and the benign victim, Israel, has only acted in self-defence!

There is always causal reference made to the angry words emanating from the Palestinian side as justification for Israeli actions. What does the west expect? Silence in the face of occupation and extermination?

However, when the Israelis are spouting belligerent statements and hate, it all goes undetected in the Western media. This video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPWi6x8HshM&sns=em.3) shows a public rally where they are openly chanting racist slogans, calling for flattening Gaza, like wolves, they are hungry for blood. There are many images and videos depicting the same belligerency from the Zionists.

The preferential treatment given to Israel means the US-led countries can never be honest brokers in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, unless there is a fundamental shift to neutral ground where an honest broker should operate from. Indeed, there is broad consensus for a two-state solution. By accepting the 1967 borders, endorsed by the UN resolution, the Palestinians have already made a huge compromise on their homeland, the question should be asked - when will Israel reciprocate and live in peace? That should be the starting point for a peaceful solution.

Yamin Zakaria (yamin@radicalviews.org)

Published on 27/11/2012

London, UK

www.radicalviews.org

http://yaminzakaria.blogspot.com

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

editor@aljazeerah.info & editor@ccun.org