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Fueling the Cycle of Hate
War is teaching the children of Israel and Gaza that the other side is a bloodthirsty monster, and destroying any desire for peace
Israeli soccer matches were suspended during the assault on Gaza. When the games resumed last week, the fans had come up with a new chant: "Why have the schools in Gaza been shut down?" sang the crowd. "Because all the children were gunned down!" came the answer.
Aside from its sheer barbarism, this chant reflects the widespread belief among Israeli Jews that Israel scored an impressive victory in Gaza - a victory measured, not least, by the death toll.
Israeli pilots and tank commanders could not really discriminate between the adults and the children who hid in their homes or huddled in the UNRWA shelters, and yet they chose to press the trigger. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the lethal onslaught left 1,314 Palestinians dead, of which 412 - or nearly one third of all of the casualties - were children.
This latest assault underscores that Israel, not unlike Hamas, readily resorts to violence and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants (only the weapons at Israel's disposal are much more lethal). No matter how many times the Israeli government tries to blame Hamas for the latest Palestinian civilian deaths it simply cannot explain away the body count, especially that of the children. In addition to the dead, 1,855 Palestinian children were wounded, and tens of thousands of others have likely been traumatised, many of them for life.
Every child has a story. A Bedouin friend recently called to tell us about his relatives in Gaza. One cousin allowed her five-year-old daughter to walk to the adjacent house to see whether the neighbours had something left to eat. The girl had been crying from hunger. The moment she began crossing the street a missile exploded nearby and the flying shrapnel killed her. The mother has since been bedridden, weeping and screaming, "I have let my girl die hungry".
As if the bloody incursion was not enough, the Israeli security forces seem to be keen on spreading the flames of hatred among the Arab population within Israel. Hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel have been arrested for protesting at the Israeli assault and more than 200 of them are still in custody. One incident is enough to illustrate the psychological effect these arrests will likely have on hundreds more children.
A few days after the ceasefire, several men wearing black ski masks stormed the home of Muhammad Abu Humus. They came to arrest him for protesting against the killings in Gaza. It was four in the morning and the whole family was asleep when the men banged on the door. After entering the house, they made Abu Humus's wife Wafa and their four children Erfat (12), Shahd (9), Anas (6) and Majd (3) stand in a corner as they searched the house, throwing all the clothes, sheets, toys, and kitchenware on the floor. With tears in their eyes, the children watched as the armed men then took their father away and left.
Chance would have it that Abu Humus, a long-time peace activist and member of the Fatah party, is a personal friend of ours. In 2001, he joined Ta'ayush Arab-Jewish Partnership, and since then has selflessly organised countless peace rallies and other joint activities. During the past eight years, we have spent many hours at each other's homes and our children have grown up respecting and liking one other. It is hard to believe that just one month ago he attended the Bar Mitzvah of Yigal's son in a Jerusalem synagogue.
Muhammad and Wafa Abu Humus have tried over the years to instil in their children a love and desire for peace, and while the security forces may not have destroyed this, the hatred they have generated in one night cannot be underestimated. Indeed, what, one might ask, will his children think of their Jewish neighbours? What feelings will they harbour? And what can we expect from those children in Gaza who have witnessed the killing of their parents, siblings, friends and neighbours?
We emphasise the Palestinian children because so many of them have been killed and terrorised in the past month. Yet it is clear that Israeli children are suffering as well, particularly those who have spent long periods in shelters for fear of being hit by rockets.
The one message that is being conveyed to children on both sides of this fray is that the other side is a bloodthirsty monster. In Israel, this was instantly translated into gains for the hate-mongering Yisrael Beytenu party headed by the xenophobic Avigdor Lieberman, who is now the frontrunner in mock polls being held in many Jewish high schools, with the hawkish Binyamin Netanyahu coming in second.
Hatred, in other words, is the great winner of this war. It has helped mobilise racist mobs, and as the soccer chant indicates it has left absolutely no place for the other, undermining even basic empathy for innocent children. Israel's masters of war must be happy: the seeds of the next wars have certainly been sown.
