Rubber and Glue
Propaganda – a form of communication that is primarily used to influence an audience and persuade them to further an agenda – has arguably been the most effective weapon used by the Arabs in their war against Israel. They use it in the western press, they use it on their own people. That Israel is so widely – and vehemently- regarded as a colonial, Apartheid, genocidal, ethnocentric, brutal-occupation regime is to a large degree (but by no means exclusively) due to wise use of this weapon. One way to use it is to accuse the enemy of the very things that the accuser itself does. There is even a term for this. DARVO is an acronym for Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. There are likely others, but I would like to here address three.
Israel is an Apartheid state: It is quite the catchy phrase. I have said this before – those who make this accusation either know nothing about Apartheid, or nothing about the reality that is Israel, or both. However, if one is really interested in assisting a Palestinian population living under such rule, one should look a little further east. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was created by the colonial power of Great Britain in 1922. As a gift to the Saudis for their assistance in fighting the colonial power of Turkey in what we now call World War I, a portion of the colonial territory known as Palestine was awarded to a Hashemite prince. Seventy-five percent of the population in Jordan can be ethnically defined as Palestinian (according to the criteria used to refer to those who live in Israel). Yet that population does not have representation in government in proportion to their numbers, and are deprived of economic and political opportunity. They could use help. It’s not we, it’s them.
Israel controls the banks/economy/the world: Has no one taken notice of the fact that it is the Islamic Republic of Iran that is pushing the price of oil – the backbone of the west’s industrial structure – unprecedentedly high? Or that Qatar has been pouring immeasurable amounts of money into America’s post-secondary institutions in order to influence curricula and attitudes of students and faculty? It’s not we, it’s them.
Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza: It seems to go without outrage – or even comment – that in the face of the present cease fire in Gaza, Hamas is rounding up traitors – real or otherwise (after all one can’t be too sure) – and executing them. In public, so as to discourage those who may think it worthwhile to work against the terror organization, whether by helping Israel, or banding together to fight. This is not a case of the civilians being killed because they are caught in the crossfire with nowhere to go to escape (itself an issue). This is Hamas, fighting for the people of Palestine, who will murder the people of Palestine when they deem it necessary.
It is not we, it is them.
We have known for a long time how productive it is to bounce the accusation back to the accuser. I would suggest that taking action to weaken that means of war is no less important than being able to repel drone attacks.
