Zionism Plus Impunity: The Mathematics of Israel

by former Anglican Bishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Duleep de Chickera

When the Secretary General of the UN, condemned the Hamas attack of 7/10 [October 7] and cautioned the world to see it in context, he came under harsh criticism from Israel. But he was right. It is misleading to enter a conflict in the middle of the story.

The story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict begins around the close of the 19 th C-CE when organized groups of diaspora Jews descended on Palestine. They claimed the land was promised to them by God.

At that time Palestine was populated mostly by Arab Palestinians, (Muslims and Christians), and smaller communities of Jewish, Druze and Samaritan Palestinians, to whom the Jewish claim was audacious. Palestine was their land.

Today’s inhumane massacre of Palestinians, updates the story. It tells of how a tenacious toe hold of a century ago, has subjugated their land. Those who lived on it have lost their land, freedom, and more. Trapped and targeted, they face annihilation.

A mix of Zionism and impunity explain this travesty of justice.

Zionism

This ideology was provoked by the incessant anti-Semitic pogroms in Christian Europe, which persecuted Jews as “Christ Killers”. Under the direction of Theodore Herzel, the father of Zionism, Jewish suffering was shaped into a clamour for a homeland in Palestine.

Zionism is not Judaism. It has become an ethno-nationalist agenda, bent on occupying all of Palestine and ridding it of Palestinians.

Conversely, Judaism is the authentic religion of the Jews. Because it equates belief in God with loving care over ones’ neighbor, it has potential to co-exist with others. This difference explains today's opposition of numerous Jewish Israelis to the Zionist Israeli agenda.

The convergence of two factors have helped the Zionist agenda. The Balfour declaration that devised a homeland for Jews in Palestine, reflected European guilt. European Jews had to be compensated for European atrocities, but far away from Europe. Provision in the declaration for the protection of the rights and privileges of the then inhabitants of the land, has been proved to be a lie.

The other factor was the prevailing climate of western colonialism. The Zionist invasion of Palestine occurred when the plunder of other lands by some greedy nations, was the norm.

Impunity

Zionism alone could not have turned Israel into the bully it has become. The manipulation of western guilt, to equate any criticism of Zionism with anti-Semitism, earned Israel limitless impunity. Recent hearings by Congress into alleged Anti-Semitic protests in some Universities in the US, illustrates how this manipulation works.

Zionist impunity first manifest under the British mandate (1920-1948). Palestinians who fought Jewish invasion were branded as insurgents. Their leaders were exiled in the Seychelles and in a practice emulated by Zionist Israel, their dwellings, demolished.When the Palestinians revolted against Jewish land acquisition, Britain declared Martial law and trained Jewish Night Squads to hit back. These squads later evolved into the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

When the conflict got out of hand, British attempts* to partition the land and regulate Jewish immigration and land acquisition, came too late. Zionist Israel had smelt the power of impunity.

War and strategies

World War 11 and the horrendous holocaust, brought a flood of Jewish refugees into Palestine and further bolstered the Zionist agenda. With the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948 after the British mandate, war broke out between Israel and the surrounding Arab states, in support of the Palestinians. Israel-Egyptian tensions in 1967, led to a second devastating war.

Both wars stirred the trauma of the holocaust and doubled Zionist Israel’s resolve for a land of its own. Consequently, a more fervent fighting force, twice crushed Israel’s adversaries. A calculated cycle of forcible occupation followed; it expanded Israel’s boundaries to close in on its Zionist agenda.

As hundreds of Palestinian villages, mosques and churches were destroyed, millions of Palestinians displaced, exiled or detained and millions of acres of Palestinian land acquired; armed Israeli settler colonies were built where Palestinians lived and farmed, before.

Soon, ‘settler only’ roads and security walls bifurcated Palestinian villages and undermined Palestinian unity. Whenever friction developed between armed settlers and desperate stone throwing Palestinians, the IDF moved in to complete the next cycle of detention, displacement, more settler colonies and so on.

By the end of the 1948 war, Israel had occupied 77 % of Palestinian land including most of Jerusalem and the remaining 22% was annexed during the 1967 six day war. At the beginning of 2023 the Israeli war machine had illegally established more than 150 settler colonies on Palestinian land. With all of Palestine under Israel, the subjugation of a people on their own soil was almost complete.

Two Israeli laws reinforced the Zionist agenda of total occupation. The Right to Return Law, welcomed Jews from anywhere in the world, and the draconian Absentee law, annulled Palestinian ownership after they were forced off their land.

With the inflow of large numbers of Jewish refugees and immigrants and the prevention of over two million Palestinian refugees from returning, the demography of Palestine changed drastically.

