Since the destructive cycle of force in the mediate East is inactive at its best, I will do something that is against my nature: alternatively of interpreting reality and adding fresh complexities to it, I will summarize in a nutshell what I have been saying for over a year. Yes, the situation is so desperate.
I frequently quote Jean-Paul Sartre's message that if the same human text is attacked by both sides of the political dispute, it is simply a uncommon sign that he is following the right path. The destiny of my statements over the last fewer decades on the mediate East crisis illustrates this aphorism perfectly. I was criticized (rather frequently after the same text!) for anti-Semitism reaching for the fresh Holocaust, but also, at the same time, for perfidious Zionist propaganda.
On the first anniversary of the 7 October attack, things are going the same. The Palestinian side accuses me of "taking a shocking ethical stance, justifying Israel's right to defend by killing civilians in Gaza".
Charge The point is that I, thrown into 1 bag with Jürgen Habermas, in view of the events that occurred after 7 October, allegedly accepted “an act of solidarity with Israel [...] in support of Israel's right to self-defense without any restrictions. [The Philosophers] did not agree to describe Israel's actions—killing, starving, resettlement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians—as genocides. They rationalized that Israel had the right to retaliate in whatever way it considered appropriate."
Whoever followed my many comments on the war in Gaza will immediately realize how powerful nonsense. Indeed, in my first reaction, I quoted with approval the words of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken: “Israel has the right, or even the duty, to defend itself and to guarantee that this never happens again.” Blinken But he added“ It is crucial that Israel does so. Democratic countries disagree from terrorists that we are pursuing a different standard. It is so crucial to take all precautions to avoid harm to the civilian population."
So no 1 here speaks of “any way [Israel] considers right.” I have written over 20 comments analyzing and condemning the actions of Israel's Defence Forces (IDF) and the government itself, which clearly put me in opposition to Habermas. (When I performed at the Frankfurt Book Fair on 17 October 2023, my drawing attention to Palestinian suffering It caused a scandal. Habermas with 3 colleagues published a letter solidarity with Israel).
No wonder, then, that I am more frequently criticized by Zionist fundamentalists. Here. latest casereaction to My text on the anniversary of the attack October 7:
"Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian Marxist philosopher and manager of the Birkbeck Institute [sic] at London University, insinuated that the demolition of the Israeli state would bring peace in the mediate East".
It's absurd again. So it's a waste of time talking about what happens to me. due to the fact that the question behind all this is, where did this unusual agreement come from between mortal enemies?
Because only erstwhile mortal enemies find that they share the same assumption: peace negotiations between Palestinians and Jews are impossible, and the conflict can only be resolved by the bloody triumph of 1 party. There are opponents of Israel who bring this country to colonial interference in arabian space and advocate its annihilation. There are besides fundamentalist Zionists who are now engaged in the realization of Israel “from river to sea” – and even further.
"In a fresh documentary, the Israeli minister Becall Smotricz laid out its desire to conquer not only Palestinian territory as far as the Jordan River, but besides the Syrian capital, Damascus, and areas extending to Iraq and Saudi Arabia." “Our large spiritual elders said Jerusalem of the future goes to Damascus aloneIt’s okay. ”
The words of an extremist minority? All right, fewer Israelis say that in public. However, Smotric’s message perfectly reflects the logic of what the State of Israel is doing at the moment.
The opposing parties to the conflict reject the view that both are cultural and spiritual groups, surviving between the river and the sea and having their rights to this land, which means they must invent any kind of coexistence.
The amazing voice of reason comes from the top of Israeli secret services – from Ephraim HaleviFormer Mossad chief:
"We have no luxury of waiting. We request to make an attainable policy to manage the presence of Jews and Palestinians in this area. We're doomed to live together. I don't want to say we're doomed to die together. If we take the approach that we are doomed to each other, then we simply cannot live so that 1 side dominates and ignores the aspirations of another. There must be an agreement.”
Ammi Ajjalon, erstwhile Chief of safety at Shin Bet, He said Something rather akin on 14 January 2023: “We Israelis will have safety only if they, Palestinians, have hope. This is the equation.’ The Israelis will not enjoy safety until the Palestinians have their own state. And the Israeli authorities should release Marwan al-Barghus, the imprisoned leader of the second intifada, so that he can negociate on this matter:
"Let's look at the Palestinian polls. He is the only leader who could lead the Palestinians to the establishment of a state parallel to Israel. Firstly, due to the fact that he believes in a two-state solution, and secondly due to the fact that he gained legitimacy by sitting in our prisons.”