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33 Comments so far
Show All"the hate-mongering Yisrael Beytenu party headed by the xenophobic Avigdor Lieberman, who is now the frontrunner in mock polls being held in many Jewish high schools, with the hawkish Binyamin Netanyahu coming in second.
Hatred, in other words, is the great winner of this war. It has helped mobilise racist mobs, and as the soccer chant indicates it has left absolutely no place for the other,"
They are in the grip of the same Thugs we just sent off. Thugs know how to use hate and fear. It's the only thing they know. And they have the means to start the brainwashing young, via the Media and through the schools.
Hopefully, when our Thugs go to trial, there's will be exposed too. Israel has very nearly commited suicide (in tandem with US), if things continue on this path, they close off their future.
Israeli children are raised to believe that all Arabs - not just Palestinians are worse than dogs and are sub-humans.
Given this fact, I don't understand our surprise at such antics described in the article and in CV's comment.
But I could be wrong !
This is the kind of brain-washing that was common in Nazi-Germany. What kind of a sick person is able to call himself a Jew with knowledge of the Holocaust while at the same time using the same hatemongering techniques the Nazis used against, among others, Jews? In the Independent I read about some army-rabbi advising soldiers that cruelty is sometimes a "good attribute". Makes me feel ashamed to be human; only we can go so low.
What kind of a sick person is able to call himself a Jew with knowledge of the Holocaust while at the same time using the same hatemongering techniques the Nazis used against, among others, Jews?
**its a double standard. Just because jews were victims of a supremacist myth by one group(aryans) doesnt mean they cant have their own.
I keep getting disgusted by Israeli behaviour and then get more surprises(the soccer chant).
Obama is trying to go back to the Clinton years but its impossible after what Israel has done and in the wake of Al Jazeera coverage. They cant easily gloss it over any more.
"To be humane is to be cruel, vicious and unrestrained, like humans.
To be inhumane is to be compassionate, restrained, moderate, like non humans."
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
One day, far into the future, the world will come together, in shock over what has gone before, and say, never again, not one more Holocaust. Think we will have learned from this Palestinian one? How is it any different from that of the Jews in WW2, and the other ones that have come since then?
According to the Hindu religion we've got about 450,000 years before things get better!
It's not really hatred when you are a superior human being chosen by God.
O P E L U B O Y,
… perhaps for a mere human "doing"
( e.g. an egoic reactionary racist shill ),
but never true for a real human being
My boss's may consider themselves my superior, but it's just their illusion of control and power talking trash, as I just work for them ( not under them ).
B E I N G N E S S
Is all about living in the entirety of existence, with balance of both obvious physicality and elusive ineffable non-physicality ( spirit ~ consciousness ~ life essence ~ source ).
Just because science and religion cannot actually package ( despite millennium of attempts ) and sell the "unknowable", hardly makes it part of inaccessible non-existence ( no thingness ~ nothingness ), nor unavailable to ALL.
It's raining soup,
___ … if we'd just open up our consciousness and BE ( ONE )
Namaste
Well, so much for the old theory that engaging in competitive athletic contests and attending such spectator events sublimates and channels male aggression away from making war.....
Bill from Saginaw
Someday there will be peace, but it will never be achieved through war. War only brings more war. How many wars to end all wars have there been to date? And how many of them lived up to their names. None.
The world is a savage place, and Israel and it's treatment of helpless (and hopeless) Palestinians, only makes it that much more savage. Hamas tries to be as violent, but they sorely lack the resources, which Israel has in abundance...as a result of some inside dealings which say that Israel gets whatever they want, and their neighbors get nothing...from us. Why don't the weapons manufacturing sociopaths in this country see this opportunity...to arm both sides and keep this war going on for as long as possible, or until the last Israeli and the last Palestinian stand face to face with guns at each others heads, ready to end it once and for all. Of course, that last scenario wouldn't be good for the war pigs, because there'd be no one left to buy weapons...bad for business.
There was a time when Israel had a reputation as a careful, precise, courageous and innovative band of tough people, who did justifiable things like the Raid on Entebbe. Unfortunately, they had a flip side in incidents like the attempted destruction of the USS Liberty in 1967, which was an act of war against the US, which has historically been glossed over for no reason I can determine.
