Date posted: 23/07/2012
By: Joharah Baker from MIFTAH
It seems a bit odd that so many countries consume Israel’s general discourse hook, line and sinker. But today, more than ever, it is about time the question to be asked is not what is happening to Israel but why?
Last
week a suicide bombing on a bus at the Burgas Airport in Bulgaria
killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian. Israel was quick to
point accusatory fingers at Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hizbullah. The
United States spared nothing in immediately following suit, saying the
operation had “all the hallmarks” of Hizbullah. Never mind that the
operation was not even remotely close to Hizbullah’s modus operandi, it
was more important to pump up the already incendiary rhetoric against
Israel’s “enemies”.
For
months now, Israel has busied the world with the “will it won’t it?”
question as to whether it will attack Iran. Israel easily diverts the
world’s attention away from its own oppressive measures against the
Palestinians by posing an even bigger dilemma – that of a nuclear
threat from the most dangerous prong of the ‘axis of evil.’ Instead of
asking why Israel needs to create such an exaggerated threat, the world
coddles it, reasserting its paranoia – and in the US’s case –
partnering up with it in its incitement.
The
latest frenzy is Syria, of course. Yesterday, Israeli defense minister
Ehud Barak beat the drums of war yet again, saying "the State of Israel
cannot accept the transfer of advanced weapons systems from Syria to
Lebanon," and added that Israel was facing "a worldwide campaign of
increased terror," led by Hezbollah.
The
advanced weapons system he is referring to is Syrian President Bashaar
Al Assad’s purported stash of chemical weapons which Israel says it
fears will be snatched up once Assad’s regime falls and transported to
the evil hands of Hizbullah. From there, they say, it’s straight to the
peaceful towns and cities of Israel.
The
question here is not whether Bashaar Al Assad has chemical weapons or
not, or even if they would be used against Israel should they fall into
someone else’s hands. The question is: why does Israel always either
exaggerate an already existing situation or fabricate one out of
nothing? The answer is simple. Because that is the only way to divert
attention away from the real reason Israel is a pariah state in the
eyes of many.
It
is no coincidence that horrific bombings such as the one in Burgas take
place; or that arrest warrants are issued against Israeli officials for
war crimes; or that Israel is boycotted by companies, churches and
universities. There is rhyme and reason behind this hostility towards
Israel and it has absolutely nothing to do with ‘anti-Semitism’ like
Israel would love for the world to believe. It has nothing to do with
the Holocaust either. What it is all about is the one thing Israel
works so hard to conceal: its oppression and occupation of the
Palestinians. Israel cannot afford to have the world see it unmasked
and the brutality of a decades-long military occupation rise to the
surface – an occupation that has bred oppression, injustice and
violence since its inception. Proof of this is that when a tiny corner
of Israel’s tightly sealed wrapper folds back and the ugly truth sees
the light, it lashes out in an attempt to push back the cover before
anyone has gotten a peek.
The
end result is that Iran – and by proxy – Hibzullah, has become the
biggest so-called “threat” to the world since Communism. Save for the
occasional inane ranting of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran does not seem to
be a threat to anyone. Israel on the other hand, refuses to allow any
international agency to examine its stockpile of nuclear weapons, which
by the way it denies it even has. It bars UN committees from entering
the occupied territories on a fact-finding mission on its illegal
settlements in the West Bank and it continues to threaten, occupy and
oppress a nation with diplomatic immunity unprecedented in world
history.
The
only ray of hope is those who have pulled back that deceptive wrapper,
even if only a little. The threats against Israel, whether real or
contrived, are not random. If the world wants to know why Israel is
seen in such an undesirable light, it’s going to have to start asking
different questions.
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