by Barbara Nimri Aziz August 21, 2024. also on Counterpunch.com
Israel is forcing our civilization to lose its humanity. It has already forced ICJ to lose its authority. It has stilled the dreams of democracy. It has smothered the mission of countless journalists. It has punished and intimidated university presidents and forced the dismal of principled staff. It has quelled the moral consciousness of young people who believed universities were not only sources of truth, but places where truth could be tested. It upended the very idea that prisoners might have any rights. It has intimidated and bought the politicians. Finally, but not finally, its actions in Gaza these months have made the impact, the very notion, not to mention the illegality, of genocide irrelevant.
All these insults to civilization have been underway as year-by-year Israel has crushed Gaza and expanded its domination not only by land confiscations and home demolitions, but morally, diplomatically and through cunning trade treaties. While military and embargo atrocities inside Gaza have consumed the world and precipitated unprecedented legal action and public opprobrium, Israel has been at this for decades, threatening, intimidating, coercing, imprisoning, destroying, expelling, maiming and killing: all while step-by-step acquiring diplomatic credits and while building a weapons and security industry that finds a growing global market for its high-tech spying and killing machines.
Last week, because the ‘officially’ recognized death toll of Gazans reached a snug round figure– although some analysts estimate Gazans killed are at least five times this conservative figure – American mainstream media offered a token recognition of the human suffering resulting from Israel’s ongoing war there. Otherwise, the daily – yes, it is essentially a regular ‘event’ – the slaughter is barely recorded. Not to mention the unmeasurable toll of those wounded earlier, the traumatized, the abandoned, those ill from normal disease and disabilities, and the growing numbers attacked by new diseases caused by weakness and lack of hygiene and clean water.
‘Before it’s too late’ had become a common theme uttered months ago by UN and other humanitarian officials. Announcements of ‘catastrophic conditions’, ‘hospital patients’ lives hanging by a thread’, ‘war crimes’, ‘staggering loses’ are being repeated again and again. Then silence. Is that because relief arrived, because the slaughter ended, because some divine intervention occurred? It seems not. When does ‘before it’s too late’ become as irrelevant as ‘genocide’?
I feel a sense of guilt as I daily search for news beyond the fleeing headlines on Gaza – that is, of Gazan people – beyond the death toll, beyond another unbearable account of a lost family. One more journalist manages to fashion a catchy lede, or find a horrific testimonial to hold our attention on the slaughter underway. Reports compare how many Gazan youths, under-fives, women, disabled, perished in the past 315 days, to those lost in longer wars. (That’s news?) Nothing but suffering. Yet, should I abandon seeking out even those agonizing reports?
In my desperate search there’s the underlying suspicion that I have to work harder to learn the reality because the voices of those still heroically struggling to inform us are, one-by-one, being snuffed out. The Cradle, an outstanding reliable source, though little known, has been banned by Meta/Facebook. Richard Medhurst, an outspoken critic of Israel, was arrested recently in London. Another vociferous Israel critic, the experienced military analyst Scott Ritter, had his passport confiscated; next his home in upstate NY was raided by the FBI who seized all his documents and electronic devices. Then there are the ousted politicians who insisted the genocide end: Clare Daly, Irish MEP and George Galloway in the UK both lost their seats in recent elections. In the US, congress members Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman were ousted in recent primaries because of their unwavering call for a Gaza ceasefire. Former South African Minister Naledi Pandor, who led the call for her country to bring Israeli crimes to the ICJ, lost her government seat two months ago. Attempts by American organizations to take Israeli to court have been stymied. Following campus demonstrations in the spring, many lost their jobs and student status while other students are still fighting legal attempts to oust them as well as silence any future dissent at colleges.
Yes, the news is bleak and dissent seems to have waned. But the fight is unstoppable. The inimitable octogenarian-activist Roger Waters was joined by other musicians at a recent Gaza-support concert in the UK. And at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago activists calling for a ceasefire in Gaza made themselves seen and heard.
I realized: this is what I am searching for – signs of leadership and moral strength. It aroused millions before. It can do it again.