This weekend, 50 years ago, began the Yom Kippur War, the invasion of Israel from its northern (Lebanon), northeastern (Syria), and southeastern (Egypt) borders. Today, in what has been called the Al Aqsa Flood, Hamas, the militant and terrorist group that governs the Gaza Strip, invaded southern Israel by sea, air and land. They have three significant claims to consider here, and according to local and international law, claims which are also legitimate. The first is drawing attention to the apartheid regime the Israelis hold over the Palestinian people in both the occupied West Bank, and the besieged enclave of Gaza. Second, they are slowly being moved out of land in the West Bank by increasing settlements that has been declared illegal by the United Nations. Third, they have been offended by the desecration of the Al Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem, which has escalated within the last week. According to Al Jazeera on October 4th:
Dozens of Israeli settlers have forced their way into the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem to mark the fifth day of Sukkot, according to the Islamic Waqf Department. Since Sunday, thousands of settlers have been carrying out provocative tours of the mosque complex following calls by ultranationalist Jewish groups. According to Jewish law, entering any part of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, also known as the Temple Mount, is forbidden for Jews due to the sacred nature of the site.
We need to understand that the claims are legitimate. Yes, Hamas has kidnapped civilians, and seemed to have attacked non-combatants. But their claims are legitimate.
For those who have followed the history of the conflict as I have, you will know that Israel’s response will be disproportionate. The following stats are numbers provided by the state of Israel. They have had a history of disproportionate responses in battles with the Palestinians. In the First Intifada, between 1987 – 2000, the number of Israeli casualties was 189. The number of Palestinians killed was 1815. In the Second Intifada? Israelis = 1100, Palestinians = 3243. Since 1987, Israelis have killed more than 14,000 Palestinians and have lost less than 3000. Israel’s response has always been disproportionate. Israel currently has detained more than 1000 Palestinians without charge, according to Dr. Idri Admeis of Queen’s University.
On this blog, I have not done anything more than mention the Palestinian conflict… until now. Why now? Because I believe that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is about to commit a genocide in Gaza. He told us he would. In a statement today, Netanyahu said: “To the citizens in Gaza, you should flea Gaza, because we will target each and every corner of the strip. We will turn Gaza into a wasteland.” Harrowing words indeed…
There are historical reasons for anticipating an attempted genocide. In the lead up to World War 2, the Nazi’s had tested out whether anyone would enforce the human rights of the Jews living inside Germany’s borders. The Jews were first classified as second-class citizens, then put into ghettos, and then work camps, and then set for deportation to the concentration camps, and then a the “final solution” was enacted, but not completed. The Germans attempted a genocide. The same pattern of escalation happened in other documented genocides, in Rwanda, in Stalin’s Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, and in Pol Pot’s Cambodia. The Palestinians have been classified as second-class; they have been put in ghettos; are forced in work camps and the escalation has taken the all-too-familiar path.
But there are also two contingent political situations in which an all-out attack on Gaza will work in Netanyahu’s favor: the unifying and intensifying of his governing power, and the normalization of relations with other allies of the United States.
In terms of so-called normalization: To give you a personal account of the non-normalized relations, when I lived in Saudi Arabia in 2011 – 2013, and had travelled to Jordan in late 2012, I could not have crossed into Israel without forgoing any right to enter Saudi Arabia again, much less work there. Normalized relations now would eliminate such a conflict.
For the first time in history, Israel is in the process of normalizing diplomatic relations with the Sunni-dominated Arab countries of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Previously, the normalizing relations were meant to be contingent on a peaceful solution to the Palestinian conflict. At the most recent UN General Assembly two weeks ago, Netanyahu held up two maps with no acknowledgment of the West Bank and Gaza, nor the previously conquered Golan Heights – all of which were to be part of a two-state solution. If the shows of protest across the region are any sign whether this normalization is threatened, NONE of the protests have come from the aforementioned Sunni-dominated countries. The protests have come from countries like Iran, Kuwait, Yemen, Lebanon (and Hezbollah) and Turkiye (Turkey) – countries not part of America’s normalization agenda. As a word of note, by all evidence, Iran was not behind Al Aqsa Flood. But Israel’s allies will certainly say and do nothing about path to genocide Israel is on.
In terms of consolidating Netanyahu’s power: Since July of 2023, Netanyahu has been battling corruption charges in the Israeli courts that include old-fashioned grifting charges, as well as attempts to illegally manipulate the telecommunications industry as well as media coverage of his governing party. More than this, he attempted to pass a bill to limit the Israeli Supreme Court in its ability to check overuse of government power. Today, Netanyahu asked for a unified government to fight this “war.”Let me be clear, I DO NOT support Al Aqsa Flood, and especially its use of hostage-taking and killing of Israeli citizens. However, I do understand it. For 17 years, Gaza has been an open prison. Palestinians have been forcibly removed from indigenous land in the West Bank; their homes have been illegally bulldozed to make space for Israeli settlements for decades; their holy site, Al Aqsa Mosque, has been illegally desecrated. I don’t condone Hamas’s behavior – but I certainly understand it.
President Joe Biden has stated unconditional support for Israel to defend itself. But perhaps we should understand the argument given by Martin Luther King in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail:
“You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.”
What alternatives do the Palestinians have?
Part 2: https://idealsandidentities.com/2023/10/08/al-aqsa-flood-day-2/
Day 3 continued: https://idealsandidentities.com/2023/10/09/al-aqsa-flood-day-3-continued-israel-is-telling-us-that-its-a-genocide/
Raymond Klassen - Ideals and Identities 
Leave a comment