Nationalism and its Discontents
Pursuant to the creation of Pakistan in 1947 and Israel in 1948
Distinct from civic pride and patriotism, fervent nationalism is implicated in territorial conflicts rooted in religious feuds and ethnic differences. It stokes wars, politically destabilizing events, refugee crises and the absurdity of statelessness.
On an inconsequential note, did you know that Vermont was once a separate country?
My intent is to provide commentary on nationalism and its discontents: the comings and goings of nation states; how Fascism and nationalism interrelate; why patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Such worthy topics would fill a library if given their due and I’m not up to that. So today, the inaugural edition of Waive Your Flag features two observations, one short, and another longer one contributed by someone other than myself.
Muslims and Hindis had lived side by side for millennia. The pointless victimhood of innocent millions condemned to suffer for the sake of nationalist pride
Partition refugees, 1947. Credit: Wikimedia. Until I read Vaseem Khan’s outstanding historical mystery, Midnight at Malabar House I knew nothing about the horrendous partition of India in 1947. August 14 of that year birthed India’s independence from Britain, the creation of Pakistan and with that the onset of decades-long trauma for millions of people. It was women who suffered most from the unnecessary physical dislocation, much entailing brutal violence, rape and murder. Advised against the partition by Mohandas Gandhi, the ill conceived Partition caused infuriating uncertainties entailing pain, distress, tumultuousness, disarray and mayhem, all of it avoidable. Read Khan’s book.
Weaponizing vulnerability by low and high technology means
Courtesy of Nurit Steinfeld’s Jerusalem Diary:
Technological advances in weapons makes it easier to destroy and kill with minimal loses to the perpetrator: drones, smart bombs, etc. Israel is very proficient with these advanced weapons and before this war there was talk of reducing the size of the army because of technological capabilities. In Amos Oz’s book, Tale of Light and Darkness, the hero , a Jewish child in Mandatory Palestine, thinks about the discovery of the atom bomb which he imagines is a method of turning a drop of water into a deadly weapon. It is a poignant expression of a helpless, frightened person who dreams of some invention that would make his people powerful and protected. Imagine what the fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto could have done with a few of those drones Israel now has.
One of Israel’s favorite uses of very smart drones is to kill important leaders of the enemy. Israeli leaders blame them for attacks and “punish” (kill) them in clever ways. I can’t judge how effective this method is but I have heard generals interviewed in the media saying that it is not, just as the death of one of our generals would not really affect the functioning of the army. But in any case, we Israelis have achieved our aspiration for building a smart and strong army to protect us. The problem is that it has not done that.
The attack on Oct. 7 was “low tech”: the fence Israel built at the cost of $450,000,000 in 2021, that included all sorts of sophisticated gadgets, was opened with explosives and bulldozers. A detailed description of the fence and how it was broken can be found in the link to an article from Oct. 10 in the Washington Post.
After breaking through the fence in a number of places, hundreds of Hamas fighters and other residents of Gaza entered Israel on motorcycles, on foot and a few jeeps. Once inside they raped, murdered, kidnapped, burned, vandalized, stole and burned, just like warriors in the middle ages. From films, I have the impression that the Vikings did things like that when they attacked. I read that some of these actions are meant to prevent the victims from reaching heaven, such as the notion, in Islam, that an unmarried woman who is not a virgin cannot enter heaven, thus this cruelty is intended to last in the afterlife for eternity, also a medieval notion and tactic. Apparently there is also some significance to decapitation in the fundamentalist Islamic belief system. So medieval ideas and methods were salient in this attack.
I can’t say about the afterlife, but certainly we know from our horrific experience that these methods of “combat”, the attacking of innocent, unprepared and undefended civilians, women and children, the elderly, etc. breaks the spirit and wounds the soul in ways that may not be repaired. We are not only dead and wounded, we, all of us, even those who did not directly experience the attack, are profoundly humiliated.
In an interview in Haaretz published on April 4, Shlomi Eldar reports on an interview with Abu Ziad, a prominent resident of Gaza who describes the belief held by Hamas that they would conquer all of Israel and planned to divide control of the country. I have no way of exploring what Hamas leaders thought and planned but from my perspective the attack on Oct. 7 was a deliberate provocation designed to elicit the most deadly, hysterical response Israel could make. Such an an attack would result in thousands of victims. Especially since no protection for civilians was ever built in Gaza despite frequent rocket attacks over the years. No shelters, no emergency plans, nothing. There were only the tunnels where Hamas leaders and operatives could be protected and nobody else was allowed into them.
