Every year has been catastrophic for Palestinians around the world, but the past 12 months have been unimaginable, writes Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi
Western identity - both religious and secular - is fundamentally Judeocentric. From believing they’re the root of all evil to believing that they can do no evil, it’s a complex built into Western psychology. Jewish exceptionalism has worked out great for Jews since WWII ended is the key thing. We have gotten to the point where in some parts of the West, they’re granted the right to commit genocide and the right not to be even reproached for it (so-called "Holocaust inversion).
You know, as much as it doesn’t feel true, I really can’t think of a different reason why this is being allowed. The people in the bible are called Jews, and even though they don’t much resemble the modern ethnic-religious group, that gives them special status in places traditionally Christian.
Technically being a Jew myself, I’m afraid it’s going to swing back the other way because of all of this, and antisemitism will be cool again. That’s a distant second concern to the people dying non-hypothetically right now, though.
It’s a truth that’s buried very, very deep for a number of reasons, not least of which is the horrors of the Holocaust and the role that the memory of it plays as an alibi for liberal atrocities and violence. Today, hundreds of Arabs can be exterminated in a 24 hour period and the Holocaust will still be invoked as an alibi.
The other reason is the way in which religion is still a powerful but “hidden” hand in secular nations. It’s not-so-hidden in American politics, where megachurch pastors are openly proclaiming the extermination of Gazans is divine punishment. Even in Europe, major state-linked churches like the Church of England have open links to Israeli religious settlement programs and make no bones of their unconditional support for Israel.
Western identity - both religious and secular - is fundamentally Judeocentric. From believing they’re the root of all evil to believing that they can do no evil, it’s a complex built into Western psychology. Jewish exceptionalism has worked out great for Jews since WWII ended is the key thing. We have gotten to the point where in some parts of the West, they’re granted the right to commit genocide and the right not to be even reproached for it (so-called "Holocaust inversion).
You know, as much as it doesn’t feel true, I really can’t think of a different reason why this is being allowed. The people in the bible are called Jews, and even though they don’t much resemble the modern ethnic-religious group, that gives them special status in places traditionally Christian.
Technically being a Jew myself, I’m afraid it’s going to swing back the other way because of all of this, and antisemitism will be cool again. That’s a distant second concern to the people dying non-hypothetically right now, though.
It’s a truth that’s buried very, very deep for a number of reasons, not least of which is the horrors of the Holocaust and the role that the memory of it plays as an alibi for liberal atrocities and violence. Today, hundreds of Arabs can be exterminated in a 24 hour period and the Holocaust will still be invoked as an alibi.
The other reason is the way in which religion is still a powerful but “hidden” hand in secular nations. It’s not-so-hidden in American politics, where megachurch pastors are openly proclaiming the extermination of Gazans is divine punishment. Even in Europe, major state-linked churches like the Church of England have open links to Israeli religious settlement programs and make no bones of their unconditional support for Israel.