Analysis by Bouthaina Shaaban, in The Multiplural World, July 3, 2024
(This analysis was first published in Al Mayadeen English on July 3, 2024. Bouthaina Shaaban is an Arab and Syrian intellectual.)
Apartheid Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and the West Bank is a carefully orchestrated and systematic war aimed at depriving Palestinians of even the right to gain human empathy for their suffering or genuine understanding of their plight during the past seven decades
In its edition of June 24, 2024, The Guardian published an exclusive report titled ‘Israeli documents show expansive government efforts to shape the U.S. discourse around Gaza war’. As I read it, I felt that the Israeli war on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and the unprecedented crimes perpetrated by the apartheid Zionist entity are not limited to the Palestinian geography nor to a horrific and brutal military campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing. These are also a carefully orchestrated and systematic effort aimed at depriving Palestinians of even the right to gain human empathy for their suffering or a genuine understanding of their plight over more than seven decades.
The apartheid regime is not only leading the criminal bombardment of the people and the infrastructure of Gaza. It is also waging a battle to prevent the white phosphorous dust from reaching the noses of those seeking the true smell of what is happening in Palestine. I feel that Zionist criminality exists in two parallel worlds that seem entirely separate, although they are entwined. One is a world of killing, extermination, starvation, and crushing any factor that could help livelihood. The other is a world of deception to which vast budgets have been allocated and laws and strategies formulated to ensure that criminals can continue perpetrating their crimes without any punishment. This is achieved through controlling the media and buying the loyalty of politicians, journalists, and celebrities.
I have spoken multiple times about the imbalance of power between a few besieged Resistance fighters, trapped by land, sea, and air, on the one hand, and a diabolical military machine that possesses the latest killing and destruction tools developed by the Zionist-aligned West on the other. However, after reading this article, I felt that the imbalance is much bigger and not limited to the military aspect alone. It includes narratives, public opinion manipulation, and countering any movement or human sympathy that might condemn the Zionist criminal or support the Palestinian victims, including children and defenseless civilians.
The Guardian report states, “Last November, just weeks into the war in Gaza, Amichai Chikli, Minister of Diaspora Affairs in the Israeli government, was called into the Knesset to brief lawmakers on what could be done about rising anti-war protests from young people across the United States, especially at elite universities.” Since then, Zionist organizations and associations – some longstanding and others newly formed – have begun engaging in activities aimed at fundamentally diverting public opinion and sentiment in the United States and Europe away from sympathizing with the genocide victims in Gaza.
These organizations have started issuing research papers and news; intervening (through bribery and influence) with members of Congress, journalists, and university presidents under the pretext that protests over the human rights record of ‘Israel’ are motivated by anti-Semitism; and have been deeply involved in the campaign to enshrine new laws that redefine anti-Semitism to include any form of speech critical of apartheid Israel.
The report reveals that other American groups have pursued a range of initiatives to bolster support for the ‘Israel’ entity. One such group listed publicly as a partner, the National Black Empowerment Council (NBEC), published an open letter from Black Democratic politicians pledging solidarity with the apartheid regime. Another group, ‘CyberWell’, has established itself as an official “trusted partner” to TikTok and Meta, helping both social platforms screen and edit content.
A recent CyberWell report called for Meta to suppress the popular slogan ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’. To achieve their criminal objectives, these Zionist networks and organizations used hundreds of fake accounts posting pro-Israel or anti-Muslim content on X, Facebook and Instagram. The report further reveals that all these activities were financed by the Israeli government, and the result was an Israeli intervention in American policies.
One of these unethical organizations specialized in condemning any celebrity that criticises ‘Israel’, and the strategic priority was to encourage countries to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’. This equates criticism of ‘Israel’ and anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. This approach limits the ability to criticize the crimes of genocide perpetrated by the Israeli government and it wields the concept of anti-Semitism as a cudgel to penalize critics of Israeli policy.
They indeed began changing laws in states, universities, and even in the U.S. Congress. These new laws empower American authorities to cut funding to institutions and universities that allow certain criticisms of “Israel”. In the end, some suggested increasing the budget for this effort tenfold.
I felt, as I read these details more than once, that the Resistance movements in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria are fighting with one hand on the trigger while they are deprived of the other hand which can develop ideas, strategies and funding and which works diligently and methodically to support the rightful, powerless owners of the land being killed en mass every single day. At the same time, there is no specialized intellectual, scientific or research institution dedicated to confronting the deceptions and falsehoods, refuting lies, and conveying perspectives to all potential interested parties around the world. I feel that this is the result of decades of negligence of the importance deeply rooted in this land of thought and thinkers, those who sometimes find no option but to migrate and revolve around those who possess research think tanks and provide the opportunity for self-fulfillment and unleashing of self-potential.
Arabs have bestowed their philosophy and thought upon the world through figures like Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sina, and Ibn Khaldoun, who contributed significantly to the European Renaissance. What has happened to us today, with most Arab youths dreaming of migrating to work anywhere in the world and as the Daily Telegraph, BBC and CNN have become our sources of information even about our own homelands and airports? We are now in a position where we must prove to such media that we are not warmongers, even though they are the killers and we are the victims.
What is even more distressing is that we find several influential Arab figures and outlets echoing the words of those who seek our destruction. They treat the misleading statements and campaigns against us with a kind of sanctity and absolute belief, as if such words are infallible and beyond reproach.
Our battle today is not merely a military confrontation with our enemies on the battlefield; it is also an existential struggle that requires us to reassess all the underlying factors, gaps, and practices that have brought us to this point where we have become victims and where our archives, our people, and our institutions are being annihilated in an attempt to erase our memory and identity. We lack clarity in our references and in the paths that we should follow for our future, while our enemies lead systematic and organized campaigns to erase our history, rights, and roots from our land. They employ every tool and resource, leveraging the latest knowledge systems to manipulate public opinion and turn the truth upside down.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of martyrs and brave fighters are sacrificing their lives in defense of the Palestinian nation and in defense of its dignity while being deprived of intellectual and knowledge-based support that has emigrated from their homeland. This fact has weakened our ability to even raise the voice of truth and convey it to the conscience of the world.
