Gaza Burning

By James Daly, Ph.D

The western mainstream media, along with many in positions of influence and power in these same western nations such as Germany, are framing the ongoing Israeli siege of Gaza in terms of a “Conflict” between two states of equal power. There could be nothing further from the truth. There is the reality of what’s actually happening and the fantasy being scripted by the western press in their ongoing efforts to manufacture consent to maintain Israeli hegemony over Palestinian State territory (Gaza and the West Bank) and its people and the ongoing Israeli siege and slaughter in Gaza.

The atrocities and war crimes that continue unabated tonight in the face of an indifferent and ambivalent world are on par in their intensity and hate with those of Adolf Hitler, Full Stop!

Some day, there will be a reckoning for the pogrom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are engaged in right now. It may not come today or tomorrow but justice will come for those nameless and forgotten men, women and children who would otherwise be lost to history, innocent people who woke up this morning but never went back to sleep in their beds because their home was leveled or they died under the indiscriminate rain of Israeli bombs.

What is happening right now, in Gaza, as I write this article, is as barbaric and as horrible as anything Hitler or his Third Reich ever did and, what’s so stunning, is that the so-called Liberals, hypocrites who wag their fingers at Donald Trump and his band of crazies, cry, lament and condemn Hitler’s atrocities but wax indifferent or even supportive of this same Campaign of Horror Israel is visiting upon a helpless and vulnerable civilian population. These liars cite the principle of “Self Defense” in support of the Israelis doing whatever they want while denying that same right to a captive, unarmed population.

I clearly remember the words of Pope Paul VI when he said “if you want peace, work for justice”.

There will never be peace in this region if one side continues their asymmetric assault on a helpless population, held captive in a defacto open-air prison. The decades old UN Decree creating the State of Israel and the State of Palestine has been long since breached by the Israelis who now occupy all the territory once provisioned to the State of Palestine. Until that theft is corrected, along with recognizing and providing a path for the Palestinians’ Right of Return, granted to them under the original UN charter, there will never be peace in this region.

I’m a first-generation Irish-American, my father from Limerick City and my mother from West Cork, both now deceased. I state that here as I am enormously proud of Ireland now with the statement made by representatives of the Irish Government, specifically Simon Coveney, the Foreign Minister and Minister of Defense. Regarding the brutal attacks that are mounting in ferocity and frequency every day against Palestinian men, women and children his remarks:

I’ve been in @UNRWA schools in #Gaza. Killing of children in conflict is never acceptable. Israel should be condemned for targeting Gaza with such tragic consequences.
Firing rockets from Gaza must be condemned, but so too should such a brutal response. This violence must end. https://t.co/qDMj4QjiRI

— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) May 11, 2021

Minister Coveney had been criticized back home for his earlier tepid response to Israeli aggression but has now since corrected that and I, for one, stand with him and the Irish government in their condemnation of what is happening in Gaza. Additionally, and quite relevant, as a temporary member of the United Nations Security Council, Ireland joined all other member states, with the exception of the US, in condemning Israeli actions in Gaza. Minister Coveney continued his remarks:

“Killing of children in conflict is never acceptable. Firing rockets from Gaza must be condemned, but so too should such a brutal response. This violence must end”

On Tuesday, May 11, he summoned the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Ophir Kariv to a meeting. He informed the Israeli representative that the loss of life in Gaza due to Israeli air strikes was “completely unacceptable”.

And then there’s Irish Senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin’s remarks:

Fairly disgusting performance by Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Ophir Kariv on @RTENewsAtOne.

At what point do we decide that we've had enough? The next massacre?

Israeli Defence Minister says: "We don't need moral lessons from other countries."

They do from Ireland.

— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (@AodhanORiordain) May 12, 2021

And Irish TD Richard Boyd Barrett from 2014

For the record, the following states of the United Nation’s Security Council voted to condemn Israel’s criminal actions in Gaza:

Permanent Members: Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom
Temporary Members: Ireland, Mexico, India, Estonia, Kenya, Niger, Norway, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Viet Nam

If you claim heritage from any of these countries, you should be proud and hold you head high in the knowledge that the country of your forebears stood on the right side of history. As much as the enemies of justice and democracy would like to revise and rewrite history, history will harshly judge all men and women here and now, where they stood and what they did to staunch the rivers of blood now flowing in Palestine.

Regarding the stance and policy statements of the Irish government, sadly, within this context, the same cannot be said of most US Politicians, specifically US President Joe Biden, someone who also claims Irish Heritage, who is seen here, expressing his unconditional support for Israel, his contempt for the rule of law, International Order and universal outrage over Israeli aggression. With the exception of a few members of the US House and Senate, most US politicians are ambivalent or indifferent to the suffering in Gaza, suffering that they continue to support and foster with their annual US $3 Billion aid package to Israel, aid that includes weapons sales and provisions. US-made bombs and war planes are now killing men, women and children in Gaza.

Statement of US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr, Wednesday, May 12, 2021:

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is just as bad as he is. Her statement of Wednesday, May 12, 2021:

The next time you see or hear US politicians, at the state or federal level, wax teary-eyed or indignant about injustice or democracy denied, remember how they reacted now and what they did here and now and call them out for the grotesque hypocrites that they all are.

Many US states have enacted anti-BDS “Boycott, Divest and Sanction” laws, preventing citizens of those states, US Citizens, from boycotting Israeli-made goods. Those states include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin.

During one of his powerful speeches, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

The origin of this comment is traced back to Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister and prominent American Transcendentalist born in 1810 who advocated for the abolition of slavery.

Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.

Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Jefferson trembled when he thought of slavery and remembered that God is just. Ere long all America will tremble.

In closing, the following two powerful documentaries are a must see for all those who want to learn the truth and perhaps make a difference:

and

https://killinggaza.com

Related stories:

Gaza Burning
The True Character of Apartheid Israel
In an Act of Solidarity, Ten Thousand March in Los Angeles in support of Palestine!