For months, Israel and its defenders have insisted that Hamas is stealing humanitarian assist. They used that declare to justify the hunger of two million folks in Gaza – to bomb bakeries, block meals convoys and shoot determined Palestinians ready in bread traces. We had been informed this was a battle on Hamas and bizarre Palestinians had been simply caught within the center.
Now we all know the reality: Israel has been arming and defending prison gangs in Gaza that have interaction in stealing humanitarian assist and terrorising civilians. One group led by Yasser Abu Shabab, which is reportedly linked to extremist networks and has engaged in a wide range of prison actions, is immediately receiving weapons from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s authorities.
And Netanyahu is proudly admitting to it. “What’s flawed with that?” he stated when confronted. “It saves the lives of [Israeli] troopers.”
What’s flawed? Every thing.
This isn’t only a tactical resolution – it’s an admission of true intent. Israel by no means needed to guard Palestinian civilians. It desires to interrupt them. Starve them. Flip them towards one another. Then blame them for the ensuing chaos and struggling.
This technique isn’t new. It’s colonialism 101: create anarchy, after which use it as proof that the colonised can’t govern themselves. In Gaza, Israel isn’t simply making an attempt to defeat Hamas. It’s making an attempt to destroy any future through which Palestinians would possibly govern their very own society.
For months, Western media repeated the unverified declare that Hamas was stealing assist. No proof was proven. The United Nations repeatedly stated there was no proof. However it didn’t matter. The story served its goal – it justified the blockade. It made hunger appear like a safety tactic. It made collective punishment appear like coverage.
Now the reality is out. The gangs terrorising assist routes had been those Israel supported. The parable has collapsed. And but the place is the outrage?
The place are the strict statements from the governments of the US and United Kingdom – the identical ones who claimed to care about humanitarian supply? As an alternative, we’re getting silence. Or worse – a shrug.
Netanyahu’s open admission isn’t simply vanity. It’s confidence. He is aware of he can say the quiet half out loud. He is aware of Israel can violate worldwide regulation, arm prison gangs, bomb faculties, starve civilians – and nonetheless be welcomed on the world stage. Nonetheless obtain weapons. Nonetheless be praised as an “ally”.
That is what complete impunity appears like.
And that is the price of believing Israel’s PR machine – of letting it pose as a reluctant occupier, a humane army, a sufferer of circumstance. In reality, it’s a regime that doesn’t simply tolerate battle crimes – it engineers them, funds them after which makes use of them as propaganda.
It’s not only a battle on Palestinian our bodies, properties and even survival. It’s a battle on the Palestinian dream – the dream of ever having a state, of constructing a future with dignity and self-determination.
For many years, Israel has systematically labored to forestall any type of cohesive Palestinian management. Within the Nineteen Eighties, it quietly inspired the rise of Hamas as a non secular and social counterweight to the secular Palestinian Liberation Group (PLO). The concept was easy: divide Palestinian politics, weaken the nationwide motion and fragment any push for statehood.
Israeli officers believed that supporting Islamist organisations within the occupied West Financial institution and Gaza would create inside battle amongst Palestinians – and it did. Tensions between Islamist and secular teams grew and resulted in clashes on college campuses and within the political enviornment.
Israel’s coverage wasn’t pushed by a misunderstanding. It was strategic. It knew that empowering rivals to the PLO would fracture Palestinian unity. The purpose wasn’t peace – it was paralysis.
That very same technique continues as we speak – not simply in Gaza however within the occupied West Financial institution too. The Israeli authorities is actively dismantling the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) means to perform. It withholds tax revenues that make up the vast majority of the PA’s funds, bringing it to the brink of collapse.
It protects settler militias attacking Palestinian villages. It conducts every day army raids in PA-administered cities, humiliating its forces and making them look powerless. It blocks worldwide diplomatic efforts by the PA whereas mocking its legitimacy.
And this coverage doesn’t cease on the boundaries of the occupied territory. Inside Israel, Palestinian residents face an identical tactic: intentional neglect, impoverishment and engineered chaos. Crime is left to spiral uncontrolled of their communities whereas infrastructure and providers are underfunded. Their financial potential is stifled – not accidentally, however by design. It’s a quiet battle on Palestinian id itself: a method of erasure that goals to show Palestinians right into a silent, faceless minority stripped of rights, recognition and nationhood.
By engineering instability after which pointing to that instability as proof of failure, Israel writes the script and blames us for residing it.
This isn’t simply army coverage – it’s narrative warfare. It’s about guaranteeing that the Palestinian persons are eternally seen not as a nation striving for freedom however as a menace to be contained.
Israel thrives on chaos as a result of chaos discredits Palestinian company. It permits Israel to say, “Look, they will’t govern themselves. They solely perceive violence. They want us.”
It’s not simply brutal. It’s deeply calculated.
However Gaza and the West Financial institution will not be a failed state. They’re locations which have been systematically denied the prospect to turn into one.
Gaza is my dwelling. It’s the place I grew up. It’s the place my household nonetheless clings to life. They deserve higher – higher than a colonial regime that bombs them, starves them and funds the very folks stealing their meals.
The world should cease treating Gaza and the West Financial institution as testing grounds for army doctrine, propaganda and geopolitical indifference. The folks of Palestine will not be a failed experiment. They’re a besieged folks, relentlessly denied sovereignty. And nonetheless, they fight – to feed their youngsters, bury their lifeless and stay human within the face of dehumanisation.
If Netanyahu’s authorities can admit to arming prison gangs and nonetheless face no penalties, then the issue isn’t just Israel. It’s us – the so-called worldwide neighborhood that rewards cruelty and punishes survival.
What’s wanted – urgently – are concrete actions to guard Palestinian lives and safeguard the best to Palestinian statehood earlier than it’s erased fully. Threats to recognise a Palestinian state simply received’t do.
If the world continues to look away, it’s not solely Palestine that might be destroyed – it’s the very credibility of worldwide regulation, human rights and each ethical precept we declare to face for.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.