Israeli impunity, ensured by the US and its western allies had made these glaring violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, appear normal. As a victim of despicable crimes became a ruthless oppressor; its allies stood on the wrong side of history.

In the meantime, global endorsement for Palestinian self-determination, UN recognition of a Palestinian authority, UN observer status and the declaration of a Palestinian state in 1988, did little to change Israel’s attitude.

This rigidity provoked the rise of groups like the PLO, determined to liberate Palestine and its people from the yoke of Zionist occupation. This was typical of all peoples under wanton western colonialism. Had these Palestinians resisted German invasion during WW 11, they would have been honored as ‘The Resistance.’

With time, the secular PLO under Yasser Arafat, changed its stance to talk peace with the leftist Israeli PM, Rabin. Rabin’s daring to shift from violence to negotiations, cost him his life. Later on the emergence of Hamas, an armed Islamic group, intensified the conflict, as killings increased on both sides. Strained relations between the PLO and Hamas finally led to their separate but limited control over the West Bank and Gaza respectively.

Gaza

In 2005, the densely populated Gaza strip was disengaged as a non-profitable, volatile zone, by Israel. After Israeli settlers in Gaza were compensated and resettled in the Palestinian West Bank, the Israeli withdrawal turned into a siege. The borders of the strip came under IDF control, and all movement in and out, including the supply of food, medicine and fuel by the UN Relief Work Agency, was brought under its scrutiny. Israel, a law to itself, had Gaza at its mercy.

Then came the incidents of 7/10 [October 7].

Today the relentless bombardment of Gaza, the massacre of innocents, the targeting of hospitals, UN workers and Media personnel, as well as embargos on food, medicine and fuel, demonstrates the enormous power of unchecked impunity. In the name of ‘self-defense’ arbitrarily conferred by the US and some western allies, Israeli bombardment threatens to go on till Hamas is liquidated. The soaring numbers of civilian deaths and the recent white flag incident, in which Israeli hostages were killed on sight by the IDF, suggest that civilians will have to die for Hamas to be liquidated. After Gaza, it will be the West Bank, if not immediately, eventually.

A shared land

An ideal solution to this conflict, in an ideal world, is a shared land. If this is ever possible, the Palestinians will be free on their land and Israel free to live-'in'-a land they believe to be a promise.

But there are two daunting prerequisites to a shared land.

1. It will not happen until the US protection of Israel stops, the discriminatory right of veto on the UN Security Council is repealed and the UN is empowered to do its work independently.

2. It cannot happen until investigations into war crimes by Israel and Hamas; and crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing by Israel; are in place. Urgent negotiations cannot postpone investigations. Justice delayed in the name of peace, absolves the guilty.

If these requirements are bypassed, our world is likely to witness another genocide under our watch.

With peace and blessings to all

* through a Royal Commission (1937) and White Paper (1939)

Regarding "Self-Defense"

The US and other Western countries provide carte blanche support—financially, militarily, by UN voting, by public statements, by leaders' personal visits—to Israel's "right to self-defense." However, US and other Western countries at best equivocate regarding any right of Palestinians in the West Bank and in Gaza to defend themselves against decades-long, militarily-enforced Israeli expansion into Palestinian territory and confinement of Palestinians themselves. Current US claims that Israel's war is against Hamas and not against Palestinians is wishful thinking and actually no more than verbal hair-splitting.

Here are some representative quotes from various linked commentaries—listed chronologically from latest to earliest—followed by my own brief [bracketed] comments:

Michael N. Schmitt, Lieber Institute - West Point (Oct 10, 2023): “Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – The Legal Context of Operations Al-Aqsa Flood and Swords of Iron”

“Concluding Thoughts

I believe that Hamas had no international law right to launch Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, while Israel was entirely within its rights to mount Operation Swords of Iron. The hostilities that have resulted are best classified as a non-international armed conflict. At the time of the attack, Israel was not occupying Gaza but may qualify as an occupying power if it moves into that area and controls it effectively. Each of these conclusions, however, is subject to reasonable disagreement or qualification. Sadly, much of the commentary on the conflict, especially on social media, has been far from reasonable and often inflammatory.” [I appreciate the penultimate sentence’s acknowledgement about being “subject to reasonable disagreement or qualification.” This commentary is written from the author’s U.S. military viewpoint. Viewed from within the towering separation walls snaking through the West Bank and from within blockaded Gaza (now being militarily decimated)---as well as from most of the rest of the world’s position, evidenced by countless proposed UN resolutions opposed by the US alone—the legal, moral, humanitarian, economic, military, and historical aspects of the matter look quite different.]

