Iqbal Jassat
As the colonial entity Israel which was illegally birthed by the British empire, enters week six of its inhumane and merciless war on Palestine’s indigenous population in Gaza, many have questioned Benjamin Netanyahu’s end game.
An equally important question is whether he will attain any of his irrational goals, apart from the horrendous slaughter of innocent families, medics, journalists and humanitarian workers allied to the UN and International Red Cross.
Thus far the world has and is witnessing the most gruesome slaughter of babies, pregnant women, old and infirm.
There are also shocking visuals of patients on life-support in hospitals being killed in cold blood.
The shock and horror of Netanyahu’s insane plunge into medieval barbarism has not only outraged the entire global community as is evident in unprecedented massive protests around the world, it has also led many Israelis to reassess the zionist creed.
One such person is Roy Isacowitz.
Writing in The Kibbitzer, he predicts the end of zionism “as we know it”.
In his words, “It will either become the full-throated and unambiguous ideology of fascist Jewish supremacy or an historical oddity with little contemporary significance.”
Author and journalist Isacowitz, who was born in Johannesburg and lives in Tel Aviv, conveys a message that will not sit well with either the Netanyahu regime's war criminals or its fanatical zionist support-base in South Africa.
In describing the siege of Gaza’s largest hospital al-Shifa as being under a stranglehold with thousands of patients, medical staff and refugees trapped inside, and operating theatres in the dark, Isacowitz laments the fact that western pundits are arguing whether “Israel’s assault” can legitimately “be termed genocide”.
And he correctly points out that the subtleties of the arguments, both pro and con, are probably lost on those trapped in the hospital.
“Personally, I believe that the rhetoric accompanying Israel’s onslaught on Gaza was and still is undeniably genocidal.”
And much to the probable dismay of zionist naysayers, especially hard-core Israel-lobbyists in South Africa who include Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, Isacowitz reminds readers of the “promise of hell” for the inhabitants of Gaza made by politicians and generals.
They have used racist, insulting and hateful dehumanising terminology such as “human animals”, turning Gaza into “rubble” and “temporarily or permanently impossible to live in.”
He asserts that the rapidly escalating body count and attempts by the Netanyahu regime to transfer civilians out of the northern part of Gaza does not “augur well for Israel and its genocide-denying supporters.”
And in a stinging rebuke of Israeli media, he says the local TV channels steer well clear of the humanitarian crisis underway in “Israel’s backyard”.
Why is it that a country claiming to be the “only democracy” in the Middle East, and a “liberal” one at that, media platforms have been subject to stringent military censorship?
In an indictment of the regime’s McCarthyite-style backlash that Isacowitz says has gripped the country, dozens of Arabs and Jews have been arrested for allegedly anti-Israel statements on social media and elsewhere.
But also because Israelis have “long since become inured to Palestinian suffering”.
They simply don't want to know, says Isacowitz.
This is a damning critique indeed of “Israel's sensory inoculation” to all things Palestinian.
He insists that Israel today is in shock.
Not because of “dead children in Gaza” or the army's exacting of revenge on a biblical scale, but due to the collapse of the psycho-emotional structure on which they had built their lives.
Besides being shocked, they are also confused, scared and fearful for their future, says Isacowitz.
“The shopping trips to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have evaporated into the ether. The febrile talk of peace with Saudi Arabia has been silenced. Israel is again isolated and alone in the Middle East and its name is mud in large swathes of the West, including in its patron and benefactor the United States. Joe Biden’s policy of moderating Israel through hugs, kisses and arms shipments seems to be coming apart at the seams.”
Isacowitz refers to Netanyahu’s war cabinet as a bunch of messianic incompetents and to emphasise his assessment of fear and panic among Israelis, he argues that talk of using nuclear weapons and re-establishing Jewish settlements in Gaza, “don't exactly placate fears and doubts”.
As for the Palestinians, he is adamant—and correctly so—that they want their freedom and are prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to achieve it.
What emerges from Isacowitz’s writings and from other Jewish critics of Israel is that the regime’s ideological foundation of zionism is rapidly decomposing.
Hamas has sparked a renewed push to accelerate the decomposition of zionism in much the same way Afrikaner nationalism’s apartheid project was targeted by the ANC, ultimately leading to its collapse.
It is precisely what Netanyahu has failed to envisage would be the end result of his disastrous military campaign of genocide in Gaza.
Iqbal Jassat is Executive Member at Media Review Network in Johannesburg, South Africa
