Peres's speech on Israel's Memorial Day acknowledges commitment to the Plan Dalet

As the commemoration of the Nakba approaches, Israel embarked on disseminating its fabricated patriotism through contradictory statements glorifying violence in the pursuit of alleged peace. Speeches by Israeli President Shimon Peres, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the occasion of Memorial Day evoked scenarios of perpetual and justified violence in the name of security and defence, notably a commitment to upholding atrocities committed during the Nakba.

In keeping with the enforced oblivion, Israel’s glorification of history ensures the continuous effort to eliminate Palestinians from its narrative. Referred to briefly as “our neighbours” by Peres, the reported statements as quoted by the Times of Israel focus upon metaphorical conjectures of inherent melancholy and incompletion; avoiding any reference to the slaughter of Palestinians committed by Israel, or the atrocity embodied by the mere existence of the settler-colonial state itself. Peres referred to a sadness that is “hidden deeply but stares out of our eyes”, while asserting Israel’s strength as “a miracle in the eyes of the Jews, a wonder in the eyes of the world”.

Netanyahu hailed the IDF as a protective force. “The IDF and the security forces are the only thing that differentiate the slaughter of our people in the past from our current satiation.” Grief, according to Netanyahu, is a sentiment reserved for colonial participants, adding that comfort should be sought in the fact that “the fallen gave their lives to build our state and to safeguard it”.

Despite the cautious avoidance of discussing Israel’s settler-colonial agenda during the commemoration of the colonisers’ deaths, Peres acknowledged adherence to the ultimate aim of Plan Dalet. “We still live by the sword but seek peace with all our hearts. The battle is not over; we have not reached our goals.”

In perfect concordance with Peres’s statements, Gantz added, “We know the relative security calm we’ve experienced in the past years is an illusion.”

While the rhetoric exalting Israel’s commitment to perpetrate further atrocities is attributed to security, Israel’s perfected methods of exterminating and displacing the Palestinian population represents the harboured illusion of superiority. The discourse requires a substitution of vocabulary so that “miracle” can be read as a constant violation and “the world” limited to Israel’s imperialist allies supporting the oppression of Palestinian resistance.

It is the elements of complicity and impunity that Israel capitalises upon, as implied in these statements. Owing to international recognition of the settler-colonial state, the Western dissemination of the Holocaust as the only genocide worthy of remembrance and study, the Nakba remains on the periphery.

The widespread disassociation from the genocide perpetrated by Zionists against Palestinians constitutes a permanent reinvention of the fabricated nation celebrating its settler-colonial project at the expense of the indigenous population. Meanwhile, the UN’s constant support for Israel has led to the drafting of resolutions purportedly safeguarding Palestinians, despite the imperialist organisation’s obvious support for such massacres, as evidenced by the recognition bestowed upon the settler-colonial state.

The vague symbolism articulated by Israeli leaders may have served its purpose well within the settler-population; for Palestinians, each word uttered is a testimony of violations that renders the Nakba not only a narration of loss, but also the embodiment of Palestinian resilience in relation to the right of return, which surpasses the inscription enshrined within an ineffective, diplomatic resolution.

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