Debunking Israel's narrative on Gaza – Truth Out!

Amid the cries of outrage and the flurry of condemnations the world has thrown at Israel, the Zionist State remains adamant it owns absolute moral ground on Gaza, arguing high and low that no state should ever be made to suffer the ravage of bombs. And indeed, no people should be made to live under terror; it seems however that Israel has forgotten whose hands have been bloodied in this conflict and whose bombs have landed on schools, hospitals and designated UN shelters.

Israel’s argument, its only argument one might add, is that in the name of its national security there is no crime it can commit as its stands the eternal victim. But beyond this narrative, this irrational rationale, Israel continues to argue that Palestine and Palestinians remain an inherent threat to its very existence. Because Israel claims to be a nation at war with Palestine – even though Palestine resembles more a concentration camp than it does a state, especially since under international law Palestine does not actually qualify as a legal sovereign entity – we have been told to believe that Palestine is an evil war-mongering racist nation which sole purpose has always been and will always be the destruction of the good people of Israel.

The fact that this narrative is profoundly racist, biased and completely baseless, has interestingly escaped everyone. Israel’s propaganda is based on its ability to manipulate truth, twists arguments and plays the holocaust card.

But when Israel’s own people, when its own citizens feel so sickened by their officials’ actions and eternal brutalization of Palestinians that they feel compelled to rebel, speak out and condemn, one needs to really ponder over what legitimacy such state has left, if at all.

In the words of Rabbi Meir Hirsch – a man of such religious stature that his comments should echo far into Israel’s psyche – “We [Neturei Karta] want see the end of the Zionist tragedy and the restoration of peace to the Middle East. For this many minds must be changed, many patterns must be broken.”

Let us look now at the claims made by Israel, its justifications for a “prolonged war” in Gaza, as reported by PM Benyamin Netanyahu earlier this week. Beyond the anger and the passions let us debunked some of Israel’s fairy tales and spell out a few ugly truths about a state which very existence was morn of murder.

– Israel argues that Hamas fired first and that it had to retaliate.

Fast forward a few weeks and you actually will recall that it was Israel Premier who vowed to revenge the death of three of Israeli youth, even if it meant rampage through the entire of Gaza and destroy every house on the way. Hamas did not draw first blood; Israel did when it chose to fire its missiles onto the Gaza Strip.

– Israel argues it had to revenge the death of its youth by Hamas last June.

We know now that Israel’s allegations its three young settlers were killed by Hamas were untrue. Worse, Israel chose to play the so-called kidnapping and the subsequent rescue effort campaign as a mean to direct Israelis’ anger towards Palestine and ultimately lead the country to yet another “moral” bloody war on Gaza.

Max Blumenthal, an investigative journalist was first to blow the lid off Netanyahu’s can of lies, unveiling the true manipulative and calculative nature of Israel’s cabinet. Blumenthal said that Netanyahu used outrage around the kidnapping to whip up enough support to justify the aggressive military campaign that has ensued.

Moreover, Hamas has always rejected any responsibility in the settlers’ death. Since Hamas largely and overwhelmingly tends to over-share when it comes to its ability to inflict harm on Israel, it is likely the group had nothing to do with the boys’ murder. Or as some have chillingly theorized, maybe the boys were the mere victims of a system so twisted it could stage the death of one of its own to sell a war it so desperately hungers for.

– Israel argues that Hamas uses civilians as human shields and fires missiles from schools and hospitals in view of drawing Israel in and gain public sympathy.

Beyond the sheer outlandishness of such narrative, notwithstanding the fact that it serves only to dehumanize Palestinians and thus justify the indiscriminate killing of civilian populations, no proof was ever presented to corroborate such allegations. Not in 2009, and not today.

When Israel fired at a UN designated shelter earlier in July, it alleged that Hamas had hidden weapons in the school. UN officials and workers in Gaza have rejected this claim as unfounded and untrue. Israel then retaliated by branding the UN an anti-Semite organization whose aim was to destroy the State of Israel.

When Israel destroyed yet another UN designated shelter earlier this week, thus prompting sheer international outrage, it denied having fire any missile. It claimed instead that the attack was staged to gain public sympathy. The fact that dozens of women and children died in both attacks of course completely fell on deaf ears. Israel cannot and will not be proven wrong.

As noted by Pamela Geller, President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, “Israel is the most moral army in the world.”

As declared by Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, “The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has conducted its assault on Hamas in Gaza with such caution and care for civilian lives that it deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for unimaginable restraint.” He added, “[N]o one should accept criticism of Israel for acting with restraint that has not been shown and would not be shown by any nation on Earth.”

But there are other truths which too few are willing to consider when looking at the Israeli-Palestinian issue:

Palestine remains a nation under occupation and as such it has the right to defend itself. If Israel claims to its right to existence then why should Palestinians be denied the same right?

If Israel can call the murder of three teens a terror act, what should we call the immolation of a Palestinian boy in Jerusalem by the hands of Israelis?

If Israel can label Hamas a terror group for seeking to wipe Israel off the face the earth, what should we label Israel’s MP calls for a Palestinian genocide? Several of Israel’s most high ranking officials have publicly advocated for the killing of all Palestinians women and children.

For the bloodshed to ever end “many minds and many patterns need to be broken.”

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.