Jul 16 2014
Why An Israeli Academic Views the Assault on Gaza as “Incremental Genocide”
Hamas has rejected an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire plan that was brokered by Egypt this week. The effort was an attempt to put an end to Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” which has included a barrage of deadly airstrikes on Gaza and rockets fired by Hamas.
According to the United Nations, 80 percent of those killed in Gaza are civilians including women and children as a result of Israeli strikes directly on homes. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Palestinian death toll has reached 189 with 1,350 wounded. Israel has reported 10 injuries and 1 death from Hamas rockets. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry apparently canceled a planned trip to Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials to discuss the situation.
Mostly missed by the mainstream media was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement last Friday that he would never end the occupation of Palestinian territories under any circumstances. Consistent with this extremist position is a sentiment increasingly prevalent in street protests and social media against Arabs as a whole. From pro-Israel chants of “Death to Arabs,” to tweets and Facebook posts celebrating the bombing of Palestinian civilians, a disturbing trend has emerged calling for a collective end to the Palestinian people.
However, many activists and protestors around the world and the US continue to speak up about Gaza and the rights of Palestinians. One of them is Israeli academic Ilan Pappe, who has referred to Israel’s long-term operations against Gaza as “incremental genocide,” and that Israeli crimes are always justified while Palestinian actions are routinely criminalized.
GUEST: Ilan Pappe is a history professor at the University of Exeter and the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies. He has written many books on the Israeli occupation such as The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, and his latest book, The Idea of Israel: A History Of Power and Knowledge.
Click here to read Ilan Pappe’s article.
5 Responses to “Why An Israeli Academic Views the Assault on Gaza as “Incremental Genocide””
Pappe has done more than any other Israeli to serve the cause of justice for the Palestinians. He is a hero and man of great courage.
He belongs to the revisionists whose call aims to dismantle the collective myth of Israeliness and exclusionist nationhood. I admire the academic bravery and objective political candor.
I listened attentively to this academic anemic this morning. His analysis is sorely lacking in any comprehensive review of the history of Israel and the attempts to wipe it off the face of the map after its birth in 1948. He appears to be the personification of what we in the US refer to as a self-hating Jew, who must be appealing to the extremist Palestinian left. Why else would anyone support the terrorists who would rather see their own babies die for propaganda purposes than a peaceful resolution. He is an Arafat apologist who existentially must hate all Israelis and the concept of the State of Israel in order to define his and their own existence. Why not just move to some Arab country and let them take care of all the so-called Palestinian refugees who fled their claimed homeland when Nasser & Co. thought they would defeat the fledgling state. No wonder he finds himself talking to American audiences safe from having to have any true intellectual rigor in defending his absurd philosophical musings. Better to keep his mouth shut and avoid everyone discovering just what an ignorant fool he is.
To Ralph Stone – I read your comment with great intent – thinking that you may have a justifiable argument against Ilan Pappe. But alas you don’t. You calling him a self hating Jew, is nothing but disrespectful and has no weight. Further more the people you call terrorists are the ones who were innocent civilians taken advantage back in 1947 when this whole ridiculous Zionist campaign began. Shame on you for even trying to justify their actions. What I don’t understand is it is more important to you defend Israel then to actually think about the acts of genocide that Israel is committing which the whole world condemns!
Firstly Zara I applaud you ????????????
Ralph Stone,
You can’t be serious? Are you saying that anyone in solidarity for a FREE palestine is anti Jewish?
I can’t believe some of the garbage I have seen over the past week! It’s pretty simply really: NO human being deserves to be racially discriminated against, locked up in a prison camp and systematically destroyed and murdered! NO ONE!
Regardless of any arguments regarding “history” the problem still stands that we have ended up with 2 populations who need to SHARE that land! Not for either one to CONTROL the other! 2 peoples who must ALL be treated as equals! FULLSTOP!
We are not fighting to oppress Isreal only fighting to FREE Palestine! BIG DIFERRENCE!
“Concentration camps & Holocaust” was wrong then and it’s WRONG now!