Israel is conducting an experiment on the civilian population of Gaza. After years of military occupation, it is now carrying out warfare to test the state’s capacity to destroy housing and infrastructure, displace large numbers of people, deny shelter and sanitation, destroy hospitals and abduct medical staff, destroy civilians’ ability to return by declaring military no-go zones and setting up militarised road blocks.

Israel has also set out to destroy all places of culture, education and religion, prevent food to reach starving people, deny water or force the population to consume untreated water, bomb defenceless civilians and expose them to brutal attacks by special military forces, round up thousands and take prisoners to torture and extract forced confessions, release prisoners after enduring physical and mental abuse, close all access points to prevent anyone leaving, deny reporters access to document the genocide.

And despite committing all these genocidal acts, they are getting away with it, incurring no sanctions from any country, and continue getting weapons of mass destruction.

Governments who have declared themselves friends of Israel and who diplomatically and militarily stand with Benjamin Netanyahu‘s government work to undermine and criminalise any expression of solidarity and support for the people of Palestine by any individual, group or mass movement. They launch witch hunts against any politician, celebrity and public figure who shows solidarity with the besieged people of Palestine, sequester the funds of organisations and individuals showing solidarity with Palestine, take away the professional licenses of doctors, nurses and teachers who show support for Palestinians, raid the homes of people who organise support for Palestine or criticise Israel, spy on peoples’ social media to track anyone’s messages of support for Palestine, enlist the apparatus of the political parties to police their members, use the mass media to spread misinformation and propaganda, and hide their support for the genocide of the Palestinian people.

I argue that governments support Israel because they are afraid of their own people, their peoples’ solidarity with Palestinians and, ultimately, governments (dictatorships and ‘democracies’ alike) benefit from Israel’s use of brutal suppression of any independence and human rights.

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