The mirror of Israel

Israel has made us into powerless, helpless witnesses to genocide. This is a dreadful state for the generations that currently populate human history, a humiliating and degrading situation. Yet, for millions of us trying to save the dignity of this conscious community, this cruel game has brought a sense of solidarity, perhaps for the first time. Communities united for the same cause are trudging ahead while leaving behind a trace of dignity, though it may not be enough to prevent genocide, forced displacement, or the denial of justice.

Of course, it isn’t enough because, unfortunately, we live in a world poisoned by the capitalist doctrine that teaches individuals to rise only by stepping on others, embedding in their minds the idea that the ultimate purpose of life is to be richer, more privileged, and more powerful than others, making them serve you. This mindset builds upon religions that encourage seeing other communities as inferior, creating a soul-numbing fog. We resist until we are exhausted. We rebel until we grow weary. The culture of the modern age, which considers renunciation of desires and possessions as foolishness, surrounds our souls like thick mud. Moving, even breathing, requires great effort. It demands sweat and fatigue. It leaves no room for the courage to face what we don’t want to see or hear. It forces us to give up, to settle, to risk pain, and the greatest fear of today—boredom.

We are sometimes justified when we say, “We don’t have the power.” For many of us, living means finding our way through crushing mechanisms designed to protect the interests of a few. But on the other hand, to the extent that we have the capacity to shape our lives with our choices, we declare that we want to use that power differently. Yes, not everyone has the luxury of choice. And certainly, not always. But the power and choices of people united for dignifying, uplifting, satisfying, and liberation are incomparably greater than the sum of individual powers. If only the moral agony of watching genocide could heat up, boil over, and become so overwhelming that the world would collectively say “Stop” to the genocide that threatens to strip us of all the rights that make humans dignified beings.

The horrific work Israel is carrying out in Gaza, the West Bank, and southern Lebanon is not just a brutal blow to the concept of human dignity—indeed, to the very idea of humanity—it is also a step toward a world dominated by a system of tyranny where states kill each other's people, destroy cities, and seize lands. Unfortunately, in our country, the groups expected to be most vigilant, those expected to mobilize everyone, dismiss this development with a smug "American imperialism" attitude, believing they have everything figured out. But the destruction caused by this development is not something that can be repaired by patching a few cracks or little touch-ups here and there. The existence of international organizations like the United Nations, laws, rules, and customs—while often violated by the powerful—can be underestimated. But what isn’t realized is how disastrous their absence would be, how the powerful would turn into monsters, and how this wouldn’t be limited to just the most powerful; everyone who feels strong would start crushing the weaker ones nearby. This is the bleak future laid out by Israel’s current operations and the support and encouragement they receive from influential Western states in international relations. And the contours of this grim picture are becoming clearer with the implicit endorsement of Russia's bloody campaign to swallow Ukraine, as it becomes an everyday occurrence. If we don’t shake ourselves awake, if we don’t bring back, strengthen, and enforce the rules of coexistence that everyone must abide by, the responsibility for the erasure of concepts like justice, human dignity, equality, and freedom from the face of the earth will fall on the shoulders of all who have any power to change anything today.

Aren’t today’s powers responsible for all this? Yes, they are. But that’s not the whole story. Everyone who sees themselves as superior to others, who sees their community as superior to others, is complicit in the murder of the highest values humanity has reached, such as justice, human dignity, and equality. In today’s world, aren’t there those who secretly admire Israel? Haven’t we seen images of Israeli soldiers violating Palestinians' privacy before, in other places? In our own country, aren’t there those who, upon hearing certain key phrases, harbor fantasies of similar horrors as what Israel is doing, and feel frustrated that they can’t act on them? These are people who, together, will eventually destroy themselves but will be so intoxicated with the satisfaction of oppressing others that they won’t even notice the approach of their own doom. And their only skill is turning their hearts into stone during their short human lives, whereas nature requires much longer to create. We have plenty of such minds in our own land, counterparts to Israel's fascist leaders whose racist rhetoric shocks and horrifies us with its sheer cruelty.

Israel’s campaign of genocide, forced displacement, and ethnic cleansing is dragging not just the Middle East but the entire world toward destruction. The powerful Western states openly supporting and encouraging this operation are preparing the collapse of the global order that they largely helped build, an order that, however flawed, set some limits on international aggression. Just as neoliberalism erodes institutions within countries and turns rule-of-law-based democratic regimes into exploitation machines run at the whims of authoritarian governments, Israel’s state actions, declaring that it will not be held accountable for war crimes and will not respect any rules or the lives of others as long as it has power, threaten to dismantle the fragile checks and balances on a global scale.

Here lies the clue that might help us discard all the falsehoods, distorted consciousness, and delusional rants about history. Israel holds up a mirror to us, saying, "Look, see how all those glorious states you boast about, whose heroism you celebrate with pride, were founded. By entering the lands of other peoples, cutting down their olive trees, seizing their land, killing those who resisted, and destroying their cities... Whoever had the power, killed or displaced those who didn’t. They massacred and starved them to death. What are we doing today that you didn’t do back then? The only things different are our weapons.”

Humanity, the community of living beings we call "humanity," invented concepts like justice and law precisely in the hope of avoiding this condition. The concept of human dignity is the highest value that humans, as a species, can reach. Concepts of justice and equality belong to this same level. Those who crave privileges built by forcibly taking from others are betraying all of this.

What history, what past, leads us down which path? The mirror Israel holds reflects past tyrannies. It requires a choice from us.