The Plan All Along

Israel invaded Gaza in the fall of 2023. It was widely viewed as retaliation for October 7th. But it was always about something else. Very early on, prophetic voices warned that extremists in the Israeli government would seize on October 7th as the perfect pretext to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip. Under cover of another Middle Eastern “war on terror,” they could, as a top Netanyahu aide put it, “thin out the Palestinian population.” A defense department white paper soon appeared, detailing a plan to “empty out” the population of Gaza, and drive them into massive tent cities in the Egyptian desert. When I raised alarms about this plan in an op-ed for the Raleigh News and Observer in late October 2023, the editors cut it. When I asked why, they said it was “far-fetched and extremely unlikely.” Yet, as predicted, here we are. Prime Minister and indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, and fascist Finance Minister and War Cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich are remarkably candid about their intentions: they will totally destroy Gaza so “there is nothing left for the Palestinians to come back to.” A recent +972 article (https://www.972mag.com/israel-gaza-total-urban-destruction/) documents Israeli soldiers are currently carrying out the systematic destruction of every building in northern Gaza down to the sands. Khan Younis and central Gaza is next, and Israel will continue its deliberate plan to kill thousands of Palestinians through airstrikes, starvation, and intentionally depriving the people of medical care. Then, Israel will ghettoize the remaining Palestinians in a huge “concentration camp” in Rafah. These are their clearly-stated intentions.

A United Nations Commission of Experts defined “ethnic cleansing” as “a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means another ethnic or religious group from certain geographical areas.” The coercive practices used in ethnic cleansing campaigns include “murder, torture, extrajudicial executions, forcible displacement of civilians, arbitrary arrests and detentions, attacks on hospitals and medical personnel, destruction of property” – all of which, and more, Israel has employed in Gaza. When you see that ethnic cleansing is what Israel had in mind all along, it casts a searing light on all the so-called justifications for the slaughter. From this vantage point, much of the talk about October 7th, the “war on terror,” “the right of self-defense,” “the return of the hostages,” and “defeating Hamas” appears to be nothing but smoke and mirrors blinding us to the real plan - ethnically cleansing the Gaza Strip.

The heartbreaking truth is that the courageous Palestinian resistance movement, and its advocates for Palestinian human rights and liberation around the country and across the world, have not been able thus far to stop Israel from carrying out the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. It’s soul-shattering to see suffering that is “beyond description,” and witness it being carried out with impunity, day after day, and to know that the scars will run deep and last for generations. Clearly, we must continue to demand a permanent ceasefire, massive unimpeded humanitarian aid, a total arms embargo on Israel, and the release of all the captives. And if months from now, we are still demanding the same things, and Israel is drawing closer to competing its evil plan, then what? At that time, we will insist that Israel’s savagery has cost it dearly within the family of nations. It may yet achieve its detestable goal of ethnically cleansing Gaza, but it will have sealed its fate as a pariah nation. Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has argued that the Zionist project in Palestine has two pillars – the military, economic, and political power to achieve its aims, and the moral foundation of the project. The first pillar has been, and remains, powerful, but the second pillar, its moral legitimacy in the eyes of the nations, is vanishing before our eyes.