Israel: the neighbourhood bully on steroids
It’s a consequence of Israel’s choice not to opt for a surgical blow against Hamas but instead to launch a wild, indiscriminate campaign of revenge against the Palestinian people. But in the State of Israel, the compass is out of whack, and in the TV studios panellists were baffled that the Occupier was responsible for the humanitarian crisis that they themselves created
By Yasmin Levy • Translated by Sol Salbe
The sight of famished Gazans besieging aid trucks and getting crushed on their way to get a piece of bread is portrayed by some Israelis as some sort of “PR Terrorism” undermining their Hasbara rather than a predictable disaster stemming from the lack of a political strategy, and vision for the day after. In a country where the moral compass is properly calibrated, any reasonable person would sharply criticise the incident that illustrates the injustice committed by Israel. It’s a consequence of Israel’s choice not to opt for a surgical blow against Hamas but instead to launch a wild, indiscriminate campaign of revenge against the Palestinian people.
But in the State of Israel, the compass is out of whack, and in the TV studios panellists were baffled that the Occupier was responsible for the humanitarian crisis that they themselves created. “Why should they be given food, oil and fuel? Why? Explain to me why,” whined Eyal Berkovic, a former footballer and now a TV presenter, who had lost all compassion on his way to the studio, to the panellists. “Because unlike the Middle Ages, you can’t starve entire populations in 2024,” Or Heller gave the self-evident answer. “I didn’t see that they were that morally virtuous,” Berkovic replied, as if his mind was taken over by right-wing mob thinking. “When are we going to stop being such beautiful souls?”
It seems as if 30,000 dead Gazan including 12,500 children and youths, 70,000 wounded, countless buildings demolished to rubble, homelessness and Somali-style hunger are the fruit of the military measures carried out by “beautiful souls.” Arab-Israeli news presenter Lucy Aharish explained that Israel is a democratic country that is committed to the norms of the nations of the world. But Berkovic didn’t connect with logic on the other side, as if he were standing on a bridge over some sort of an abyss.
“Gaza should not be our problem,” he declared, perhaps hoping that the Norwegians would take Gaza under their wing. “But it’s our problem,” Aharish replied, and since President Joe Biden decided to drop humanitarian aid into Gaza, it’s also the problem of the United States. Sefi Ovadia, who usually provides a critical voice, refrained from taking sides (“I don’t have a good answer”) and mentioned how “very serious opinion leaders” like Giora Eiland hold Berkovic’s position.
Yes, the same general who prattles on that only a siege will release the abductees and topple the Hamas regime, ignoring international law and the possibility that hungry terrorist organisation leaders may just kill those abductees whom they cannot feed anyway. The height of absurdity came when Berkovic grabbed his mobile phone in the mid-program and said: “If Biden picks up the phone to Bibi, Netanyahu should tell him, ‘Mr President, if there are no abductees, there is no food for Gaza.’”
Acting like a bully according to the rules of the tribe will certainly please professional Arabist cum commentator Zvi Yehezkeli, but will not lead to the release of the abductees. Only a negotiated agreement will do this, but the head of bloodletting government is in no hurry. “Netanyahu wants to continue the fighting,” former Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan said on Channel 12. “He doesn’t care about the abductees. They don’t interest him in the slightest, he doesn’t give a toss about them at all.”
