US and Western allies find themselves wrestling with a sense of guilt. Even calling for a ceasefire in Gaza is deemed a crime. The US Department of State issued an internal memo, instructing its personnel not to use terms like “ceasefire,” “de-escalation,” “ending violence,” or “restoring calm.” The US also vetoed a ceasefire proposal in the UN Security Council. How could a power that seeks to impose its order on the world be this malevolent?
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN demanded the resignation of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Guterres dared to suggest that the October 7 Hamas attack did not occur in a vacuum. American and Western governments cannot tolerate being reminded of the past, that the Palestinian occupation is ongoing, and that thousands of civilians have been killed. They bear a share of the responsibility for Israel’s transformation into a murderous “Apartheid” regime, sheltered under the wings of the US and the West.
An Israeli-Jewish writer, Dr. Shir Hever, plays an active role in international campaigns supporting Palestinians. He emphasizes that Zionists have undergone a horrific transformation, turning themselves into oppressors over time. Hever says, “They couldn’t have made this transformation on their own. The political ideology of Zionism needed to be an integral part of US imperialism.” Indeed, Zionists have constructed a cult of the Nazi type that deems Palestinians ‘savages’ who should be eradicated as long as they continue to live in their homeland. Israeli Prime Minister Isaac Herzog, allegedly ‘moderate,’ claimed that all Gazans were responsible for the attacks carried out by Hamas’ military wing. According to Herzog, “The entire nation is responsible there. It is not true that civilians were unaware or uninvolved; that is absolutely untrue.” Herzog’s nauseating statement suggests that Gazans deserve to be killed for not rebelling against Hamas. So, are Herzog’s slip of the tongue insinuating that all Jews in Israel are responsible for the deaths of innocent Palestinians over decades? Does Herzog’s gibberish express a collective sense of guilt?
Let me refer to the writer of mesmerizing tales titled “Cinnamon Shops,” Bruno Schulz. I want to highlight the last moments of Schulz, who was killed by the Gestapo on November 19, 1942. Schulz was living in the town of Drohobycz, which is now in Ukraine but was part of Poland in 1942. At that time, Drohobycz was under Nazi occupation. Jewish residents were forced to stay in a ghetto, and they were not allowed to leave without Nazi permission. On November 19, a Jewish resident of Drohobycz panicked, fearing arrest by the Nazis, and wounded a Nazi officer. In retaliation, the head of Gestapo in the town ordered the execution of any Jew encountered in the streets. That day, more than 200 Jews are said to have been killed. Schulz went out to buy bread. He was killed on the spot by a Gestapo assassin, holding bread in his hand.
Hasn’t the West Bank under occupation and the Gaza Strip under siege become Palestinian ghettos? What’s the difference between Drohobycz’s Gestapo and Israel, which continuously rains down bombs on Gaza? Only the scale differs. Since October 7, the Gaza Health Ministry has published the names, ages, and identity numbers of those killed by Israeli bombardments. Over 7,000 Gazans have been killed, with nearly 3,000 of them being children. If Nazi executioners were still alive, they would undoubtedly derive great pleasure from the resemblance of their victims to themselves.