Weapons to Israel and the upholding of false narratives

Ramona Wadi 

The settler-colonial state's imperialist allies have exhausted all perfunctory rhetoric of alleged concern in their futile attempt to ward off outrage at the obscene support for Israel's ongoing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza. Ensuring no doubt remains regarding the maintenance of such depravity, Operation Protective Edge has also been marked by increased military and defence aid to Israel. The deals, however, were shrouded in rhetoric that attempted to justify murder in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian resistance factions. Israel, on the other hand, expressed the usual gratitude by emphasising "difficult conditions" wrought precisely by their annihilation ambitions in Gaza.

Quoted in Reuters, German Chancellor Angela Merkel asserted allegiance to Israel while evoking the necessity of compromise. "Both sides must accept painful compromises but we stand on the side of Israel when it comes to self-defence." The rigmarole was apparently justified by the observation that Hamas's military capability has increased since the last extermination attempt upon Palestinians in Gaza. Rockets as far-reaching as Tel-Aviv are a source of "concern" – presumably Israel's inflicted "collateral damage" in the form of dismembered bodies, the ruptured skulls of children and melted, disfigured bodies of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, is acceptable, perhaps a sliver of the "painful compromise" that Merkel is advocating for in order to support the illegal existence of the settler-colonial state.

Only prior to Operation Protective Edge, Germany sold Tanin submarines to Israel. According to Israel Defence, the negotiations carried out in Berlin last February by Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon included the sale of three vessels, with the remaining two expected in 2015 and 2017.

The US, meanwhile upholds its consistent approach towards fomenting the escalation of atrocities in Gaza, citing the immorality of placing weapons in civilian areas following the alleged discovery of rockets inside UN premises in Gaza. In her address to the UN Security Council meeting, US Ambassador Samantha Power quoted Barack Obama's misguided statement: "no nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunnelling into its territory."

The statement is flawed on various accounts. Since the foundations of Israel amount to nothing but fabricated memory, assertions of Israel as a nation verge on the mythical, deriving support from the ruthless UN that endorsed its existence. Refuting Israel's legitimacy renders discussions of territory and borders even vaguer. Israel's abhorrence for territorial borders is proof of settler-colonial expansion over the authentic territory that is Palestine. If the Palestinian resistance is able to utilise tunnels to further liberation, it is therefore utilising its own territory, irrespective of what imperialist interpretations of legitimacy decide to the detriment of the indigenous population.

However, statements such as Obama's and Merkel's are of strategic importance in order to condone and provide additional support for the colossal impact of military and defence aid to Israel. Amidst the extremities of advocating for Israel's "right to defend itself" and diplomatic gibberish, the US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee voted to double Israel's $175 million funding to expand the Iron Dome Programme in 2015. Credited with the protection of Israeli "civilians" from Hamas rockets, the news provides a boost to the violent entity's massacre which has been widely endorsed internationally, either through outright agreement or complicit silence.

Iron Dome has proved to be a major promotional asset for Israel. In the current scenario, rhetoric concerning the exalted defence system aids US and Israel in misrepresenting Protective Edge as a security endeavour rather than an escalating annihilation of Palestinians. However, the system's merits have been recently disputed, with Israeli defence specialists claiming a lesser rocket interception rate from 90% to 5%. In an op-ed published in Haaretz yesterday, Israeli defence and aerospace engineer Dr Moti Shefer is paraphrased succinctly with the following: "Iron Dome is a bluff. It doesn't intercept anything but rather invents virtual rockets." If this premise is proven true, Iron Dome propaganda will have served its hypocritical purpose well – that of detracting attention from the $3billion military aid which the US is committed to granting Israel annually in order to maintain an imperialist hegemony in the region.

On July 9, 2014, Defense Update published an article detailing the delivery of two M-346 Lavi advanced trainer aircraft, produced by the Italian Company Alenia Aermacchi for the Israeli Air Force. Within the biased and warped narrative given to Protective Edge, the article charts the flight to Israel "over the Mediterranean sea and passed through the crowded Israeli airspace, risking Palestinian rockets and Israeli 'Iron Dome' interceptors fired against the Palestinian rockets." Alenia Aermacchi is also contracted by the Israeli Ministry of Defence to deliver 30 aircrafts by the end of 2016. The contract, signed in 2012, is worth approximately $850million.

In a statement following the aircraft delivery, Hatzerim Base Commander Colonel Tal Kalman lauded Italy as a true partner of Israel. "We appreciate the Italian commitment to deliver the aircraft on time, despite the difficult conditions imposed by 'Operation Protective Edge', it shows we have true partners in Italy." The attempt at heroic discourse is also evident in the emphasis of defence as opposed to training in order to advance colonial violence. Kalman declared, "These aircraft will become the instrumental platform training the pilots that will be defending our nation in the future."

Meanwhile, despite the massive discrepancy between massacres and legitimate resistance against settler-colonial atrocities, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon displays a resilient impudence in deconstructing Palestinian resistance, by speaking of "sides" and exaggerating the mild repercussions of Hamas rockets on "Israeli civilian targets", which should be properly read as a reference to the willingly-complicit settler-population. Ki-Moon adds that he finds "abhorring the images of Israeli families hovering in shelters" and urges "Israeli and Palestinian families alike to feel a sense of peace". What the UN Secretary General thinks of the congregation of settlers witnessing the Israeli bombing from the safety of Sderot is unknown. However, given the expressed sentiment, the promulgation of violence from Zionists should prove extremely comforting to the imperialist organisation, given its constant advocacy for bloodshed in order to sustain its depraved existence.