For many years, when I saw the word “Genocide” in the statements of radical groups in Israel and abroad, I would approach the writers and comment that - however appropriate the condemnation of Israeli acts of oppression - Genocide is not among these acts. But this week Roy Sharon, a “respectable” radio and TV commentator on the main Israeli broadcasting corporation, spoke very explicitly of his desire to see “a million dead bodies in Gaza”.
And the streets of Tel Aviv are flooded with red stickers reading “Exterminate Gaza!”. Not “Destroy!”, not “Flatten!” – but clearly and explicitly “Exterminate Gaza!”. “Le-Ha-Sh-Mid!” - “Exterminate!” Every Hebrew-speaking Jewish Israeli knows from a young age exactly what this word means. “Exterminate!” “Exterminate!” “Exterminate!”. Hundreds of times “Exterminate!” on every street corner.
Last Friday I walked for three hours along the Dizengoff and King George Streets in Tel Aviv. I diligently searched for these disgusting stickers and destroyed them. I estimate that I found about 90% to 95% of what the dirty bastards had put up. It gave me momentary satisfaction, but of course it did not really affect what the pilots in the air and the soldiers on the ground already do and may yet do in the near future.
So far, there are not (yet?) a million dead bodies in Gaza. There are “only” thousands of bodies buried under the rubble of the bombed buildings, and a million people who are still alive but who have been displaced from their homes and are wandering the roads without food, without water and without shelter, and who may at any moment fall victim to the bombs that continue to fall. That is the situation “for the time being” - and who knows just how far this madness will go?
There is no escaping the horrifying statement - the idea of Genocide has now entered the public agenda in the State of Israel, and there is every justification to use this terrible word and to beat all the drums and raise all the possible alarms. The first group in the Israeli Jewish society to speak explicitly about the danger of Genocide were “Israelis against apartheid”, a radical group that is not afraid to remain isolated and to swim even against strong currents. But it’s time for less radical people to talk about it too.
Almost immediately with the beginning of the war, demonstrations began demanding an exchange of prisoners, which persisted even when they encountered blatant violence by the right-wing people, in some cases joined by equally violent police. The demand for an exchange of captives and prisoners, for the return of the Israelis captured by Hamas and taken to Gaza, is an important and vital humanitarian demand in itself. But it is also the best way to still try to put a brake on the escalation towards a destructive and bloody ground invasion of Gaza.
An invasion in which the army would invade and crush Gaza with all its might would most likely lead to the killing of the Israeli abductees, among all the many others who would be killed. This was expressed with characteristic bluntness and ruthlessness by the extreme right Minister Smotritz: “We need to be cruel, not to think too much of the captives”. Negotiating with Hamas for a prisoner exchange deal is not compatible with a total war whose goal is to completely destroy Hamas. This was explicitly stated by Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council. The State of Israel has a choice between two courses that in practice rule out each other - either an effort to bring back the captives and abductees from Gaza, or a ground invasion that will multiply the killing and destruction already caused in the week of bombings.
Adam Keller
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