Sadly, now Israel and the Zionist sociopaths in control, know nothing but brutality and expediency. They do not want peace with Hamas or the Palestinians, or the two state "solution". Israel is sowing the seeds of it's own destruction through their brutal and genocidal application of collective punishment...a technique beloved by the Nazi's. That alone should be enough to get them to stop...but the Zionist terrorists of Trans-Jordan predate the Nazi's, and have no need for simplistic concepts like peace, justice or human rights (FOR ALL HUMANS, NOT JUST ISRAELI'S). They were terrorists, and their progeny appear to be just as dedicated to unprincipled domination of a land that has only known bloodshed and brutality for far too long.
It's sad that both sides can't see that their children are exactly the same, and when one side kills a child, they may as well be killing their own.
Israel has again launched attacks in Gaza after Palestinian militants killed an Israeli soldier on patrol, the BBC reports.
Hamas just broke the ceasefire.
Israel tried to stop the fighting.
But Hamas broke the ceasefire.
The Israelis want peace.
But Hamas broke the ceasefire.
The Palestinian people want peace.
But Hamas broke the ceasefire.
Hamas will not stop until they have murdered every last Israeli.
Israel will not stop until they can live in peace with their neighbors.
Joehope,
I don't think you even read the articles, based upon your responses.
Aren't you the guy who is the 'Christian' evangelical?
Personally, i think your posts should be ignored, however i just found it obvious that you didn't even bother to reference anything about the artice here.
And speaking as a jewish person who is beside herself with all of this, i don't appreciate the fact that readers of your posts probably think you are actually jewish. Things are bad enough without your nonsense. But this is obviously your intension. So be it.
readytotransform wrote, "Joehope, you are intentionally being absurd.
I don't think you even read the articles, based upon your responses."
You know, you say that, but you can't refute what I'm saying. It is a simple statement of FACT that Hamas violated the ceasefire. It's not a "cycle of hate" when one side unilaterally enacts a ceasefire and the other side continues fighting. It's amazing how bent out of shape you get when all I do is express an entirely valid (indeed mainstream) contrary opinion. Sorry, but your efforts to stifle my dissent (and others) are not going to work.
"Aren't you the guy who is the 'Christian' evangelical?"
No. I'm not. I've never claimed to be one either. Although, I was once accused of being a 'Christian' evangelical by another CD poster for simply stating that Christians have done good things in the world. Is that what you are referring to?
"Personally, i think your posts should be ignored, however i just found it obvious that you didn't even bother to reference anything about the artice here."
I find it absurd that you are instructing others to ignore me by replying to me.
"And speaking as a jewish person who is beside herself with all of this, i don't appreciate the fact that readers of your posts probably think you are actually jewish. Things are bad enough without your nonsense. But this is obviously your intension. So be it."
I am Jewish you raving lunatic!!! Who are you to tell me otherwise? The SS? What is your problem? Are you (ultra) Orthodox? Is my lineage not pure enough for you? I find your divisiveness to be both insulting and disturbing.
Or is it that you think that the only Jews are religious Jews? Do you have a problem with my being a Christian? Is that it? I have no idea where you are coming from. Please explain.
Joehope,
I thought you were a christian zionist. I apologize if i confused you with one of many other posters over the past several weeks who began to post right after the Iraeli invasion of Gaza.
I do hope you realize that being jewish and being a zionist are not at all equivalent. Personally, i am not a fan of organized religion as i find it regressive and filled with primitive belief systems. However,
I might tell you to check out what Albert Einstein said when israel became a state (and by the way, Einstein was asked to be the first prime minister and turned it down). He said that if the Jews treat the Palestinians the way the Germans treated the Jews, then they would deserve whatever fate befalls them.
So, i have a serious question that i would like to pose to you. What do you find to be particularly 'jewish' regarding how israel conducted itself in the recent Gaza invasion. Please, if you would, list some details of incidents and tell me how jewish ethics and social justice values were evidenced. Something that you find particularly in keeping with jewish principles.