Thus, the thousands of dead and wounded, the destruction of everything in Gaza, the infrastructure, the hospitals, schools, etc. created a huge humanitarian crisis. This crisis is Hamas’ greatest weapon: victimhood. The immediate demonstrations and internet activity, even on Oct. 8, are clearly the product of previous planning. While no protection for the people of Gaza was prepared, a public relations network and propaganda were right in place immediately following the attack. Yes, occasionally a more advanced rocket is launched at Israel and perhaps they have some more advanced weapons but the main technological advances used by Hamas are related to media.
Weakness and vulnerability, victimhood, are the most effective weapon against us. The development of social media and the camera can now bring everything that happens into every home in the world. Years ago, when cell phones with cameras were still new, one of the Israeli women in Machsomewhatch, a group I was active in, photographed an incident at a checkpoint in which a young Palestinian man who carried a violin was forced by the sneering soldiers to play it. This young man was not proficient in the violin, he was a beginner, so his humiliation was intensified. The incident was reminiscent of the Holocaust for many Israelis so there were many disgusted reactions to the photograph when it was posted on social media. A music school in the Galilee offered the young man free instruction on the violin which he accepted despite the objections of many in his community. At that time an advertisement for iPhone featured this photo with the caption “see what you can do with an iPhone?”.
It was around that time that human rights organizations supplied cameras to Palestinians in the West Bank so that they could photograph the abuse and humiliation they endured. With the development and accessibility of technology such tactics for resisting Israeli control were very effective in gathering support from people who live in western countries and claim to support equality and democracy.
The arena has expanded. Military sophistication and power are no longer sufficient for maintaining control of occupied populations, at least not if one is a small Jewish country surrounded by enemies. Apparently if you are India, China, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Iran and your government kills thousands of people, nobody gets excited. The victims of those countries do not have a sophisticated media network as Hamas does and I guess not many people have ever heard of the various victimized ethnic groups although everybody has heard about those who tried to revolt against these governments during the Arab Spring. I did not hear of solidarity demonstrations for any of the hundreds of thousands massacred, wounded, raped, interned in prisons, etc. in those countries.
It seems to me that Israel is most hated for being sophisticated and militarily powerful and the Palestinians championed because they are weak and suffering. Many believe that the State of Israel would not have been founded had it not been for the Holocaust that decimated millions of Jews and left the survivors weak and defenseless. The world was shamed into allowing Israel to exist. Instead of remaining pitiful and needy, Israel developed into a smug, powerful, economic and military entity. So after 76 years of existence Israel does not get sympathy, even when 1500 innocent people who live within the 1967 borders are brutally attacked and hundreds kidnapped.
When I look at social media it seems to me that the Palestinians are jealous of the Jewish Holocaust. They often make fun of Jewish victimhood and claim they are the “real”victims. They call Israel a Nazi entity and post photos of the Holocaust alongside photos of Palestinian victims. We get a lot of photos of crying mothers and dead babies. I don’t want to belittle the tragedy the Palestinians but it is the way they use it that is significant. It is their greatest and most successful weapon.
It is also noteworthy that the Palestinian rehabilitation has not taken place, despite billions invested in their welfare. If the Palestinians had indeed built another Singapore in Gaza they could no longer be the pitiful victims the world cares so much about.
They saw that after the Holocaust we got our State. Why is it that so many Arabs, especially Palestinians deny the Holocaust ever occurred? Because it justifies our need for our own country? Is that why they want a huge tragedy of their own? So far this tactic has encouraged a number of countries to recognize a Palestinian State, despite doubts about the existence of capable leadership or any viable plan.
As many in Israel have stated recently, we have already lost this war because we have suffered an unprecedented attack, Hamas still holds our hostages, every day we lose more soldiers and we are losing our international support.
Maybe Israel should have invested all that money used to purchase and build weapons into improving Palestinians’ lives. Perhaps it is worthwhile for us to invest in their prosperity and well being. I realize it is not simple given all the interests in maintaining their wretched conditions but I believe it is worth a try. In many ways, being kind and generous requires more bravery than warfare. It also requires that we in Israel grow up, take responsibility for our part in this catastrophe even if Hamas doesn’t do the same.
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