The Moral Bankruptcy of the Apartheid State of Israel

By Dr. Aslam Abdullah

The latest human rights violations by Israel have surpassed many of its previous violations in cruelty and in injustice. Israel bombed and destroyed the electricity system for 1.2 million Gaza residents, inflicting a collective punishment on the entire population. But what is new in it?

They have deprived millions of Palestinians of their dignity, honor and even their right to live as decent human beings. It is obvious that Israel believes in a philosophy of “might makes right.” It has no morality and no religion and no decency in its dealings with Palestinians. Israel’s supporters in America tell others that their state stands for justice because their religion dictates so. But when it comes to giving Palestinians the simple right to live as decent human beings, their state adopts measures that would be considered cruel even by those who stand for the rights of dogs, cats and rats in America and many European countries. An ardent supporter of Israel recently devoted his talk show to the plight of street dogs.

It is clear that when the supporters of Israel talk of justice, they mean justice for its own citizens and not for those considered outsiders.

They argue that Israel must be viewed as a privileged state because it has a special status in the eyes of God.

They suggest that the quest of Israel for more and more land must be seen as part of a divine plan that must be supported by all means.

For this reason some 40 percent of churches in the United States devote their weekly services to seeking support for the state of Israel as part of the fulfillment of divine prophecy.

To Israel and its majority of citizens, Palestinians deserve the curse of God because they have been opposed to their state. The Palestinians in the views of most Israeli intellectuals and law-makers do not deserve a homeland, rather they deserve to be sent away to different Arab states. Even though many claim to be the champions of human rights and democracy, they have rarely raised their voices about the human rights of Palestinians. On the contrary, they have opposed the democratically elected government of Israel, tooth and nail.

Israel is indulging in these antihuman acts because it knows that the world lacks the political will to stand for justice. The apartheid state knows that the world’s supreme power is backing it in every sense of the term. The Israeli elites know that many in the Bush Administration admire Israel for creating conducive conditions for the apocalypse.

Obviously, Israel has a license to kill whomsoever it wants to kill and it has a right to destroy every thing Palestinian freely. The killing and destruction are justified by religious arguments and historical anecdotes.

This is arrogance in its worst form. How can we respond to this inhumanity of the state of Israel? One of the ways is to document their every act of injustice.

A day will certainly come when the world will read these stories and hold Israelis responsible for their war crimes, as before them the Nazis and others have been punished for the wrongdoing they committed.

Today the truth is squelched by spin and lies, much of that fog being spewed by mainstream and right-wing media outlets. The media networks do not tell us the truth because their interests are in concert with the interests of Israel.

But someday the truth will come out. That will be the day when the coming generations Israel and her supporters come to question their predecessors for not speaking up and for hiding the truth.

That will be the day when they will denounce their past and hang their heads in shame. Let us hope that when that day comes, the Palestinians do not turn it into a day of revenge.

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