Us and our long ... very long wait
https://arab.news/vcchk
I do not doubt, not for a moment, that terror and pain are grinding the displaced who are overwhelmed by fear for the future in both Lebanon and Palestine.
It is obvious that their nightmare is perpetuated by the absence of even a glimmer of hope for a collective Arab initiative that yields results, a sudden “change of heart” engendered by a guilty conscience in Israel that puts an end to its expansionist rampage, or responsible global action that turns the page on the world’s explicit collusion in these broadening crimes.
Given the current balance of power, the US is certainly the only force capable of preventing the aggravation of this calamity. However, we will remain hostage to the presidential race until the election in November — a race the Arabs have not adequately invested in for decades.
Indeed, we Arabs have come to realize that, in American political life, candidates disavow us as the retired chase us. History shows that being associated with Arabs or their concerns is either “forbidden” or “suicidal.”
On the other hand, after the politicians — whose eyes and ears were wide open — pack their bags and go back to their private lives away from power, we suddenly see them “sympathize” with our “just” causes in pursuit of consultancies or membership in lobbies that defend vested interests.
What sort of Middle East does Netanyahu, who now enjoys absolute and unconditional Western support, have in mind?
Eyad Abu Shakra
On top of that, I clearly recall, as do many others who lived through the Cold War era, that “maintaining the military balance in the Middle East” had long been the pretext for supplying Israel with the most advanced weapons and flooding it with financial support.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, however, the pretext changed. They shifted to a more honest and straightforward pretext without batting an eye: “maintaining Israel’s strategic superiority.” That is what we are confronted with now as questions about the future accumulate.
How will we deal with an Israel that is not only superior but also negationist of others? After everything that has happened, will we see an end to Israel’s destructive military operations that have displaced so many?
Moreover, what sort of Middle East does Benjamin Netanyahu, who now enjoys absolute and unconditional Western support, have in mind? What kinds of calculated plans are being prepared for the people of the Middle East without their knowledge? And what deals are currently being finalized, after these waves of assassinations, displacement and destruction?
More precisely — and this is a valid question in my humble opinion — what would American (and by extension Israeli) “coexistence” with a defanged and declawed, but still nuclear, oil-rich and populous Iran look like?
And finally, what impact will next month’s American election have on this coexistence?
We hear — and we can choose to believe this or not — that Israel’s leadership is in an ecstatic, triumphalist mood following its recent achievements in Lebanon and that it intends to strike Iranian nuclear facilities or infrastructure. We also hear that Joe Biden has reservations about this pursuit of blackmail/retribution, but I doubt that many will listen to an American president who is about to leave office.
On the other hand, Biden’s Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, has shown enthusiasm for escalation against the “mullahs of Tehran,” hoping to improve his standing within the Israeli lobby on the eve of the November election.
In truth, one could argue that no American president has given more to the Israeli right within the span of four years than Trump. Nevertheless, Jewish voters in the US are too smart to be deceived by “gifts” — both those delivered and those that were promised — from a white right-wing Christian leader whose violent political rhetoric invokes all the ghosts of Christian Europe’s historical hostility to Jews.
It is true that the Israeli right is very comfortable with brandishing antisemitism accusations to blackmail anyone who dares stand against its political extremism. However, it is also true that even American Jewish leaders are gravely concerned by the rise of Christian white nationalism within the Make America Great Again movement.
American Jewish leaders are gravely concerned by the rise of Christian white nationalism within the MAGA movement
Eyad Abu Shakra
Moreover, what is true of Trump’s America is also true of Europe these days. Europe is confidently rehabilitating its ultranationalist and supremacist movements, whose predecessors had fueled fear, grievance and persecution among Jews ... from the Spanish Inquisition to the Russian pogroms and the Nazi German Holocaust.
It is also true, however, that since Israel was founded in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world, Jewish people have been fearful and apprehensive about the rise of Islamist rhetoric. This development, I believe, goes against the institutional nature of the culture of antisemitism, which was born in Christian Europe and that Jews, like Muslims, had clashed with.
To illustrate this, we can point to the mutual displacement of Muslims and Jews following the Reconquista and the Spanish Inquisition, which drove Jewish communities to settle across North Africa. We can also point to the status and privilege that Jews who lived in Iraq, Egypt and the Levant enjoyed before 1948.
Regardless, as conflicting interests and interventions accumulate, the collective political memory weakens. As the number of those who lived through these periods decreases, it becomes easier to accept false assumptions, the peddling of illusions thrives and the forgery of history and manipulation of geography become more widespread.
That is what we are dealing with now. A crucial epoch of our history, as well as the borders of our countries and the destinies of our peoples, are being stolen from us right before our eyes, through religious “justifications” or mystical slogans.
Until we find, in our minds and souls, the capacity to put an end to this collapse, the wait for the end of the nightmare will be long … very long indeed.
- Eyad Abu Shakra is managing editor of Asharq Al-Awsat. X: @eyad1949
This article first appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat.
