People are acting as if the latest surge in Israeli hate crimes and calls for “death to Arabs” [they can’t even bring themselves to acknowledge us as Palestinians when they’re calling for our deaths, no less] is something new, something that’s the result of current Israeli leadership, the current political climate, etc. People are trying to understand where this surge in hate has come from, and all refuse to believe that, as in the US, this hatred isn’t new - it has always been there. Israel was founded on the hatred of the Palestinian people. Israel was founded on our ethnic cleansing and dispossession. Israel has maintained a brutal military occupation in the West Bank and controlled every aspect of Palestinian life for decades with absolutely no relent.
This hatred has always been there, this hatred has always been on display for all to see. These marches aren’t new, these attacks against Palestinians is nothing new, these home demolitions and takeovers are nothing new. This isn’t a matter of “racists feeling emboldened by the current climate” - this is literally no.change.
The only difference, it seems, is that these acts of terror and the sheer brutality of Israel is being caught on more and more cameras and becoming more and more difficult for people to ignore. This has been the reality of life as a Palestinian for as long as any of us remember.
This is why we resist. This is why armed resistance is not only justified, but inevitable.
I’m so sick of these headlines, social media posts, armchair commentators who are all commenting on how surprised they are over the “surge” in hate crimes, I’m so sick of hearing about “most Israelis oppose this!!”. Bull. Shit. If “most Israelis opposed” what’s going on, what has BEEN going on, things wouldn’t continue to get worse for Palestinians both within Israel proper and those within Palestinian territory. But instead, every single Israeli election sees the political climate surge further right.
I do not care for any Israelis who claim to be opposed to what’s going on. I do not care for any self-described Zionists who claim to be opposed to what’s going on.
“What’s going on” is nothing more, nothing less, than the manifestation of the Zionist project.
Israel has engaged in a long, drawn-out ethnic cleansing campaign. Those who support Israel will cry out “how is it ethnic cleansing if your numbers are going up?? If Israel wanted you out, they’d just get rid of you all easy anyways!”
What else do you call the forced displacement of people? The destruction of their history, the appropriation of their traditions, the criminalization of their culture, an outright refusal to even call the people by what they are, using the homogenizing, identity-stripping “Arabs” rather than “Palestinians”, as if to lump us as some monolithic, interchangeable group? What else do you call a system where a family can move from the US, where they’ve lived their entire lives, to a home built on land recently stolen from a Palestinian family, who themselves had lived on said land their entire lives?
This isn’t “getting crazy”. This isn’t a “surge” in attacks and racism amongst Israeli society. This is the norm. It seems people are just now finally tuning in.
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
jbbartram-illu
dededos
annaxmalina
