While the open calls for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israeli legislators and policymakers continue unabated, so does the determined refusal of the US administration to acknowledge, address or challenge Israel’s flagrant incitement to genocide.
“If there were a button you could press that would make all the Arabs disappear, that would send them on an express train to Switzerland…I would press that button.” These words were not spoken from the leader of a rogue, fringe group in Israel. They were the words of Matan Kahana, Israeli Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs. Think about how you would react if these words were uttered by a high-ranking member of the US administration about an entire group of people in the US. There are no repercussions for Matan Kahana precisely because what he is expressing openly is in fact normalized discourse both in Israeli government and in Israeli society. What this has meant for Palestinians is a daily tragedy, with days turning into months, years, and decades. One generation of Palestinians after another has never known freedom or equality.
What makes the Deputy Minister’s statements even more impactful is that they were said during a lecture with Israeli youth during a visit to a high school, indoctrinating a new generation of Israelis towards thoughts of genocide. His predecessor, Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, who served as the deputy of religious affairs minister and then promoted to Israel’s deputy defense minister, called Palestinians animals in 2013, specifically stating, “To me, they are like animals, they aren’t human.” Other high ranking officials and policymakers including Aylet Shaked, Israeli Minister of Justice who posted an article in 2014 referring to Palestinian children as little snakes as Israel was raining bombs over the Gaza Strip, did not think twice in the dehumanization of Palestinians, knowing all too well that this was the norm in successive Israeli governments, not the exception.
Israeli calls for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population have been a lynchpin of Israeli policy for many decades. In his 2007 book, ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’, Ilan Pappe documents the massacres, forced transfer and displacement of the Palestinian indigenous population, and the deliberate destruction of Palestinian villages between 1947 – 1949. The recent statement by Kahana is one of many examples of how Israeli officials, since 1947, openly dehumanize Palestinians under their rule and incite violence against them, predictably leading to increased killing and injury to the Palestinian population by both Israeli occupation forces and settlers.
On a daily basis, Israeli occupation forces and settlers kill Palestinians with impunity. The assassination of renowned Palestinian-American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli soldiers last month is just one of the latest examples. To maintain such a ruthless system, the US government provides Israel with over $3.8 billion dollars annually in military aid.
Every Palestinian knows from too young an age that behind every Israeli soldier, every bullet, every bulldozer, and every tear gas canister, is US funding. Unlike the US’s policy towards recipients of US aid, Israel is an exception in that the US administration is determined to not hold it accountable and to shield it from any consequences for its persecution and denial of freedom to millions of people under its rule.
Israeli officials – legislators and policymakers are literally telling us their true thoughts and policies in place to continue the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population. The duty of the US administration, which is financing Israel’s military occupation, is to recognize what Israeli government officials are telling us and to stop and reverse these policies.
The US must put in place accountability measures immediately. We need assurances that Israel not only stop its ethnic cleansing but reverse the genocide and ethnic cleansing including settlements, the siege on the Gaza Strip, the forced transfer of the Palestinian population in Jerusalem, Masafer Yatta, the Jordan Valley, and others.
As we commemorate Juneteenth, let us understand that the US’s support of Israel’s relentless and ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population will be a moral stain and terrible toll that will be recorded in our history books.
In preparing for his upcoming trip to the Middle East next month, President Biden has moral and in fact, legal responsibility, to put an end to this inhumane and misguided policy and to end US support of Israel’s continued ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
This article has been written by Siham Rashid, who is the Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund/Palestine Center.
The article has been published on other news outlets, including Al-Hewar.
The views in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Jerusalem Fund.
