Collateral genocide in Nuseirat
Al JazeeraIn yet another Israeli massacre in Gaza, Palestinians are killed en masse and then summarily erased from the story. Concerned sectors of the international community responded with typical ineffectual handwringing; the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the latest Israeli “massacre of civilians”, declaring that “the bloodbath must end immediately”. Not that Palestinians have ever been humanised in the Israeli narrative – except, of course, when they can be exploited for propaganda purposes, like when Israel accuses Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as “human shields” and thereby justifies Israeli military attacks on hospitals and schools. A glance at past episodes from Israel’s perpetual “bloodbath” in Gaza would seem to confirm that, as per Israeli military logic, 200-plus dead Palestinians is perfectly acceptable “collateral damage” in the recuperation of four live Israelis. As for one of the world’s biggest players, United States President Joe Biden praised the return of the four captives at a news conference in Paris, adding: “We won’t stop working until all the hostages come home and a ceasefire is reached.” Which brings us to the question: How will a ceasefire ever be reached – or the “bloodbath” brought to an end, to borrow Borrell’s words – when the US president himself is essentially praising Israel for conducting said bloodbath?