And PLEASE don't tell me that they witheld all of their might and didn't nuke Gaza, or wipe out the entire population. That isn't particularly 'jewish'. The u.s. didn't nuke or wipe out everyone in iraq. I can name many nations who invaded areas and didn't completely wipe out everyone and everything. So, if you wish to engage with me, will you please respond to this question directly?
Also, could you tell me what you find about the government of israel that reflects jewish values and ethics? Ones that are particularly reflective of judaism, as opposed to say, the united states, which is not a 'jewish' state.
'
I agree that the Israeli actions in Gaza had absolutely nothing to do with Jewishness. Why would it? It was a defensive action against Hamas, nothing more, nothing less. America did worse to Afghanistan when we were attacked.
"Also, could you tell me what you find about the government of israel that reflects jewish values and ethics? "
Where do I begin? It's a Jewish State. It's our homeland.
The Jewish people are the "Children of Israel".
It's like asking how China reflects Chinese values.
What's your point?
You clearly know nothing about jewish ethics or what that even means. You could have looked something up and pretended to know. At least you didn't bother to do that.
You,Joehope, are a silly dilly! And, by the way, you don't upset me in the least. I think you are perhaps attempting humour here. Kind of like performance art.
Consider me entertained.
Enjoy!
No joehope, you are wrong.
Just going somewhere and killing some people isnt breaking a ceasefire.
Ask IDF what they did in early November 2008 when they killed several people in the Gaza strip. You know, that didnt break the ceasefire. Because, for sure, it cant be that the IDF put the whole thing on fire, right.
And just to be precise: although the current ceasefire is pretty stable, there have been fights here and there throughout the last days. I guess IDF ships firing into the Gaza strips and hurting people is again ... not breaking the ceasefire. The only thing that can be regarded as root cause for such things ... are again Hamas actions, right?!
"Just going somewhere and killing some people isnt breaking a ceasefire."
Brilliant, Dumbo, just brilliant.
joehope-The statistics are not on your side my friend. Far, far more Palestinians have been killed by Israel. The number of Israelis killed by Palestine is minimal.
Part of the problem with the world is that children of all races are too often taught to see "the other" as monsters, as inherently bent on their destruction. It's a convenient mirage that keeps people from looking at the top to see who's really rigging the game, pitting the human family against itself and reaping twisted dividends from the turmoil.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is yet another example of this. Israel is being used as a weapon of the imperial powers. The Holocaust and the fear of another happening is what fuels Israel's continued oppression and destruction of Palestine, and only Empire benefits.
thegreatrockyhill, excellent post.
"The statistics are not on your side my friend. Far, far more Palestinians have been killed by Israel. The number of Israelis killed by Palestine is minimal."
I'm aware of the statistics and I don't refute them. Israel is a powerful country. It could bomb all of the West Bank and Gaza, and kill every last Palestinian if they wanted to, but they don't. Because their objective isn't to crush the Palestinian people, it's to stop terrorism. If Hamas was as powerful as Israel, they would destroy Israel and murder every Zionist. And yes, it would be a second Shoah. There is a saying that goes if the Palestinians laid down their arms, there would be peace, if the Israelis laid down their arms, there would be no Israel.
"Part of the problem with the world is that children of all races are too often taught to see "the other" as monsters, as inherently bent on their destruction. It's a convenient mirage that keeps people from looking at the top to see who's really rigging the game, pitting the human family against itself and reaping twisted dividends from the turmoil."
I completely agree. How ironic that you bring this up. Have you ever seen an Israeli TV show like this:
"I will eat the Jews!"
- Hamas Rabbit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm8w7_P8wZ0
"Israel is being used as a weapon of the imperial powers. The Holocaust and the fear of another happening is what fuels Israel's continued oppression and destruction of Palestine, and only Empire benefits."
You act like Hamas has not stated their intention to destroy Israel right in their charter. You don't even mention Hamas's brainwashing of children, violation of ceasefires, or their use of terrorism. Your bias is so one-sided it's ridiculous.
How can you say the Israeli deaths are minimal?
One death is too excessive in my opinion...that goes for both sides.