Ihsan Adel, Law for Palestine (October 8, 2023): “Do Palestinians have the right to resist, and what are the limits? Short article”

“Right to resist, including armed resistance: Yes. Right to indiscriminately kill or target civilians: No. It’s as simple as that.” [While published a day after the October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel, clearly this “short article” was composed earlier. There is no mention of what transpired on October 7, but surely the article would have condemned how Hamas fighters “indiscriminately kill[ed] or target[ed] civilians.”]

Greg Shupak, The Wire (May 16, 2021): “Palestinians Have A Right To Defend Themselves”

“In a statement issued Monday, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price condemned ‘in the strongest terms’ the rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. Urging ‘de-escalation on all sides,’ Price then delivered the standard recognition of ‘Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself and to defend its people and its territory.’ When the Washington bureau chief for Al-Quds daily asked whether Palestinians shared in the right to self-defense, Price’s response was equivocal, affirming that ‘the concept of self-defense,’ should apply ‘to any state.’ To the stateless Palestinians, one can then conclude, the State Department extends no such rights. This is a double standard shared by much of the corporate media, as well as among politicians, across Western democracies…. Implicit in this double standard is the idea that Palestinians should simply submit to their own murder, assault, and dispossession.” [Key to this and many other discussions is how one views the ongoing Palestine-Israel situation, particularly whether or not to consider it an Israeli colonial-military occupation of Palestinian land (at least vis-a-vis post-1967 territories).]

Servet Gunerigok, Anadolu Ajansi (May 13, 2021): “White House avoids question on Palestinians' right to self-defense”

“Biden said on Wednesday that Israel ‘has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory’ as violence escalates between Israel and Palestine. When the reporter asked whether the Biden administration also condemns forced evictions of Palestinians from their homes, Psaki said US officials have raised the issue at many levels but avoided answering the question directly.” [Such vague equivocation by the US is consistent with the US’s enormous military and financial aid to Israel—in effect a commitment to give Israel whatever it requests to be by far the strongest military force in the Middle East (directly connected to US strategic interests).]

Ibrahim Fraihat, The Brookings Institution (July 11, 2014): “Palestine’s Right to Defend Itself”

“To forestall another war, and to prevent further brutality against civilians, Washington needs to take immediate measures to avoid the hypocrisy of legitimizing Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians under the guise of ‘self-defense’.” [The US has simply continued its “self-defense” mantra over the years, and today we are seeing the horrific ramifications. As Noam Chomsky has noted, the US—including those of us who are US taxpayers—are as responsible as anyone for the carnage in Israel-Palestine.]

How Long, O Lord?

How long, O Lord? Anti-Semitic mistreatment of the Jewish people, pre-eminently and horrifically displayed in the Nazi Holocaust.* Broken and self-serving British-colonial promises to Arabs, leading to the 1948 Nakba and modern state of Israel.** Ongoing U.S.-/Israeli-tax-funded mistreatment and confinement of Palestinians—and confiscation of their land.*** Gallant, long-standing efforts by some Israelis, Palestinians, and others to overcome the prevailing and misinformation-fueled fear and mistrust through building relationships and standing for equal justice for all.**** Now the 9/11-esque***** October 7 slaughter and capture of civilians in southern Israel and genocidal displacement and slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza (and the West Bank). To follow the request from a faithful Palestinian pastor I know, “I ask for your prayers for God's mercy to envelop the entire region, and I hope for intervention and peace from the international community. People on both sides are suffering greatly.” How long, O Lord?

* I was able to take students to Auschwitz about 20 years ago. Touring that compound was eye-opening, unsettling, and disturbing to say the least.

** One of the best documentary films I have seen about the messy history leading up to 1948 is "Israel - Story of a contested country | DW Documentary" @ https://youtu.be/4upvoxP9-kg?si=-Zh5zsCqRUrUfrvJ

*** I grew up as a typical white U.S.-American Christian with a vague favoritism toward Israel and ignorance of Palestinians (and of Middle Eastern history). As a college student I joined a typical “Holy Land” trip to Israel to be inspired by visiting sites of biblical history. Years later, one of our daughters, as part of her college experience, spent several months living with a Christian Palestinian family in the West Bank (joined by my wife at the end). Soon afterward I visited the West Bank, talked with Palestinians, and saw the checkpoints, towering separation wall, and sleek Israeli settlements. I now resonate with the following analysis I heard recently: “If Israel has the right to self-defense, then Palestinians have the right to resist the Occupation.”

**** One of several such groups, working for “peace, justice, healing and transformation,” is the Holy Land Trust @ https://www.holylandtrust.org/

***** Both attacks were horrific and terrorizing. One main difference is that the Hamas fighters had the additional strategic challenge of breaking out of their formidable Gaza imprisonment.