We can, of course, participate in a game of suspicion and ignore specified comments as a hypocritical catch for publicity (maybe Ajjalon lets himself say so due to the fact that he knows that his proposal has no chance of being realized). specified suspicion, however, is simply a large mistake, since it does not take into account the basic rule of Alcoholic Anonymous: pretend until you succeed. Sometimes we get active in something that we just pretend to be.
The fundamental tragedy, however, is that we all know that common designation of Israel and Palestine is the only way to prevent full war. Thus common designation is simultaneously impossible and essential – in lacanistic terms it is the only Real in the destructive mess of reality.
To avoid a terrible misunderstanding, I stress: I am not saying that both sides are yet the same. Although there is simply a widespread desire among the Palestinians and another Arabs to destruct Israel, it is present that Israel demands a much wider war to take over the United States and Europe.
We already see the first steps towards specified direct commitment. October 14, 2024 reportedthat "the US will send an advanced anti-racite strategy to Israel – and American soldiers to service it – to aid the country's air defence after Iran's unprecedented attacks this year". (The request for U.S. soldiers to operate the strategy can besides be read as a sign that the U.S. wants to control its operation, most likely for fear that IDF will usage it to escalate tensions).
There is inactive a real background to the attacks on October 7, 2023 – especially in view of the fact that Israel contributed to Hamas fundingTo sustain divisions among Palestinians. Bernard-Henri Lévy has late written about the "loneliness of Israel", which since 1945 (yet before the state was established) is to face the threat of abandonment by the West (see also, Solitude d’Israël, Grasset, Paris 2024). Really? The position of the US and (most) European countries is contrary: while they rhetorically express reservations about how Israel behaves in Gaza and in the West Bank, nothing truly changes at a level that matters, namely financial and military support for Israel.
Thus Israel is alone only in the sense that it can act on its own, as it would have liked, ignoring the critical recommendations or the "battle" of its allies. Yes, October 15, 2024 The United States gave Israel 30 days to avert the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, threatening to limit arms supply if Israel fails to comply with this demand. But the real force is inactive far away. Israel with its power and influence acts alone – thus exposing it.
(When it came out that on October 16, 2024, the head of the Hamas Political Bureau Jahja Sinwar was accidentally killed by an Israeli tank, The media reported"American officials have long thought of Sinwar's eventual death as a crucial chance to end Israel's war with Hamas". My immediate reaction was this: the eventual death of Netanyahu would besides be an chance to end the war. I didn't shed a teardrop after Sinwar, but I wouldn't shed a teardrop after Netanyahu either. 2 criminals should be buried together, under a monument commemorating genocide wars).
There is no uncertainty that there is simply a profoundly dormant desire for peace and reconciliation in Israel. On November 19, 1977, erstwhile Egyptian president Anwar as-Sadat visited Jerusalem, thousands of Israelis had just raised red and white-black flags. In fresh decades, however, this desire has virtually disappeared. Israel’s authoritative policy present sets the thought “from river to sea”, supported by a large majority of judaic people. W He'll call back. to the people of Lebanon, recorded on a video of October 9, 2024, Benjamin Netanjahu said:
"You have the chance to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to the demolition and suffering we see in Gaza. I address you Lebanese: free your country from Hezbollah so that this war may end.”
Between the poems you can read a frightening logic: if you, the people of Lebanon, do not join us, Israel, in the demolition of Hezbollah, we will turn your country into ruin and suffering as before Gaza. Imagine the silent majority in Lebanon, a traumatized and confused, regularly bombed by the IDF. How could they now actively join Israel’s efforts, Since Hezbollah "is he distributing food, money and medicines to displaced people"; since twice displaced families "keep regular deliveries of ready meals, food packages and even cleaning supplies from related organizations"? Israel could convince itself (part of) the people of Gaza and the Shiites of Lebanon, doing something akin on its own, not destroying hospitals and legitimizing the population's starvation as an acceptable strategy for war.
