The racist arrogance of Israeli hacks
The anchor in the video – the one repeatedly dismissing an elected Israeli-Palestinian MK as “impudent” for daring to protest the murder of Palestinian children – is Dan Margalit, among other things a former reporter for Ha’aretz and former editor of Ma’ariv. He rejected the Goldstone report into the Gaza massacre as “classic anti-Semitism“, dismissing Judge Richard Goldstone as “an obsequious Jew … [dancing] to the tune of the Gentile landowner”. He is, in other words, a repellent apologist for war crimes. But the confrontation shown above reveals more than that. As Prof. Yehuda Shenhav writes,
“This drama reveals the sting of the conflict and which demonstrates how the gap between liberalism and racism is hair thin. At the moment of truth, the liberal Israeli becomes domineering and racist. This is a glaring product of the nationalistic model called a “Jewish and Democratic state” and one that keeps the skeleton of 1948 hidden in closet.”
The same colonial mentality is evident in this Ynet piece by Assaf Wohl, who dismisses MK Zahalka as having “got carried away with stories”. But Wohl is not just attacking Zahalka specifically – rather, he locates the problem in a more general Arab tendency to deceit:
“[l]ies, manipulations, and deception are fundamental pillars in Arab dialectic”.
After generously granting Palestinian citizens of Israel permission to continue living there, Wohl rams his point home, reminding them that their presence in Israel and indeed their very existence is entirely at his discretion:
“you are no more than a little dot in continuous Hebrew history in Eretz Yisrael”.
Returning now to Prof. Shenhav:
“The meeting between MK Zahalka and Margalit is a metaphor of the moral crisis in which Zionism is found today. Zahalka dared in his “impudence” to point out the skeleton in the closet, the same one that Margalit is trying to hide. As in totalitarian regimes, Margalit wants to aid the regime in hiding the secret and employs symbolic violence. Margalit’s position is dangerous to the future of the Jews because it seeks to ensure the rights and security through the perpetual use of tanks, instead of opening the conflict up [and getting to the bottom of it].”
This all serves to reinforce the point, made forcefully by Noam Chomsky, that most of those who portray themselves as “supporters of Israel” are in fact supporters of its moral degeneration, to the point where even relatively mainstream liberals like Margalit turn into raving colonialist racists when confronted by a Palestinian who won’t just shut up and die quietly.
Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian, Videos | 2 Comments
Tags: colonialism, Dan Margalit, MK Jamal Zahalka, Racism, zionism
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I agree, and we could say that supporters of Israel’s “right to exist” or its “right to self-defense” are excusing its [aggressive, expansionist] existence and [unprovoked, brutally realized] military actions, rather than its mere collective right to life (which is not something anyone should have to go out on a limb to support). “Israel” in the American parlance is heavily politicized in the same way that “terrorism” is politicized, in that its very utterance carries with it a baggage which destroys any chance at an honest discussion. Any criticism of Israel is dismissed as “anti-Semitism,” (as mentioned) and any stance on terrorism less stalwart than “kill them without trial” is seen as weak and anti-masculine. It also reminds me of the American “support the troops” sloganeering, in that it is preemptively addressing an issue which was never in contention, at least in the mainstream, and doing so in a way which only excuses the troops’ immoral missions in Iraq and Afghanistan (and I’m certain there are equivalently fascistic slogans for the I.D.F.; probably worse, considering that those troops are conscripted).
I’ve come across this comic before, and while it is sort of juvenile, I think it hits the nail on the head: http://www.evcomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/elivalleyhulk2.jpg
Heh – thanks for that link. Sums it up nicely.