The Abyss
Israel, Palestine, Ukraine and a world at war
"Soon, the last sliver of electricity and connection will be exhausted. If I die, remember that I, we, were individuals, humans, we had names, dreams, and achievements, and our only fault was that we were just classified as inferior."
Belal Aldabbour
Gaza Journalist and Doctor
October 11, 2023
In the dark hours of yesterday, Oct 27, the US Air Force launched strikes against Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) forces in Syria. According to the DoD statement, this was separate to the Israel-Gaza conflict, but given this was a response to strikes that IRGC supported militias launched in retaliation to American support to Israel, it in fact, is not unrelated.
Try as I have, I have been thus far unable to write on the subject of the war on Gaza. I believe strongly in the concept that ‘a wise man speaks when he has something to say, a fool speaks because he must say something.’ Without laying claim on being a wise man (a wise guy perhaps?), I have found myself ill-equipped on this subject. It’s not a lack of knowledge per se, though indeed others are far more knowledgeable, but rather, I’ve little to add to the story of the origins and ongoing horrors of the conflict. Others have simply done it better than I, and I don’t like speaking for the sake of filling space.
I suggest reading Scott Martin’s piece on the Hamas counteroffensive, and the works of Talia Lavin and Marisa Kabas on the effect the Oct 7 attack had on Jewish diaspora communities.
In a perfect, or at least semi-functional world, we would have spent the time after Oct 7 supporting the Jewish and Palestinian communities in Canada as they reel from the trauma and the increase of anti-Muslim and anti-Semitism that has followed in the wake of the attack. Abroad we would be working with all sides in Israel and Palestine to find a permanent ceasefire and end to Israeli apartheid.
But we’re not, are we?1
When I wrote ‘Year of the Fascist’ at the beginning of 2023, I will admit to, as I often do with my writing, hoping terribly to be wrong. I was in a few cases (Desantis), but less than I would like. Fascism has made it’s biggest resurgence since 1933, and it’s not coming from the streets anymore.
It’s in government.
Across Canada and the USA we see people being fired for expressing support for Palestinians. Not Hamas, the internationally recognized terrorist organization, but Palestinians. We’ve seen careers ruined by inferring Antisemitism for suggesting Israel is an apartheid state. All this while members of the Israeli government openly discuss mass murder and the genocide of Palestinians.
The only reason anything is being reported seems to be because of Al-Jazeera and ironically, the Israeli free press, which seems to, at least partially, be a voice of reason or moderation.
In the UK, Germany and France, those three states with no history of fascism or racial exploitation (cough), they have made flying a Palestinian flag illegal, claiming it represents terrorism. As their cops do what cops do best, attacking BIPOC protesters, the war continues.
Is war even a fair description?
Overall, yes.
War and genocide are not mutually exclusive, and painting this entirely as not a war, in my opinion, disregards the damage Hamas and their allies have inflicted on the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), and likely will continue to do so. If the the IDF invades Gaza or Southern Lebanon the losses thus far will be just the beginning.
The last time Israel fought in Lebanon against Hezbollah (2006), the IDF lost 121 killed and 1,244 wounded for nothing gained. This fight, both in Southern Lebanon if IDF invades and in Gaza, will not be as easy or one sided as some would lead us to believe.
Regardless, this is a genocide.
Israel has made it clear they intend to ethnically cleanse at minimum the north of Gaza. They’re attacking schools, hospitals, refugee camps and food supplies. They have totally isolated Gaza from the world and cut water supplies.
Many have likely died already of dehydration.2
An area that is 365 square kilometers, that houses 2.2 million people. Half are children. Thousands are dead already. The latest estimate I’ve read places it at 7000 killed, but I won’t cite that; it’ll change (increase) by the time I get the citation.
In that number, the majority are, according to the Gaza health authority, are children and women. More journalists have been killed in this conflict than any other in recent history. 24 at last check. Most recently, an airstrike killed the family of Al-Jazeera Gaza Bureau Chief Wael Al-Dahdouh.
“You wanted to be a journalist,” he wept as he looked the face of his dead son.
All this would be terrible enough were it not for the events occurring concurrently.
The Russo-Ukrainian war is it’s 20th month, and it goes well for the weapons manufacturers. Ukraine’s much anticipated counteroffensive has failed without making significant gains. In the east, the Russians have made some gains in the area of Adiivka. Ukraine is in a war of attrition with their far larger more powerful neighbor and they are losing.
This would be irrelevant to the current crisis in the Middle East, if not for USA actively trying to connect the conflicts. Iran does supply Russia with some military hardware to be sure, but not enough to turn the tide of war.
The real connection to these conflicts: The United States of America.
The reason Russia attacked Ukraine was the expansion of NATO, which placed the USA on the border of Russia with an army uncomfortably fond of Nazis. The violence is brutal: it’s war. But since the invasion, the American Empire has been howling “genocide” from the rooftops.
Let’s look at the numbers. From 24 February 2022 to 10 September 2023: 7400 civilians in Ukrainian held territory. 2100 civilians in Russian held territory. Total: 9500 (approximately). This makes a rough average of 475 civilians killed per month by the Russian and Ukrainian militaries.
A tragic number, but this does not a genocide make.3
Compare this to Gaza, where at least 7000 civilians have already been killed in less than 1/20th of the time.
There is one genocide occurring and there is one state fighting against it. It is occurring in Gaza and the state is Iran. This is why Hezbollah is attacking Israel and the Houthi rebels are firing cruise missiles at Israel. You need express no love for the Islamic Republic of Iran to see this.
The reason Iranian proxies are attacking American bases is because there are American bases already in their country occupying it. The undying US support for Israel might well be the catalyst, but if Americans die in Syria and Iraq at the hands of the IRGC backed militias, it’s because that’s what happens when you invade and occupy someone.
Where we in the “West4” are today, is hurtling towards multi-front international conflicts with virtually no end-goals other than two seperate ethnic cleansings5. There appears to be no plan but war for war’s sake.
There is not one pro-peace party in the USA or Canada.
Is there cause for hope? Some perhaps. Polling suggests the war in Gaza is not popular in the “West” and in Israel, the majority blame Netanyahu for the attack. Is this enough to shift the governments of the world away from unquestioning support?
That I can’t say. What I do know is that Joe Biden called Oct 7 an “inflection point.” I agree with him on this, if not for his reasoning. There have been many comparisons to September 11th in the October 7th attack. I agree, partially.
The hysteria, hate and murderous rage is all coming back.
But, unlike September 11th, the vast fascistic security establishment that took years to build is in place now. Social media is now controlled by actual fascists. The mainstream is now conditioned to the environment of “post truth.”
Inflection point indeed.
We being the nation as a collective group. Individuals are doing great work, but as a nation we still support Israel. I’m no statist but grouping in these terms is useful.
The “West” in this is a useful concept, even if it’s one I do not agree with. You can call it the American Empire and make the same point.
The Ukrainian attempts to erase the Russian language from Eastern Ukraine was one big factor on the war in Donbass and since then Ukrainian politicians have openly discussed ethnically cleansing Crimea. The Ukrainian Government also disconnected water supplies to Crimea in 2015.