Al Jazeera popcorn, freely available on every Arab street
What is the Gaza situation really about? Is it even worth arguing about or getting emotional over? Well, my view is that nothing is worth arguing about or getting emotional over. If you are arguing over something then you probably don't even understand it.
As almost everyone can agree, Gaza is, in essence, the latest reiteration of the now 70-plus-year-long struggle caused by Israel's colonial insertion into the Muslim world (although I am aware that my word choice here could cause a bit of hair-splitting). But the Gazan situation is also extremely revealing of several things that were not known, or not fully appreciated, before the present flare up.
These are:
1. The impotence and indeed surprising apathy of the wider Arab world
2. The progressive weakening of the global system
3. The "evolution" or "mutation" of Israel
"MUSLAMIC" POPCORN
When Israel was founded in the 1940s in a US-and-Soviet-supported ad hoc UN solution, after Britain's then Labour government washed its hands of the problem, the Arab World was certainly not apathetic, and they were not even impotent. Israel faced considerable military, diplomatic, political, and metapolitical pushback on several fronts, and had to fight hard and wisely for its survival. By contrast, today we have the example of Israel basically creating a mini-Dresden on its doorstep, while the Arab-and-wider-Muslim world does practically nothing.
There is plenty of talk by people like Erdogan, the Iranians, Hezbollah, etc., but the truth is that the closer they are to Israel the more muted and passive they are, and, regardless of what they are saying, there is not a single substantive act of support for the Palestinians; not a single attempt to impose sanctions or provide military succour to their "beloved Muslim brothers."
Al Jazeera's constant 24-hour "atrocity coverage" has apparently induced nothing more than a sleepy popcorn binge in the "Muslamic" world (see image above).
Try-hard cartoonist tryin' to get off with that cute Muslim girl
GENOCIDAL GREEN LIGHTS
Next, we observe the weakening of the global system.
This is especially apparent in this case, because the global system is principally based on American power and the Israel/Palestine problem exists in a kind of "semi-blindspot" of the global system that is generated by US domestic politics. But beyond all that, there is a sense that the global system is tottering, which is exemplified in the persons of Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
This is especially apparent in this case, because the global system is principally based on American power and the Israel/Palestine problem exists in a kind of "semi-blindspot" of the global system that is generated by US domestic politics. But beyond all that, there is a sense that the global system is tottering, which is exemplified in the persons of Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Biden represents the careful but limited exertions of the global system. America is sometimes referred to as the "Global Policeman," but a truer analogy, in my view, has always been the "Global Social Worker." Meanwhile Trump represents the effective subversion of this global system by its opponents.
Biden ineffectually attempts to get Israel to "go easy" on Gazan civilians (almost 20,000 killed by now), while one reason Trump is doing much better in the polls than could be expected is because the Israeli Deep State has joined wholeheartedly with the Russian Deep State to boost him.
Biden ineffectually attempts to get Israel to "go easy" on Gazan civilians (almost 20,000 killed by now), while one reason Trump is doing much better in the polls than could be expected is because the Israeli Deep State has joined wholeheartedly with the Russian Deep State to boost him.
There are two ways in which the Israel/Palestine problem can be finally resolved: ethnic cleansing or ethnic cleansing. (Yes, you read that correctly).
The first kind of ethnic cleansing, namely removing Jews "from the river to the sea," is, given Jewish power, impossible in the foreseeable future. The second kind of ethnic cleansing, removing Palestinians from the area is highly improbable, but under an extreme Philosemitic Trump Presidency, America would effectively be shining a green light, which would push the issue back to our first point, how much the wider Arab-and-Muslim world really cares, and to our third point, the evolving nature of Israel itself.
The first kind of ethnic cleansing, namely removing Jews "from the river to the sea," is, given Jewish power, impossible in the foreseeable future. The second kind of ethnic cleansing, removing Palestinians from the area is highly improbable, but under an extreme Philosemitic Trump Presidency, America would effectively be shining a green light, which would push the issue back to our first point, how much the wider Arab-and-Muslim world really cares, and to our third point, the evolving nature of Israel itself.
Israel is the only country to effectively boost the fertility rates of its incel population
MUTANT ISRAEL
The third thing that has become apparent is how Israel has mutated.
In its early days, it was a high-concept, Socialist-leaning, trans-Colonial state that could market itself effectively to the wider world, on whose support it then depended. It was all about kibbutz, making the desert bloom, and "look, there are Israeli Arabs, too, y'know."
Nowadays, it is a much more crass n' vulgar, theocratic, trigger-happy entity, all about "muh settlements," slow ethnic cleansing (or ethnic gelding), boosting birth rates through welfarism, and heavy Mossading. Bibi Netanyahu is its perfect exponent, but not necessarily its wisest, which is why he probably won't last.
In its early days, it was a high-concept, Socialist-leaning, trans-Colonial state that could market itself effectively to the wider world, on whose support it then depended. It was all about kibbutz, making the desert bloom, and "look, there are Israeli Arabs, too, y'know."
Nowadays, it is a much more crass n' vulgar, theocratic, trigger-happy entity, all about "muh settlements," slow ethnic cleansing (or ethnic gelding), boosting birth rates through welfarism, and heavy Mossading. Bibi Netanyahu is its perfect exponent, but not necessarily its wisest, which is why he probably won't last.
At present, it is still, at least, partially in transition between these two Israels, the first of which can be described as a covert ethnostate and the second as an overt ethnostate. This accounts for the relative "chaos" in Israeli politics in recent years.
This transition is yet more evidence of my second point, the weakening of the global system, because one thing the global system was definitely founded on was turning down any "ethno" in any "state." But, instead of that, we see Israel mutating into a pretty explicit example of what one could expect a full manifestation of "nationalism with Jewish characteristics" to look like, i.e. much more pseudo-theocratic than other nationalisms could be expected to be.
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Colin Liddell is the Chief Editor of Neokrat and the author of Interviews & Obituaries, a collection of encounters with the dead and the famous. Support his work by buying it here (USA), here (UK), and here (Australia).
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