Why the world is silent

Here all Lebanese citizens under the umbrella of the all-encompassing Arab enemy are considered expendable. What chance do these girls have of recognising their own racism? What form will it take when they will propagate it themselves as mothers, teachers, politicians or soldiers perhaps?

This is precisely how the invisibility of racism goes hand in hand with the “living in the present tense as victims”. It is in deciding that living as eternal victims will ensure the survival of the Jewish identity and that this is a perfectly normal and legitimate state of being.

However, if Israelis see their neighbours as the threatening enemies and hence continue to be victims, it is precisely because Israel chose at its inception as well as now to make enemies of the Arabs within itself. Racism is in the simple act of encouraging seemingly unrelated irresponsible behaviour both in the past as well as in the present.

In its extreme form, the logic of victimhood does not allow room for even the possibility of there being other victims. More dangerously it turns everybody, even the aggressor, into a victim. Through this logic the aggressor is reduced to this powerless state, by virtue of having to take actions he or she deems necessary albeit unpleasant and in some cases horrific, in order to maintain this status.

Here imprisoning, killing and even torturing are all justified and considered necessary since the aggressor adopting the status of a victim feels helpless and unable to have any other options or any control over these actions. Adopting the status of a wounded injured party with no alternative but to commit atrocities by supporting Israel, the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice expresses herself after the Qana massacre as "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent life". At this point, victimhood is perpetuated, propagated and last but not least rendered invisible as well invincible.

I wrote an email to a highly educated Jewish Australian friend recently about how the survival of Jewish tradition and ethics in the world is becoming ever more threatened because of the irresponsible acts of the Israelis and their racist laws that engender dismay and hate both in Israelis as well as in its enemies.

He shrugged it off with an illogical hypothetical question about what would Australia do if Indonesia kidnapped two of its soldiers. Here again, the invisibility of racism and the humiliating and degrading conditions to which Arabs have been subjected over decades can only take place if Arabs are not considered worthy of humiliation. Or, through the logic of victimhood Israelis have no choice but to subject the Arabs to this disagreeable state of affairs.

I responded by pointing out that Indonesia, unlike Israel in the Occupied Territories, does not have hundreds of Australian prisoners in its jails nor does it occupy Australian territory.

Racism, I keep telling my children, does not last. I am an optimistic Lebanese Australian. I tell them of the part played by the racist laws of the Nazi government in the downfall and decimation of Germany earlier in the 20th century. I tell them that Germans have learnt a great deal from the horrors they inflicted on the Jews and others in World War II.

They have learned that military conquest, occupation and exploitation of other peoples, with the purpose of establishing a total security state, is not only immoral but does not provide the security it seeks. Living in harmony with neighbours entails empowering the self in order to shake off the logic of victimhood from its foundation. This can only be achieved by taking positive steps towards reconciliation and addressing past and present wrong doings from all sides. In the meantime it could begin by providing equal citizenship and equal rights for all within one’s borders.

I also tell my children that silence does not make problems go away; it only makes them fester underground. After a while, when enough pressure is exercised on them, they surface with the most explosive and destructive force imaginable.