Gaza’s Genocide: The shattering of mainstream myths about Israel, Arabs & the West
In the wake of the recent seismic events emanating from Palestine, a reckoning is in order. "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation, and the subsequent Israeli live-streaming genocide in Gaza, have shattered long-standing myths, dismantled conventional wisdom, and confronted us with the chilling realities of power politics and systemic hypocrisy. They defy misleading narratives that have long been taken as gospel: the supposedly diminishing relevance of the Palestinian cause, the myth of Israel's invincible military might, and the vacuous claim of the West as the self-appointed guardian of human rights and international law.
As the Israeli genocide in Gaza unfolds and global public awareness is becoming increasingly acute, it is becoming clearer that the myths surrounding the colonial conflict in Palestine serve not as guides to understanding, but as barriers. These myths, perpetuated by pro-Israel propagandists, Western powers, and Arab regimes have had dire consequences – ones measured in lost lives, crushed hopes, and a perpetually destabilised region. Now is the moment to dismantle them, delve into their genesis, and unveil the disquieting realities they have served to mask.
Undermining Palestinian struggle
For over a decade, mainstream commentators and policymakers have relegated the Palestinian cause to the periphery of Middle East geopolitics. As regional power competition among players like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey rise in prominence, and as issues like civil wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya dominated headlines, the Palestinian struggle has often been viewed as an anachronistic sideshow – important for symbolic reasons, perhaps, but less so for practical geopolitical calculations.
This false perception has been reinforced by the deliberate actions of some Arab regimes to distance themselves from the Palestinian struggle. The United Arab Emirates in particular, along with other signatories of the Abraham Accords, stands as a stark example. By normalising relations with Israel, these regimes conveyed a political message that Palestine was no longer central to the Arab agenda or to peace in the Middle East. Add to that the complicity of the Palestinian Authority; a corrupt body that often serves to enforce Israel's agenda. Its passivity and governance failures have inadvertently fortified the myth of the irrelevance of the Palestinian struggle, cementing its status as an institutional obstacle rather than a representative body.
