A review by bookishkitkat
The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World by Antony Loewenstein
4.0
Super necessary book of you want to understand what the state of Israel and the Zionism project is really about. It is not about safety for Jewish people (as proved by the providing of weapons by Israeli defense companies to the anti Jewish government of Argentina). It is about occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and as we’re seeing in full scale today, the genocide of the indigenous Palestinian people. While so much of this book is important, I want to share two quotes that especially stood out to me.
“Every Palestinian is defined as a threat, and civil society actors are arguably seen by Israel as the most threatening because they could mobilize international support against the occupation.”
According to Israel, there are no innocent Palestinians. It is this logic that allows for Israeli lobbyists to campaign for the active silencing of Palestinian voices on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. (A silencing campaign that unfortunately seems to be working). Any Palestinian voice simply documenting injustice could be framed as ‘inciting terrorism.’ The hate speech and genocidal language coming from Israel’s government and it’s citizens? Unchecked.
This same logic is also what allows Israel’s government today to refer to innocent Palestinians in Gaza as simply ‘human shields’ and ‘collateral damage.’ They would never dare refer to Israeli citizens the same way, proving that Palestinians aren’t humans in their eye. The first step to genocide isn’t the killing, it’s the dehumanization, and we all let it happen.
“A catastrophic war between Israel, Iran, or Hizbollah could trigger an overwhelming argument within Israel that Palestinians, potentially protesting in support of their Arab brethren, are undermining the state’s integrity. An Israeli military operation might then be undertaken to ensure a mass exodus, with the prospect of Palestinians returning to their homes a remote possibility”
This book was published before October 7th, and it’s shockingly relevant today. For people who think that self defense is ethnic cleansing and genocide, you need to take a real look inside yourself.
“Every Palestinian is defined as a threat, and civil society actors are arguably seen by Israel as the most threatening because they could mobilize international support against the occupation.”
According to Israel, there are no innocent Palestinians. It is this logic that allows for Israeli lobbyists to campaign for the active silencing of Palestinian voices on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. (A silencing campaign that unfortunately seems to be working). Any Palestinian voice simply documenting injustice could be framed as ‘inciting terrorism.’ The hate speech and genocidal language coming from Israel’s government and it’s citizens? Unchecked.
This same logic is also what allows Israel’s government today to refer to innocent Palestinians in Gaza as simply ‘human shields’ and ‘collateral damage.’ They would never dare refer to Israeli citizens the same way, proving that Palestinians aren’t humans in their eye. The first step to genocide isn’t the killing, it’s the dehumanization, and we all let it happen.
“A catastrophic war between Israel, Iran, or Hizbollah could trigger an overwhelming argument within Israel that Palestinians, potentially protesting in support of their Arab brethren, are undermining the state’s integrity. An Israeli military operation might then be undertaken to ensure a mass exodus, with the prospect of Palestinians returning to their homes a remote possibility”
This book was published before October 7th, and it’s shockingly relevant today. For people who think that self defense is ethnic cleansing and genocide, you need to take a real look inside yourself.