Words : Jasper Saba (he/him)
C/W: war and genocide
Prior to the events of October 7th, Israel felt safe. Other than sparse flare-ups within which citizens would have to briefly go to missile shelters, Israelis lived normal lives, in which Palestinians were overlooked as a distant “other”. The Palestinians living within Israel? Those are just the Israeli Arabs. As for those pesky Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza? They are pacified by the mighty, omnipotent Israeli military. What could go wrong?
October 7th went wrong. Palestinian militias overwhelmed Israeli security measures, violently upending the status quo. For the first time in years, Israeli society as a whole was painfully forced to acknowledge the existence of the downtrodden Palestinians, who had been systematically exiled to the fringes of the Israeli state apparatus. Through analyzing this unforgettable shock to the collective Zionist Israeli psyche, we can more thoroughly understand the domestic justifications for Israel’s subsequent genocidal response.
While Israel has specific technical war goals, they can all be understood through the framework of trying to return to the status quo of October 6th – to return to the perception of a steadfast Israeli dominance. That is, once again removing Palestinians from the picture and making sure that Zionist Israelis feel entirely safe and in control. In this context, that means entirely and eternally pacifying Gaza through any means necessary. That brings us to where we are now. For over a year, Israel has been attempting to eradicate any signs of resistance from the people of Gaza.
However, the Palestinians of Gaza, already largely a refugee population from prior Israeli ethnic cleansings such as the Nakba, have been living under a stifling blockade for over 17 years, prompting human rights organizations to describe Gaza as an ‘open-air prison’. Naturally, Gazans have sought to resist this condition, fighting for their human dignity. Resistance is not a binary choice for the Palestinians of Gaza; rather, it is imposed onto them by the magnitude of oppression they face every day. Consequently, by seeking to eradicate all forms of resistance in Gaza and return to a state of psychological security, Israel has committed itself to a genocidal war. Resistance will not die in Gaza so long as the Palestinians there survive.
Israel’s war effort in Gaza has been by all accounts unsuccessful so far. Back in June, IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari exclaimed ‘Hamas is an idea… It’s rooted in the hearts of the people — anyone who thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong’. This emphasizes how the fight goes deeper than the organization of Hamas – resistance is embedded within Gazans. A rational state in this situation would recognize this reality, and negotiate ceasefire terms. However, in its quest to restore the illusory tranquility of October 6th, the Israeli state psyche has spiraled into a sense of genocidal mania. Negotiating with the enemy is impossible because it requires recognising that Palestinians exist and have a voice, thus admitting that Israel does not have complete dominance over them. It would mean Palestinians are no longer some distant “other”. How can Zionist Israelis feel safe if their enemy is no longer out of sight and out of mind?
As such, no ceasefire can be reached. The war must continue. The violence must expand. This is illustrated as Israel’s arm of ammunition reaches over into Lebanon. In support of the Palestinian militias in Gaza, militants from the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah have been shelling Israel’s north since October 8th, displacing ≈ 60,000 Israeli residents. While the Israeli government seeks to return these residents, Hezbollah has stated it will only stop firing if Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza. Unfortunately, as we have seen, ‘ceasefire’ is not in the Israeli psyche’s vocabulary. Instead, Israel has chosen force. The Lebanese group has retaliated, targeting new cities in order to displace more Israelis. It is uncertain what the end result of Israel’s ground invasion and expanded airstrikes within Lebanon will be. However, it is clear that the situation will parallel Gaza; that is, the Lebanese Shia people, and their militia Hezbollah, will only surrender upon extinction.
As this pattern of Israeli violence shows signs of moving into Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran, humanity must ask itself: What is Israel’s long term plan? Does Israel really seek to apply the “Gaza model” to all “deviant” populations in the Middle East? Israel’s simple answer to both of these questions is that the war must go on. The sphere of the war must grow, so that Israel can continue to justify excessive violence. This ominous cycle illustrates the emerging status quo of an endlessly growing war with no limits. At this frightening juncture in history, how do you want to be remembered? It is the responsibility of the rest of the world to make Israel back down, to stop the cycle of escalating violence, and to save Gaza before it is too late.
