Without accountability, the legacy of Israel may ultimately be one of lost opportunities for reconciliation and lasting security.
Nikolaos van Dam
In the summer of 1964, 60 years ago now, I hitchhiked with an Algerian diplomat from Beirut to Damascus. While driving his dark blue convertible sports car, he suddenly raised his voice and exclaimed, “Israel is a cancerous tumor in the heart of the Arab nation!” In retrospect, I understand that this statement was entirely valid from an Arab perspective, and this sentiment has only grown stronger over time.
A week later, I strolled through the old city of Arab East Jerusalem, which at the time had not yet been occupied by Israel. A Palestinian Christian handed me a pamphlet that read:
– If I am an anti-Semite because I oppose the occupation of my homeland by Zionist Jews;
– If I am an anti-Semite because I resist the expulsion of my people from Palestine by Zionist Jews;
– If I am an anti-Semite because I stand against the destruction of our Palestinian villages;
– If I am an anti-Semite because I oppose the Zionist Jews who have confiscated our land and possessions;
– If I am an anti-Semite because I am against the murder of Palestinians by Zionist Jews;
– If I am an anti-Semite because I resist the rape of Palestinian women by Zionist Jews —
and this was followed by a list of other issues that could be classified as Israeli war crimes—
– then I am an anti-Semite, and I am proud of it.
This took place in 1964, sixteen years after the establishment of Israel. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from large parts of Palestine and the associated Israeli war crimes were still fresh in memory. Over the past half-century, numerous new acts of ethnic cleansing have taken place. Meanwhile, the Zionist narrative of accusing critics of anti-Semitism has been overplayed to the point of becoming largely meaningless. It is often a form of Zionist blackmail, employed indiscriminately to silence any legitimate criticism of Israel. It would not surprise me if this form of blackmail ultimately encourages rather than prevents anti-Semitism. While many are still sensitive to this Zionist tactic, a future backlash seems far from improbable.
Over time, numerous new wars have occurred, with Israel attacking both its immediate neighbors and more distant enemies: Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Iran, and Yemen, have all been bombed. Some countries have even been attacked by Israel so frequently that it no longer even seems newsworthy.
Israel often justifies these attacks with the argument of its “right to self-defense” and claims to feel threatened. However, it is precisely Israel that has created this threat through its violent war crimes and crimes against humanity —if such a threat ever truly existed. Accountability for this violence is absent; Israel consistently blames Palestinians, other Arabs, and Iran. This narrative is parroted uncritically and supported by many Western countries and ardent Israel sympathizers. In fact, Israel has an overwhelming military and technical superiority in the region, and is therefore much more of a threat to others than others are to Israel.
Another propagandistic claim by Israel is its “right to exist.” Anyone questioning this is automatically labeled an anti-Semite. But states do not have a right to exist; states simply exist, and they come and go. This has always been the case throughout history: the Roman Empire, the empires of the Umayyads and Abbasids, the Mongol Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the German “Third Reich,” the Soviet Union—all have disappeared or been replaced by other entities.
More recent developments include Israel’s unilateral and unrecognized new borders, created through the annexations of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, as well as the de facto annexation of the West Bank. More illegal annexations by Israel in the future cannot be ruled out. However, the history of the Middle East (and other parts of the world) shows that those who aim for far more than is realistic may ultimately end up with less—or nothing at all.
Given Israel’s many war crimes and hubris, it is therefore not unthinkable—or even likely—that this state will meet a similar fate. The only questions are when and in what form. In the 22nd century, or later? I will not live to see it, nor will my grandchildren.
According to modern norms, it is peoples—not states—that have a right to exist. Yet history has witnessed multiple genocides: of the Armenians, Jews (and Roma), in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge, in Rwanda against the Tutsi, in Bosnia against Bosnian Muslims, of the Yazidis by ISIS, of indigenous peoples in the Americas by European colonists, of the Uyghurs and Rohingya, in Congo under King Leopold II of Belgium, and others. Thankfully, the perpetrators have never succeeded in completely exterminating these peoples. But very little is left of some of them.
Currently, another genocide or mass killing is unfolding, this time carried out by Jewish Israelis against Palestinians. The descendants of former Jewish Holocaust victims have now become the perpetrators, transforming these victimized people into a Tätervolk (perpetrator people). What is extraordinary is that this new genocide is even supported by many Western countries and other sympathizers of Israel, despite the crimes being visible daily in the media. The post-World War II mantra “Never again” should be understood as “Never again is now!” Yet, few with influence over Israel are willing to act. Awareness of “being on the wrong side of history” often comes only after it is too late, when eradication, extermination, and annihilation have become irreversible.
How can the Palestinians and their Arab neighbors ever forgive Israel after everything that has been done to them?
What can we expect for the future? Judging by Israel’s current violent behavior, likely nothing but more war, until the entire region is further devastated—or until Israel disappears in the long run. True peace has become impossible due to Israel’s own actions. Israel spares no opportunity to sabotage any chance for peace, enthusiastically supported by various Western countries, with the United States leading the way. However, the more violence and war crimes Israel commits, the less secure it will be in the future. It is a futile and extremely dangerous Israeli push forward. Many politicians and Israel supporters seem too foolish to grasp this.
The question is what Israel can best do between now and the moment it ceases to exist in its current form, and what it prefers to be its future legacy. The Egyptians have the pyramids and the Pharaohs. The Babylonians have the cuneiform script, astronomy and mathematics, and the code of Hammurabi. The Arabs in Andalusia have the Alhambra, religious and cultural tolerance and many other traces of their eight centuries of civilization there.
The Germans have their great philosophers, intellectuals, scientists, musicians, and significant literature; but the German Nazis have the Holocaust, the Second World War, war crimes and the destruction of Europe. The Jews have the Ten Commandments (mainly for themselves among themselves); they have their great philosophers like Maimonides, Spinoza and Buber, intellectuals and scientists like Marx and Einstein and famous musicians.
But what will Israel’s legacy be in the Middle East? Mass murder using artificial intelligence, many other war crimes, high-tech espionage and the first nuclear power in the region?
At present, Israel chooses only war, despite having clear options for peace, which it rejects. This only fuels more resentment and hatred. Only foolish or ruthless people choose war when peace is an alternative.
Israeli hubris comes before a fall; thus, in the long run, the cycle of war will continue, with Israel’s leaders—so it seems—unconcerned about dragging many others down with them. It is “Israel above anything else”. Israel would do well, however, to consider a better future legacy.
The primary way to prevent endless war is to force Israel into peace, in the interest of itself and its enemies. Those who refuse to contribute to this effort are complicit in the ominous future of Israel and the entire region. And because they are not willing to do so, the war continues for the time being, with all the consequences that entails.