The trend with which Western media describe this war, reaches absurdity. erstwhile an Israeli soldier shoots a few-year-old, Sky News reports: “It appears that a stray bullet accidentally found itself in a neighboring van and deprived a young woman at the age of 3 or four.” erstwhile the Hezbollah rocket hits an army base—a military target! – In the north of Israel and kill 4 soldiers, their names, images and teenage age (19) are given to inspire compassion.
On October 14, at least 4 people were killed by an Israeli raid in the immediate vicinity of Al-Aksa infirmary in the city of Dajr al-Balah, in the central part of the Gaza Strip. The bombing sparked a fire that swept respective tents containing displaced Palestinians and Palestinians. The materials from this event show people desperately extinguishing the flames. There are explosions in the camp. You can see children connected to IVs burning alive and desperately trying to escape the fire.
It should be remembered that respective days after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, reports of charred bodies of children with beheaded heads left behind by attackers appeared. In later weeks the Israeli troops themselves withdrew from this information (compromising on the occasion of Joe Biden, who claimed to have seen pictures of children without heads). present we are watching with our own eyes the staff with children burning from Israeli bombs, but of course this is only a permitted "self-defense" of Israel, for which Hamas "responses".
Such events explain an different fact, seen by many observers: children constantly exposed to violent deaths in Gaza very seldom show signs of post-traumatic stress syndrome. Why? due to the fact that they live in a permanent trauma situation: they have no time to experience a traumatic event as the horror that happened to them. In order to survive, they must live on, considering the dangers – and post-traumatic stress is already a form of relaxation of the body.
No wonder so many American Democratic organization voters are abandoning Kamala Harris, which cannot be clearly condemned. Trump can win due to this inability of the American government to cut off from Israel's crimes. We are approaching a point where the difference between Harris and Trump will become virtually irrelevant.
In his speech before the U.S. Congress, Netanjahu said, "Give us the tools faster, we'll finish the occupation sooner." This conviction triggered standing ovation. present we see that Israel actually quickly ends the genocidal “job”. Western “criticists” – those who supply arms to Israel – claim that the state has no clear plan of what it wants to achieve. That's besides quite a few bullshit. Netanjahu pursues a clear plan: sabotaging negotiations to grow its territory and creating large Israel.
We all know the saying that peace negotiations are conducted with enemies, not with friends. The "choice" proposed by Netanjah to the Lebanese is so false: as in Gaza, the real goal is not to destruct Hezbollah, but to destruct a large condition of Lebanon like Gaza. So about Israel's invasion of Lebanon
:
"Israel does not invade Lebanon, but liberates. This is an historical moment, not only for Israelis, but besides for Lebanese, Arabs, Kurds and Christians from the East. This misunderstanding is tantamount to losing all moral and political sense."
Yeah, sure. And this sense besides shows how Israel "slowed" the Gaza Strip, and now "slows" the West Bank.
The fact that Israel recognized UN Secretary-General Antónia Guterres as persona non grataIt's just the tip of the iceberg. Israeli troops have committed attacks on peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, restrict the activities of UN personnel food and medicine supplier in Gaza, and occasionally They even bomb him.. In short, Israel treats the UN at best as a tiny thing to ignore, most frequently as an obstacle, and at worst as an enemy.
It is easy to laughter at the insignificance and impotence of the UN, but the fact remains not only that its organs carry out crucial tasks to prevent hunger and supply minimal wellness care. It is precisely due to the fact that the UN sees itself as a weak and neutral network that its humanitarian activities tolerate (if so) all parties. By allowing the UN institutions to operate in their territory, no country is putting its power at risk.
When, in March 2024, the UN peculiar Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian Territories stated that there were "reasonable reasons" to presume that Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, as well as erstwhile Netanjahu and Jo’aw Galant were accused of crimes involving the extermination, persecution and starving of the population in Palestine, this was treated as symbolic acts without a chance of implementation. But at least they caused public outrage. Today, specified voices are simply ignored.
The power of the UN is paradoxically in this impotent neutrality. The UN remains the last area of dialog and negotiation, the only diplomatic body in which all parties participate, the only organisation providing a legal framework for negotiations. Without the UN, there remains a wilderness in which local pragmatic alliances are occasionally formed, and the final issues are decided by the bare armed forces.
