Israel should stop distractions, focus on peace

On Thursday, Israel summoned the Jordanian envoy in Tel Aviv to protest against an opinion article by former foreign minister Kamel S. Abu Jaber published in The Jordan Times on April 28.

One day earlier, a representative of the Israeli embassy in Amman called the paper not only to protest, but also to demand an apology for publishing the article, titled “The big Zionist lie and the task ahead”.

Such behaviour does not conform with the culture of democracy and shows disrespect for the freedom of expression.

Describing the article as “anti-Semitic” and racist, Israel ignores all racist acts, attacks and practices it carries out on daily basis, not only against Palestinians, Jordanians, Arabs and Muslims, but also against its own non-Jewish citizens.

Although the article by the former foreign minister, who had a key role in the Arab-Israeli peace talks in Madrid in 1991, only expresses the writer’s own views, it also reflects those of a wide segment of the Jordanian and Arab public concerning the need to counter Israeli lies attempting to invalidate Palestinian identity and legitimate rights in the face of colonial expansionist policies.

In a statement, the Israeli embassy on Wednesday expressed outrage at the fact that the writer chose to quote from Adolf Hitler, whose racist thought and policies caused immense destruction to Europe and led to the death of millions of innocent people, including many Jews.

The embassy chose to ignore the fact that Palestinians, in particular, and Arabs, in general, were also victims of Hitler’s ideology and the Holocaust, and that ever since, that is for almost seven decades, they have been paying a heavy price for the genocide committed on another continent.

Hitler’s victims and their descendants should be the first to understand the meaning of being victimised and discriminated against, and realise the magnitude of the decades-old injustices brought upon the Palestinians for no reason but for being born different, for belonging to a different people and adhering to different faiths. These people should be the ones to spearhead putting an end to the suffering of the Palestinians and help establish a just and permanent peace in our region.

They should object to all racist policies and acts committed in their name, and they are many.

Israeli politicians, meanwhile, should stop accusing all who oppose their policies of being “anti-Semitic.”

What does it call its Minister Naftali Bennett’s statements as fresh as of August last year? 

The right-wing politician said in a Cabinet meeting he did not like the releases of Palestinian prisoners.

“If you catch terrorists, you simply have to kill them,” he was quoted in Yedioth Ahronoth as saying.

Head of the National Security Council Yaakov Amidror told Bennett: “Listen, that’s not legal.”

Bennett replied: “I have killed lots of Arabs in my life — and there is no problem with that.”

It is easy to find more incredibly racist statements against Palestinians and Arabs by “important” Israeli and Zionst figures. They are nauseatingly shocking. “Disturbing”, some would elegantly put it, but they are blatantly anti-human being, yet no uproar is ever raised.

Criticising murder, xenophobia, land theft, religious intolerance and oppression is not “anti-Semitic”. Incidentally, Arabs are Semites, too, and nobody invokes “anti-Semitism” when they are attacked.

Instead of using the tired “anti-Semitism” mantra, Israelis would better serve their people and the region by bringing an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict and by establishing a just and permanent peace on the basis of the two-state solution.

They should start viewing the Palestinians as equal human beings, partners and neighbours who deserve to live in dignity on their national soil.

Attempts to distract attention and procrastinating will not solve the problem.

Israel should stop blaming the mirror and instead fix the distorted reality that it has created on the ground.