By Hossam Shaker

Israel has something it would like to say to the world. Now that the Palestinians have been angered once again and the period of calmness has ended, Israel wants to tell the world that the tension and clashes that have been occurring over the past few weeks have been motivated by a deep-seated hatred of Jews. That is basically all the Jewish state wants us to know.

Israeli propaganda does not reveal the actual reasons for all of this Palestinian anger and aggression, and it does not dare to use terms such as “military occupation” or “settlement expansion”. It also typically refrains from using important terms such as “Palestine” or “Palestinian people”, as such terms are illogical in Israeli discourse – there is simply no such thing as Palestine or Palestinians, merely unruly subjects of the settler-colonial Israeli project.

What Israel wants to say to the world today is that those very same “Palestinians” should shower the occupation forces with flowers and send out greeting cards to those who have stolen their land and fields, and that the long lines of Palestinians should smile at the occupation forces and the humiliating military checkpoints that have fragmented the West Bank. Israel also wants to proclaim that Arab Jerusalemites should open the doors of Al-Aqsa Mosque every morning and welcome the provocative stormings of those who are dreaming of the mosque’s destruction, while the people of Hebron should not miss a chance to take selfies with the closest armed settler who acts as if he is entitled to the land.

What we are to understand from Israeli propaganda is that life under Israeli military rule is heaven on Earth and that the Palestinians should enjoy this ideal opportunity to bask in the glory that is Israel, the “only democracy in the Middle East”.

Some in Europe do not hesitate to pass on Israel’s messages, as they redistribute them to the masses in their local languages. These people still talk about the “benefits” of the occupation government even during the era of live broadcasting and social media. However, would they want to live in the shadow of a depressing grey wall or near a settlement of people who despise your very existence and who are claiming to own your land?

Some people in Europe defend Israel’s military occupation and settlement expansion, and they speak out in the media on behalf of radical settlers who carried out the armed robbery of the Palestinians’ land and territory, stealing it from its rightful owners because they believe they are above everyone else.

Those promoting Israeli propaganda must answer this question: Would they enjoy living under military occupation, oppression and Apartheid, deprived of their basic rights of self-determination, independence and sovereignty over their land and resources?

The Israeli government has pushed the current situation to the brink; they have sparked the anger of the Palestinians with their policies, the actions of their forces and their intimidation of the Palestinian people. They can no long extinguish this anger with more mass executions, intimidation campaigns and torture. And still Netanyahu has the audacity to claim that it was not Hitler who wanted to exterminate the Jews but that it was the Palestinians, once again, who were behind all the evil in the world.

– This article was first published in Middle East Monitor.