War on Gaza: As Palestinians suffer, liberal Zionists play the victim

Less than a year after Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula, Jewish philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz published an article titled “The Territories,” criticising the Israeli occupation and the imposition of a military regime on millions of Palestinians.
From this critique emerged the now-famous slogan: “The occupation corrupts” - a phrase that has become the foundation of arguments by many liberal Zionists.
These individuals view the crimes of the occupation primarily as acts that corrupt their own morality, rather than fundamentally harming the lives of others. Palestinians are thus not people in their own right, but a backdrop to a story liberal Zionists tell about themselves.
When a Palestinian dies, they see themselves as the true victim - their delicate conscience sullied by that death. As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once remarked: “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children.”
In this twisted logic, even while acknowledging that Israelis kill Palestinian children, they are still positioning themselves as the victim.
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This framework sheds light on the international criticism surrounding the recent visit to Syria by the French and German foreign ministers.
Syria, which has paid an unprecedented price in its struggle to rid itself of one of the darkest regimes of the 20th and 21st centuries, has witnessed hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of refugees, economic collapse, and torture chambers for men, women and children. Its future remains uncertain.
Fixated on a handshake
But western media opted to ignore these issues, fixating instead on why Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharra, did not shake hands with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Once again, the western white woman became the central story - not the Syrian women who endured hell in the Assad regime’s prisons, nor the children born in detention centres who have never experienced freedom.
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Instead, the narrative revolved around a German politician whose feelings might have been hurt because her handshake was refused. As always, those of us in the Global South remain mere background figures in the stories white westerners tell about themselves.
Baerbock's Zionism is a tragic reflection of humanity in the 21st century, where the lives of Global South peoples are rendered meaningless
Discussions about women’s rights, children’s rights and freedom of worship are mere tools, leveraged to serve their interests in the region. Otherwise, how can we understand Baerbock’s tireless defence and justification of the genocide in Gaza?
Throughout this genocide, now into its second year, we have witnessed Palestinian women and children being regularly massacred, while Baerbock has continued to support Israel’s “right to defend itself”. How can she claim to care about women’s rights in some places, while endorsing their mass killing elsewhere?
The only explanation lies in a western lens that sees the Global South as a playground for liberal western discourse - a game where international institutions, economic leverage and military power are exploited to advance the West’s interests.
Baerbock’s Zionism is a tragic reflection of humanity in the 21st century, where the lives of Global South peoples are rendered meaningless against the backdrop of western economic and political agendas. Every human rights discourse in the world rings hollow.
Clear message
In an era where the West vehemently opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, swiftly ramping up its rhetoric against Moscow and implementing economic sanctions, it has simultaneously defended Israel, even as the latter has bombed hospitals and schools in Gaza at an unprecedented pace.
In a globalised world where information is widely accessible, the message is clear: those who wield violence can impose their will without consequences, as long as western interests remain unaffected - and portrayed as the central story.
As poet Mahmoud Darwish aptly put it, we Palestinians are both blessed and cursed by our struggle with the Zionist movement - a movement that speaks in the name of Judaism, which itself suffered the Holocaust and carries an unresolved reckoning in the western consciousness.
This curse includes the whole Arab world, which is influenced and shaped by the West, with all its economic and military power, to ensure the survival of Israel - even if this means supporting and arming brutal authoritarian regimes that are willing to collaborate with Tel Aviv.
Even now, amid an ongoing genocide, every discussion with Palestinians demands that we propose solutions centred on the well-being of Zionists, with a framework palatable to western values and capable of resolving the relationship between Judaism and the West. In the meantime, Arabs can continue to die.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
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