We in the West are hyper sensitive to anti- semitism, and rightly so. However, we have been blind to the often fatal consequences of the long standing and widespread racism of Israeli Jews towards Arabs.
The most recent and shocking manifestation of this is the confirmed slaughter of over 23000 Palestinians in Gaza, with a further 7000 missing presumed dead. This is before counting the additional deaths that will occur due to disease, hunger, and the wanton destruction of health facilities. The vast majority of the casualties have been civilians, 70% of them women and children.
This harsh response to the Hamas action in which about 1200 Israelis were killed is supported by 98% of Israeli Jews according to a poll in November, with 57% believing that the IDF were using too little firepower while less than 2% thought that they were using too much. The implication is that innocent Palestinian lives are regarded as virtually worthless compared to the lives of Israeli Jews. Indeed, according to Al Jazeera’s Listening Post programme, such a view is increasingly reflected in reporting in mainstream media in Israel.
An attitude that places little value on Palestinian lives was explicit from the beginning of the Zionist project. How else can the establishment in 1948 of an explicitly Jewish state by violently evicting the Arab population from their land and homes be explained?
Each stage in the conflict has seen further encroachment on Arab land, livelihoods and rights, while the Arab death toll has greatly exceeded Israeli casualties. To quote just one chilling statistic among many , Israeli defence forces and settlers killed 2187 Palestinian children in this century up to October 6th, before the start of the current conflict in Gaza.
The West has not reacted to Israeli savagery with anything approaching the appalled response to the Hamas action on October 7th. In the UK, Israel continues to be regarded as an ally, with both major parties having within their ranks important groups describing themselves as ‘friends of Israel.’ Within the Labour Party, expressing friendship for the country that has perpetuated an illegal and increasingly brutal occupation since 1967 attracts little criticism whereas those expressing sympathy for the Palestinian cause have been accused of anti semitism and expelled. Our own version of anti-Palestinian racism is that killing Palestinian children causes less outrage than using the wrong language to describe it.