In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included the possibility of new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan Heights (with Syria), Northern Israel/Southern Lebanon (with Hezbollah), with the Yemeni Houthis (at sea and in the air) and with Iran (now directly) all of which seemed a fair possibility back then and most of which have indeed eventuated. Israel has needed allies to help fend off some of the widening attacks, while Palestinians have had to place themselves at the mercy of the international community for humanitarian aid because Israel will spare them little of it while prosecuting what for all intents and purposes is a scorched earth war policy in Gaza. Other than Iran and its proxies/allies, no one is coming to the military rescue of Hamas or Palestinians in general. In other words, it is now a one-sided meting out of punishment on a largely defenseless population.
What I did not envision is what is happening on campuses in the US and around the world nearly seven months after the Hamas attack. The ensuring conflict has become a lightening rod and trigger not just for those disgusted by the events in Gaza but also for those who espouse a number of other grievances, including climate change, racism, global inequality, imperialism and colonialism, political corruption and even capitalism itself. In response, the Right labels them all “radicalised” commies and terrorist lovers because that is an easy way to introduce culture war themes into the mix rather than debate the complexities of what is happening in the Eastern Mediterranean. Apparently the war on Gaza is less about Israel and Palestine and more about a host of other (not all unrelated) things. The moment of friction that I wrote about recently has now come to American academe.
This has turned campus protests (and the coverage of them) into partisan events, with rightwing entities backing pro-Israeli demonstrators and leftwing and progressive forces, including those in the Democratic Party in the US, siding with the pro-Palestinian side. The protests include non-students as well as students, confirming what I wrote in the last post about outside agitators and infiltrators using the opportunity to advance their own agendas (which often go beyond the Israel/Palestine conflict). This includes Antifa and the old Occupy Wall Street crowd, now resurrecting old peeves (some well justified then and now) on the back of the Palestinian cause. For the US Right it is another way of showing how Democrats are soft on crime and Joe Biden is a doddering old fool while demonstrating that, like Republican Governors Abbot of Texas and DeSantis of Florida have done, you show strength by ordering cops to bash in heads of people wearing masks and keffiyeh–but not those waving Israel flags.
Unfortunately, this has lifted the scab on long-festering hatreds in many societies, including the US. Long dormant anti-semitism has been inflamed by Israel’s actions in Gaza, which however heinous the October 7 Hamas attacks were, are grossly disproportionate to them (including using starvation as a weapon), and are therefore a form of collective punishment that, if not genocidal in the strictest sense of the term, certainly seems to have ethnic cleansing as a purpose. Conversely, Islamophobia has been resurrected by the Political Right, including conservative Christians and Jews and an assortment of rightwing media outlets and political organisations. In the pro-Palestine protests there are now people who believe that the main problem are Jews rather than Zionists or the the State of Israel’s actions. In the pro-Israel camp there are people who believe the root cause of the conflict is Islam, Arabs or the both combined. Primordial hatreds have been resurrected and brought to the fray, which now encompasses pre-modern, modern and post-modern fault lines covering a broad spectrum of divisive issues.
Then there are those who are not quite sure who to hate more. Take for example representative Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA), who believes that all Muslims are potential terrorists and therefore should be deported from the US and Europe, but who on the other hand, when it comes to “the” Jews, well, there is that problem of their space lasers causing forest fires….
This is why I refer to this evolution as a metastasis of the conflict. It is malign in nature and it is spreading well beyond the original boundaries of the conflict qua disease. The pro-Palestinian protestors have degenerated in some places into glorification of Hamas’s atrocities and a Holocaust denying Jew hate fest. Likewise but in mirror fashion, pro-Israeli demonstrations rejoice at the civilian death toll in Gaza, paint all Muslims/Arabs as savages and call for their extermination as such. Neither is really interested in a legitimate “debate,” and both are using protests to stake antithetical claims. That is not good and does nothing to change minds, much less advance any peaceful resolution or long-term solution to the impasse in the Levant.
My alma mater, the University of Chicago, appears to have struck a good balance by allowing an encampment to be established on the central university mall but not on footpaths or in front of buildings. The university makes a distinction between free expression versus disruption, drawing the line when the former is used to justify the latter. It seems to be working so far, as the protests are loud but constrained when compared to other universities. That being said, MAGA frat boys have tried to storm the encampment, only to be repelled by the U Chicago police (as a private university U Chicago has its own accredited police force dating back to the 1960s). The rightwing frat guys have a history of racist antics and in this case appear to be less interested in supporting Israel than in scoring physical points against woke “commies.”
Other places that I have taught at, including the University of Arizona and University of South Florida, have descended into chaos, including the use of rubber bullets and tear gas to roust pro-Palestinian crowds. As for the University of Auckland, where I also taught, Students for Justice in Palestine (they dropped the “Peace” from their name a while ago) abandoned their attempts to set up an encampment when the University informed them that as a registered university club they would be in violation of university policy regarding club rules if they did so and therefore become liable for suspension, etc. They still have the freedom to conduct peaceful protests outside the main library on a daily basis, which is what they have agreed to do.
