Israel at the crossroads: occupation, genocide, and the death of a vision

Israel is the fulfillment of a millennia-old dream: to be free, live in peace, flourish, and grow in a sovereign national home. The miracle of its creation, its accomplishments, and endless possibilities guided by high moral values and leaving fear and tomorrow's dread behind, are now being crushed in front of our eyes.

By what measure can Israel square off the death and destruction, the cruelty and bloodshed, the ruthlessness and brutality that are still raining down on Gaza and the West Bank? The dehumanization and disregard for human lives and the cold-blooded revenge and retribution for all to see have betrayed Israel's founders' vision and robbed it of its moral foundation, which will haunt Israel for generations to come. All of Israel's political institutions and the public bear the responsibility for prolonging the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its ominous consequences.

Netanyahu: the enemy from within

No Israeli prime minister has adversely impacted Israeli lives and destiny more than Netanyahu. He is a master of lies and manipulation, an expert in the art of deceit, a self-absorbed narcissist and corrupt to the core, who has for over three decades put his self-interest above the nation's, which he has shamelessly demonstrated by prolonging the war in Gaza only to save his ugly political skin.

Netanyahu, and no one else, has brought Israel to the precipice of unprecedented disaster. For him, the senseless death of Israeli soldiers and tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians, and the abandonment of the hostages to their infernal fate, is worth the price if only to keep his hold on power.

Instead of searching for new avenues to find a solution to the conflict, Netanyahu has doubled down to serve his grand design to grab more Palestinian land, which he cannot achieve through peaceful negotiations, and expel as many Palestinians as possible. Now he is using the war in Gaza as the catalyst to realize his ominous objective, oblivious to the fact that he is destroying Israel as we know it.

A fascist government

To serve his obscene goal, Netanyahu formed the most extreme right-wing messianic government, in which several of its ministers have advocated for ethnic cleansing, including Finance Minister Smotrich, who confirmed the government's intentions by stating on May 6 that "Gaza will be entirely destroyed" and that Palestinians will start to "leave in great numbers."

The war must continue, these criminal Ministers demanded, and Netanyahu, the happy warrior, who is still reveling in the illusion that Hamas can be eliminated and release the hostages, was more than happy to oblige. Last Sunday, the Israeli security cabinet unanimously approved an invasion of a large section of Gaza. The goal is to establish a permanent military rule and Jewish settlements, and squeeze the nearly 2.2 million Palestinians in the southern part of Gaza, which is less than 25 percent of the overall territory of Gaza.

The fact that such an operation will cause the loss of the lives of Israeli soldiers and potentially the hostages, and will inflict a disastrous humanitarian crisis among the Palestinians on top of the horrific conditions under which they currently exist, is of no concern to Netanyahu and his fascist government.

The notion, which as Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz explained, that the new operation would finally bring about the defeat of Hamas and create irresistible pressure on it to release all hostages, is just another catastrophic illusion for which Israel will pay dearly. Netanyahu and his government seem to have learned nothing from the horrendous 57-year-long occupation of the West Bank, marked by continuing violence and resulting in the death of tens of thousands of Palestinians and thousands of Israeli soldiers and civilians.

The religious parties' false piety

While the disastrous war continues to unfold, the so-called God-fearing leaders of the religious parties who invoke the name of God in every other sentence, clothe themselves with piety, and preach the gospel of care and compassion, never raise their voices to protest the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians. Led by hypocrites, Shas and United Torah Judaism have shamelessly supported the new operation regardless of the colossal destruction and death the Palestinians will sustain.

They largely echo the bloodthirsty Bezalel Smotrich, who stated in a speech in Paris in 2023, "There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language," which in his mind justifies the destruction of Palestinians as a people. They justify the slaughter of Palestinians as if it were sanctioned by their God. It is not a surprise that these frauds, who pretend to be fervent believers, allow such butchery of innocent Palestinian men, women and children. They wear their religious attire with pride while committing crimes against humanity.

They have sacrificed Jewish values and morals in exchange for receiving the funds they want from the government to run their religious institutions, while refusing to send their sons and daughters to serve in the army. Never mind how many Israeli soldiers perish, as long as they need not mourn the death of their own.