As we have seen, Israel present treats even its closest allies similarly: it simply ignores Biden or Macron's "warnings". A terrible possible of the close future is thus seen: in its "self-defense" Israel will be “forced” to transform always larger areas of neighbouring lands into ruins akin to Gaza: West Bank, Lebanon (15 October 2024 Israel had already ordered the evacuation of 1 4th of its territory). Who knows which country will be next?
Uncompromising Arabs on the other side are prepared not only to accept specified a immense number of victims, but even to encourage crime – knowing that regular images of the atrocities committed by Israeli troops will strengthen anti-Semitism. But then the visor will become even tighter, since the fresh outbreak of anti-Semitism will let Israel to present itself as a state whose existence has become threatened, and thus persuade the US and any Western European countries to intervene. This will lead to a global geopolitical disaster: Israel and the developed West against the "third world", "anti-imperialist" majority, including countries specified as North Korea and Afghanistan.
Russian Ministry of abroad Affairs stated On October 4, 2024, it was decided "at the highest level" to remove Taliban from the list of terrorist organisations. Putin stated in July that Russia "considers the Taliban movement in Afghanistan as an ally in the fight against terrorism".
This step seems logical: if Russia considers North Korea and Iran to be the most crucial allies (which was rather late He brutally choked down large demonstrations of women) why not bring the case to an end and enter it on the Afghanistan list from his An different oppression of women? The parasol of the alleged fight against colonialism will then cover the vast majority of countries taking women's rights and suppressing sexual freedoms.
Who else remembers that 1 year before October 7, 2023, the full power structure in Iran shook mass protests after the Guardian of the Revolution He murdered Mahsa Amini in prison.A Kurdish female who refused to cover her head? Under fresh conditions, women's protests of genuine revolutionary force will alternatively go back to history. We will find ourselves in a planet where the proputinist “leftists” contain hellish alliances with Muslim fundamentalists.
We enter the era of violent fighting on false dividing lines (where oppression of women means anti-colonialism; where bombing large cities to the ruins means self-defense and combating terrorism). But 1 must not be deceived: false combat is, in principle, more destructive than fighting in an authentic, emancipative cause.
Therefore, we should unconditionally reject the parallel between Israel and Ukraine, specifically the message that if the West stops arming both states, the war will shortly end. This message is in rule true, but has different consequences for each of these countries. In the case of Ukraine, it would lead to the business of the full country by Russia and annihilation of Ukrainians as a nation. In the case of Israel, however, it is the only way to halt cultural cleansing in the Palestinian territories and force Israel to open serious negotiations. Quoting Lévy, but in contrast to his intentions: “This misunderstanding is tantamount to losing all moral and political sense.”
As for Ukraine, I full agree with Étienne Balibar, who wrote“I would say that the Ukrainian war against the Russian invasion is simply a fair war, in the strongest sense of the word. [...] I do not feel enthusiastic, but I make a choice: against Putin.” Neither do I feel enthusiasm for many erroneous political assessments and unacceptable attitudes of Ukraine (just mention her full support for Israel), but support – including arms transportation – must continue.
I am not truly afraid that the war in the mediate East can turn into a global conflict: no of the parties active wants it, no of them are ready to usage atomic weapons. It is besides crucial to remember that many of the arabian countries who have been harassing Israel are no threat to its military expansion – Egypt, the United arabian Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, even Syria. The rhetorical explosions of King Jordan against Israel should not obscure in our memory that Jordan helped Israel shoot down Iranian missiles flying over its territory.
Since Israel sees Iran as the main instigator, pulling behind the scenes behind strings and delivering weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah, it is no wonder that Netanyahu late made it clear that Israel (with whom?) is preparing to change the government in Iran, so to overthrow the muslim Republic. However, I inactive believe that the fresh tensions raised by Israel (Lebanon, Iran) are yet to divert attention from Gaza and especially from the West Bank, where cultural cleansing is increasingly "normalized" and the media is already talking about the weather.
It is easy to imagine that if Israel does not treat Hezbollah and Iran besides violently, it will come out of all of this as a promoter of peace, whose restraint prevented global disaster. A real disaster, however, will be the change in global relations and the normalization of local wars.
I'd like to end up in a crazy dream and propose what act Hamas could do now. He could do something akin to what he did on October 7, 2023, or enter the territory of Israel—but erstwhile he reaches the first kibbutz, let him greet the inhabitants, give them fruits or flowers, and retreat to Gaza.
**
In English she translated Aleksandra Paszkowska.