That is somewhat ironic– student protesters accepting the orders of their institutional masters when it comes to how to behave. Ah, the kiwi way! But where are the old “Minto” types of direct action these days? (Minto himself was down in Christchurch yesterday protesting National’s support for Israel, so at least that old dog still has some bark left in him). Is it true that today’s generation of NZ leftist activists have gone a bit soft? It is not for me to say since I am just a Trotteresque keyboarding observer these days, but the starch seems to have gone out of the current protester’s shirts when it comes to Israel and Palestine. On the other hand, when it comes to vaccinations, government mandates, Qanon and the Deep State, those on the NZ Right have shown in March 2022 how far they are willing to go in order to prove their points (and mettle). In fact now that I have mentioned them, given the attitudes of many on the NZ Right when it comes to Jews and Muslims, where might they stand when it comes to the Middle East? Perhaps Kyle Chapman or one of the Counterspin or Action Zealandia weirdos can enlighten us.
Let’s be clear on this. The Right demonstrate over matters that they feel affects them personally (like vaccines and mandates), but not over matters of solidarity with or concern for others. Their protests are about infringements on themselves, not on infringements not he rights of others. The Left, such as those involved in the student protests, demonstrate out of humanitarian concern for people that they do not even know, but whose basic humanity is under lethal siege. To be sure, there are the bad-intentioned actors among them who bring other agendas into the mix, but the motivations for Right versus Left protests are often quite different in origin.
That brings up a larger issue. Are not protests supposed to be disruptive? Much is said about the Vietnam War protests but what about the freedom marches in the US South that brought about the civil rights movement and eventually the Civil Rights Act? Were they not disruptive? What about the Springbok Tour protests? Did no good came from their disruptions? How about the Stonewall protests, which opened the way for gay rights in the US? What about general strikes? Are they not disruptive but have served to improve wage and working conditions for a multitude of employees? This the fundamental question that needs to be asked.
Instead, riot porn is the clickbait of the day.
That makes the coverage of the student protests pretty shabby. More emphasis is placed on the protection of property and supposed public order (even though the violence that has occurred has been confined to campuses) rather than on the original cause and the motivations of others now involved in the unfolding events. More time is spent on political blame-gaming than on considering whether divestment from companies doing business, especially military business, in or with Israel is a reasonable demand given what is unfolding in Gaza. In fact, few Western media outlets appear to have asked the basic question as to whether it is ethical for corporations, and the US and other governments for that matter, to do business with and sell weapons to Israel while it reduces the Gaza Strip to rubble. And when they do, the answer is always the same–“but what about Iran and the terrorists?”
In any event, I use the US examples as illustrative of the fact that the Israel/Palestine conflict has galvanised as well as polarised world opinion, creating an ideological vortex into which a number of causes and actors have been sucked into. This may well have a tornado-like effect on several political landscapes, including in Israel but especially in the US this election year, where not only the presidency and Congress undergo elections but also a multitude of State and local governments as well. How the protests evolve and end–if they do before November–may be critical to those election outcomes.
More broadly, the Israel/Palestine conflict is a malignant scabrous wound that may not be cauterised any time soon. In fact, regardless of the outcome of the war on the ground, it is doubtful that Israel will recover much diplomatic goodwill other than from its Western backers and the Arab oligarchies that side with it against Iran. Much like Russia with its invasion of Ukraine, the question Israelis have to ask themselves is “will we be better off for having prosecuted this war they way that we have?” If the answer is anything other than “yes” (and that would be delusional), then they have already lost. Israel’s supporters abroad need to understand this basic fact.
As I have written before, hypocrisy is the currency of diplomacy. But when governments like those of NZ, Australia, the UK and US mute their criticism of Israel with their “whataboutism” comparisons with Hamas and Iran, they lose all moral ground for chastising other States for their treatment of subject populations. Because in some liberal democracies, for all the talk about supporting a “rules-based” international order, when it comes to Israel the rules are made to be broken.
The student protests are a reminder of that.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Kyle Chapman & his ilk hate Jews & Muslims equally.
During the 1956 Suez Crisis, Britain & France won the physical war but were exposed as fading imperial powers, while Nasser of Egypt won the hearts & minds of de-colonisationists. Netanyahu is (barely) winning the tactical war against Hamas, but has already lost the strategic war of hearts & minds, this time on a global scale. It’s obvious that both Israel & Palestine aren’t vanishing anytime soon – bar a fatal heatwave or mega-tsunami – so a multi-lateral force would likely be the least worst needed to keep the geopolitical fires from spreading.
