Since the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11 by an Israeli sniper in Jenin, many of us have thought of other Americans Israel has killed with no consequences. Rachel Corrie, of course, in 2003 — no one in the Israeli force was ever held to account. Just last January, Omar Assad, a 78-year-old American, was blindfolded, handcuffed, and killed by Israeli forces at a West Bank checkpoint, with a slap on the wrist for the officers who directed the attack. And 55 years ago, 34 crewmen on the USS Liberty were killed by an Israeli air attack in the Mediterranean– and Lyndon Johnson simply accepted it as the price of maintaining the “special relationship” with Israel.
And still we hope the narrative will be different this time! CNN and AP and Bellingcat have all done forensic investigations of the popular journalist’s killing showing that an Israeli sniper shot her — there were no “clashes,” as Israeli propagandists maintain, just seven shots aimed at Shireen’s head. Some 57 congresspeople, supported by liberal Zionist organizations, have urged the U.S. to investigate the killing, and though the State Department has refused to do so, claiming that the Israelis can do it fine on their own, Tony Blinken has been pushing the Israelis for an accounting.
The truth is that there is simply no will in Israeli society to follow through. It really is the Jewish state, where Jews are sovereign and Palestinians are at best second class citizens. Holding anyone to account for Abu Akleh’s killing would cause a political crisis for a rightwing government that tries to hold on to power by promoting “replacement theory” conspiracies — the Defense Minister lately saying Arabs are planning to take over the country and reduce Jews to a small stretch of land on the sea. The crazed Defense Minister’s political opponents are just as depraved: a high official of the Likud party just gave a speech threatening Palestinians with “another Nakba” if they dare to fly their flag.
The real miracle of Israel continues to be the fact that Americans don’t know anything about that minister’s speech. No, we are sold a dreamcastle vision of a militantly ethnonationalist society.
I’m proud that we’re doing our part at Mondoweiss to break the spell, by telling the truth. Read Jonathan Ofir’s exposes of those hateful speeches. Read Yumna Patel’s coverage of Israel’s annual flag march through Jerusalem for mobs of Jews to shout “Death to Arabs.” Read about the 83 Congresspeople who are protesting Israel’s latest ethnic cleansing in the West Bank. And read about the Connecticut company that produced the gun that killed Shireen Abu Akleh and now faces activist protest.
Some Americans are catching a clue. Let’s build that movement!
