Disgust towards Israel reflective of world public opinion: historian
‘The support for the Palestinians is not hard to discern’
TEHRAN - Jeremy Kuzmarov, who specializes in U.S. foreign policy and modern U.S. history, says the “disgust of many countries towards Israel is reflective of the world public opinion” against Israeli rulers who have committed many crimes against Palestinians.
Kuzmarov, a board member of the Tulsa Peace Fellowship, tells the Tehran Times that “even many North American Jews are morally outraged by many of the excesses of right-wing Israeli governments.”
Kuzmarov also highlights that Israeli politics are currently dominated by parties which adopt a hard-line approach towards the Palestinians and seek a “Greater Israel.”
Following is the text of the interview:
What message did the nations send to the Israeli leaders during the 2022 World Cup?
A: According to the Jerusalem Post, many Israelis reported being met by an atmosphere of hostility and hatred at the World Cup in Qatar, with fans refusing to speak to Israeli journalists, waving Palestinian flags in the background of their videos and yelling at them.
“Israel is beginning to become an international pariah like South Africa during the later phases of the apartheid era.”The reasons for the hostility to Israel and support for the Palestinians is not hard to discern. The Israelis have occupied Palestinian land since the 1967 Six-Day War and Palestinians are fighting one of the world’s last anti-colonial struggles. In recent years, the Israelis have committed many massacres and war crimes and have become increasingly brazen in doing so—largely because they feel protected by $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid. The Israelis recently elected an extreme right-wing government led by Benjamin Netanyahu who is against any peace process and takes a hard-line approach against the Palestinians. Illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank has increased massively under his long tenure in power and he has presided over numerous wars in Gaza. The new Minister of Security is Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the ultra-nationalistic Religious Zionist Party, which won 16 seats in the new 120-seat Knesset and now has the body’s third-largest presence. Ben-Gvir is an extremist who has been arrested dozens of times in the past decade for hate speech and hate crimes, for pulling a gun on unarmed Palestinians, and for physically attacking Palestinians. He bragged that he kept a framed photo of terrorist Baruch Goldstein on his living room wall. Goldstein massacred 29 Palestinians in a 1994 attack that became known as the Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre.
Moroccans support for Palestinians was exceptional during the World Cup matches. How do you evaluate the strong support for the Palestinian cause by the people of this North African country?
A: Moroccans celebrated their epic win against Spain with a Palestinian flag. This goes to show, I think, that the Palestinian cause is one embraced through the Arab World and North Africa. Palestinians are viewed as fighting for their historic liberation against a colonial oppressor (Israel) backed by the largest imperial power in the world, the U.S. The Palestinian people have endured great hardship and suffering and have more and more begun to arouse people’s sympathy around the world. Now Morocco maintains its own occupation of the Western Sahara that is oppressive, but that is another story.
Even other nations like Brazilians and Japanese expressed their disgust to Israelis. What message does it convey to the Zionist regime?
A: I think the disgust of many countries towards Israel is reflective that world public opinion has changed considerably on the Israel-Palestinian conflict over the last decade. Even many North American Jews are morally outraged by many of the excesses of right-wing Israeli governments who have trampled on Palestinian rights, committed many massacres in Gaza and tried to starve the Gazan people, and have instituted what many consider to be an apartheid state. Israel is beginning to become an international pariah like South Africa during the later phases of the apartheid era. The current Israeli government is an extreme one, with officials like Itamar Ben-Gvir who do not hide their hatred for the Palestinian people and openly support racist violence directed against them. This is not acceptable to many people in the 21st century and invokes horrors from other eras of history.
How Israel been successful in normalizing relationship with the certain Arab countries since August 2020?
A: In August 2020, Israel signed the historic Abraham Accords normalizing relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE in this agreement became the third country to normalize relations with Israel after Egypt and Jordan. Since the agreement was signed, Israel has bolstered its trading ties with the UAE. Israel has a dynamic economy and so countries see advantage in alliance with it. The UAE is also a strong U.S. ally like Egypt and Jordan. Israel is thus piggy-backing off U.S. foreign policy and cultivating alliances with pro-U.S. governments. These alliances benefit U.S. interests in the Middle East as the U.S. attempts to exert its hegemony there—and tries to isolate independent countries like Iran and Syria that have stood against imperial interference in the region and have in turn been subjected to brutal sanctions by the U.S. and covert regime change operations—which in Syria’s case resulted to a disastrous war that nearly destroyed the country.
How do you see the future of Israel-Arab world relationship?
A: I think that Israel will continued to cultivate alliances with regimes that ally with the U.S. and become more and more isolated and loathed in the rest of the Middle East and Arab World. Israeli politics are currently dominated by parties which adopt a hard-line approach towards the Palestinians and seek a “Greater Israel.” The more conciliatory and liberal elements in Israel have been marginalized. And so Israeli atrocities directed against the Palestinians will likely continue. The Israeli lobby remains dominant in U.S. politics and so the U.S. will likely continue to provide Israel with massive military support that enables its atrocities and violation of Palestinian rights. Israel has long functioned as a vital proxy for U.S. interests in the Middle East, which has in the past performed a lot of the dirty work for the U.S. (like removing Gamal Abdel Nasser by waging the Six Day War). So as long as the U.S. supports Israel militarily, it will feel emboldened to take a hard-line approach against the Palestinians and try and achieve a greater Israel and expand its territory—while trying to strike a blow at enemies like Iran and Syria.
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