As for Iran, there are few if any good options to depose the Ayatollah regime & its loyalist clergy from outside, given the baggage of the CIA’s overthrow of Mossadegh in 1953. A successful Persian Spring by Iran’s public would be the ideal outcome, but also the hardest, given the strength & loyalty of the IRGC. Should Iranian rebels be secretly armed, as in Myanmar? Or maybe concocting a border war between the IRGC and the Afghan Taliban?
What we all agree on is that the centre can no longer hold, in the words of WB Yeats. And in the words of Antonio Gramsci: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” I might have said it before: WW3 may not be on the horizon, but a World Troubles may well be.
Thaks KR,
For that thoughtful comment. Anyone who can (correctly) quote Gramsci does well in my book. I think that it may well be the emerging Global South-led international order that may be the new that “cannot be born.” The problem is that what passes for charismatic men of destiny these days are people like Trump, Putin, Orban, Xi, Modi, maybe even Bukele and Milei, and in a weird NZ microcosmic sort of way, Seymour (as the tail that wags the NACTFirst dog. None represents a positive step forward but the concept of men of destiny never was meant to mean that it was inevitably a good thing (remember what Gramsci was surveying at the times the Notebooks and Letters were written).
In any event, as I wrote a few weeks ago, the moment of friction is upon us.
Hey, thanks for this really nice, well written article: both acknowledging the humanity of those who have been hurt, and the weird tangle of different motives (both pure and corrupted) on various sides.
With respect to the NZ protests being a bit soft…. I guess a question I would be asking is “In New Zealand, what are the demands of Pro-Palastinian protesters, and who are they demanding them from?”
In the US, there is a government which is actively providing weapons which are being used for genocide/ethnic cleansing/collective punishment (we will see what the exact judgement is in retrospect). Protesting and shaking things up in the US makes sense.
There’s also various EXTREMELY WEALTHY university endowment funds, which may (???) have investments in weapons.
In New Zealand?
No New Zealand Government is providing the IDF weapons. No NZ government is providing diplomatic cover, and a UN veto to the Israeli government. To my knowledge, NZ universities aren’t invested in Weapons (though… on that score I could be wrong).
Back in 2016, New Zealand co-sponsored a UN bill telling Israeli to knock off illegal settlements (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/israeli-ambassador-recalled-from-new-zealand-after-un-resolution/4KIOCK7VXXTAELI62QBAA5PT44/) .
I’m not saying that in the sense of “Oh, we are so great, we should get a pat on the back”, but more…. at this stage, I am unclear what Protesters (in NZ) would demand of their government regarding Israeli?
Send our military to intervene? Refuse to sell milk products? Go to the UN and tell Netanyahu he is very naughty boy (again)?
Unless we plan to cludge together a global alliance capable of getting the USA to pull support for the current Israeli government, I don’t really see any obvious moves here… aside from continuing to support the ICC and any remaining Journalism.
AJL,
Thanks for joining the discussion. It may be the case that NZ universities are not invested in Israel–I do not know what the status is in that regard–but NZ has significant defence and intelligence relationships with Israel. The high tech firm Rakon makes guidance systems for Israeli missiles (and presumably other things), and our intelligence services are closely connected to Israeli intelligence when it comes to the Middle East, terrorism, etc.. So NZ is not as neutral or benign when it comes to Israel as one might think.
The NZ government could review all export licenses to Israel under the “sensitive export” category and look to any NZ-Israel commercial partnerships with an eye to ensuring that there is no NZ money tied up in activities that are connected to the IDF or which violate the rights of Palestinians (say, in terms of labour rights as codified by the ILO). There may be relatively few but that could be a place where to put pressure, using commercial and customer concerns as leverage. And of course the government could move to expell Israeli diplomats, but this government surely will not and it seems to be in my opinion a case of hitting a nail with a sledgehammer. Best to use a scalpel.
Kumara Republic, your comparison to the Suez Crisis is apt and perfectly stated. Also, if regime change is possible in Gaza, Israel will face the same issues the U.S. and coalition forces did in Iraq and Afghanistan. The absence of a viable replacement government and state is an intractable issue.
Otherwise, I am surprised by the degree to which the Israelis ignored and gave ground to Hamas in the propaganda stakes. Hamas declined a cease-fire offer involving swapping hostages for their jailed terrorists, which slipped under the radar.
Strategically, the Israeli Defence Force levelling city blocks in Gaza plays a role in turning global opinion against them. Tactically and operationally, they are likely ignoring the old Hamas’ underground tunnels problem and creating rubble/concealment for any Palestinians who pick up an AK-47.
Luke Herbert: Netanyahu is known to have wilfully boosted Hamas, in a move of Machiavellian useful idiocy to keep the Palestinians too divided to have a nation of their own. And what happens? It all blows up in Bibi’s face, and soon enough, his political career and maybe even Likudnik expansionism itself.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-years-netanyahu-propped-up-hamas-now-its-blown-up-in-our-faces/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/middleeast/israel-qatar-money-prop-up-hamas.html