The Neurotic Arrogance of Israel and the United States

Anyone can question the “love affair” between these two countries. Of course there are strategic political interests of the treaties written in stone, which link these two powers. It’s known and recognized by everyone. They would rather have us delve into the mysteries of their history to seize upon these guilty affinities which encourage them to use the same words when expressing their hostility toward Palestinians. The reason is simple; these two countries were born from the occupation of settlements, where the populations were not able to prevent the influx of settlers from elsewhere. This historical parallel created from ideological links gives both a clean conscience and constructs a political discourse which justifies their aggressive and plundering policy.

This political speech has been more brilliantly illustrated nowadays than by the same declaration made by Netanyahu and Obama: “No State can accept that its population is threatened.” Before highlighting the lies and arrogance of Israel, let’s take a detour through the United States. Distinguished Americans, let us give an example of a country which you have threatened and forced to respond to your aggression. As stated by your brilliant strategists, is it Nicaragua and Cuba, which you occupied during the 19th century? Is it Vietnam, which you attacked after having organized an alleged naval incident orchestrated by the Vietnamese government? Is it the threat of weapons of mass destruction which has given you the right to go and put Iraq back into the Stone Age, etc.?

But let’s go back to Israel and to Netanyahu. Born and raised in the United States before immigrating to Israel, he has been fed through the American bottle. Every day this gentleman steals land, starves and makes ill an entire population, yet asks this population to not make noise and disturb his sleep. So no, sir, your nights will no longer be peaceful and you will understand why. You will learn, starting from the rest that needs doing, since unlike in 2009, you hesitate to release your tanks onto Gaza. There are several reasons for your hesitation. There’s the volcanic introduction of the Arab populations into the political arena — hitherto occupied and monitored for you by pathetic dictators who satisfy themselves with crumbs to make ends meet.

You cannot count on them, and your western friends only demand restraint from you so that they can adapt themselves to the new political orders and the countries soaked in petrol or controlling strategic shipping lanes. In 2009, you bombarded and massacred a whole population because you were assured of the impunity of the world and of your people. This time, your capital, the birthplace of “Silicon Valley” and of your boo-boos, is in the range of missiles from the Palestinian resistance. Until then, you could massacre; your people were not affected in their flesh. By seeing you do it, many of your compatriots would take sadistic pleasure from it.

But with missiles on your towns and losses in the case of the invasion of Gaza, these same populations risk finding their sadistic pleasure a little too dearly paid. Mr. Prime Minister, know that the enjoyment that one gets from the misfortune of others has its limits in time. It dries up and gets forgotten. On the other hand, when one is murdered in the flesh and soul – through the loss of precious beings – this pain lives in you for a long time, a very long time, and you push to exile yourself in the most merciful countries to forget the nightmares.

It’s what a lot of your compatriots do —sickened by your policy which they view as antipodal to the values of Judaism. Mr. Prime Minister, you will finish by drawing the limit between the psychological resources of your populations and measuring the limit of your army’s military capabilities. You therefore deduce that your dream of Israel spanning from the Mediterranean to Jordan will vanish like the dreams of the Crusades, the Ottomans or even the Anglo-Saxons evaporated. In short, to all those who thought they were lions forever, history always ends up back at the fragile human condition.

To finish, I cannot resist expressing my anger and disapproval toward some journalists who take money for counting the idiocies of a state which, day after day, shows and demonstrates its violence and invents still more lies to justify its policy. It is true that a certain Goebbels invented the notion “the bigger the lie, the more it will be believed by those who are weak-minded.” So are these journalists in question weak-minded, or even, do they share these famous ideological affinities with the settlers of America or Palestine, who thought that the inhabitants of these countries should give up their place because they were the bearers of civilization…

In truth, these journalists put themselves in a servile position, continuing to enjoy the pleasure of comfort gained off the back of the truth. Since I am making a parallel between the colonization of America and of Palestine, I can only say that the Palestinians will not be the Indians of the 21st century, because their fierce determination and their courage relieves them of the same demise as the Amerindians, the isolated populations of a period where greed and brute force conspired to exterminate them.

Ali Akika is a filmmaker and co-director of the film “L’olivier” (1973) about the Palestinian resistance.