Go watch Youtube videos of IDF soldiers staging executions of their prisoners and tell me that the Israelis are interested in peace. The most stirring video of utter courage was one of a Palestinian woman who faced down a soldier with a huge gun who was trying to shoot boys with rocks and sling shots. No more of our tax money should be going to the death machine that Israel operates.
Unfortunately Obama has Rahm Emanuel whispering in one ear and Hillary Clinton in the other while Jim Jones serves up the kosher Koolaid. Obama's clever, and whether he will be clever enough to nudge Israel towards a peaceful, win-win two state solution remains to be seen. The current policies aren't good for the US, Israel, diaspora Jews or Palestinians. Weapons manufacturers and warmongering politicians, media and organizations are the only beneficiaries.
"Remains to be seen"?
"Those who threaten Israel threaten us; Israel has always faced these threats on the frontlines and I will bring to the White House an unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. That starts with insuring Israel’s qualitative military advantage. I will insure that Israel can defend itself from any threat from Gaza to Tehran. Defense cooperation, defense cooperation between the United States and Israel is a model of success and it must be deepened. As President I will implement a memorandum of understanding that provides $30 billion in assistance to Israel over the next decade, investments to Israel’s security that will not be tied to any other nation."
-- Barack Obama, June 4, 2008.
Has anyone here heard of the Samuli clan from hills to the south of Gaza city. It sounds like it has the makings of a My Lai - not quit as brutal, not quite as many dead bodies, but still pretty bad. It has been reported in the Wash Post and on NPR. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
Thanks ready. :)
After they lost the 1948 war, the Arab side initiated a "war of attrition" campaign against Israel. After 1967, the "war of attrition" became "terrorism" and now it's called "asymetrical warfare."
There three beliefs that underpin Palestinian strategy, for the past 60 years. First, it's easier to burn something down, than it is to build something. While the Israelis are scurrying around, building hospitals and universities, Palestinians "success" is defined as "we're still here," a much lower standard. Second, the Palestinians can launch rockets, conduct raids, etc that will stall, and perhaps even prevent, the emergence of a modern First World deomcracy in the Lands of the Arabs. Israel will have to swallow most of these attacks. The cost of mobilizing the army, to respond to each missile, is too high. Third, every so often, Israel will mobilize the army and kill a great number of Arabs. This is not a problem, because the Arab hinterland has a vast surplus population. Tens of millions can be forfeited in war, No one will miss them. And, Israel doesn't have the stomach/capacity to kill tens of millions of Arabs.
Asymetrical warfare=asymetrical casualties.
joehope-"You act like Hamas has not stated their intention to destroy Israel right in their charter. You don't even mention Hamas's brainwashing of children, violation of ceasefires, or their use of terrorism. Your bias is so one-sided it's ridiculous."
If they're trying to destroy Israel, they are failing miserably. They might as well be shooting arrows at tanks. Everytime Palestine attacks Israel, Israel responds at least twofold. Look at the statistics.
Hey, I don't doubt that many Palestinians hate Israel considering what Israel has done to Palestine. Do I condone anti-semitism? No more than I condone Islamophobia. But you have to understand WHY. Zionism and radical Islam feed each other.
And again, look above. Do yoy honestly think that the imperial powers give a damn about jews? They're using them to Westernize the Middle East. The U.S. arms them, aids them, and they do the dirty work. Zionism is sending Jewry into the heart of the sun.
Of course Hamas wants to destroy Israel. I do too. But not the houses or the people who live there. We want the racism to end,And Israel IS a racist state.
"Why have the schools in Gaza been shut down?" "Because all the children were gunned down." Sang the crowd of joyous Israeli Jews at a soccer match.
This is not about security or rockets.
Celebrating hundreds of dead children, mutilated babies in song in a public arena is just a small step away from night time rallies with torches in stadiums, pogroms and mass graves. If you can rejoice in Song over hundreds of Dead Babies, next is celebrating ALL of their Deaths, loading them onto trains.
And Singing as the Ovens Sing.
The authors ought to have interviewed Avi Ben Knish, for balance.
The Hamas ought to have killed more Jews, for balance.