There is a German word for what is being proposed – Judenrein or today Arabrein
There is nothing new in Donald Trump and
Netanyahu’s plans for the ‘evacuation’ of the Palestinians from Gaza. The
Nazis’ devoted much time and energy to a similar ‘problem’.
From 1939 onwards hundreds of
thousands of Jews, Poles and Gypsies, were
preventing the Warthegau, that
part of Poland which was conquered and incorporated into Greater Germany, being
settled with German colonists. Most of them were expelled to the Generalgouvernment,
that part of Poland into which they intended to pour all the racial ‘mush’
(Himmler).
Volksdeutsche of Łódź greeting German cavalry
in 1939
The Nazis managed, with difficulty,
to resettle half a million Volksdeutsche in their place just as
Israel hopes to settle Jews in Gaza.
Hans Frank
Many were the conflicts within the
Nazi bureaucracy between the Gauleiter Arthur Greiser
and the Governor-General of the Generalgouvernment, Hans Frank. For those who are interested in
Nazi resettlement policies you can read Christopher Browning’s article on Nazi
resettlement policies.
Arthur Greiser
It was only when the Nazi plans for
the resettlement of the Jews to the East were thwarted that they turned to
extermination. So it is with Gaza, except that the Zionists reversed the
process, first they began the extermination process and only then turned to expulsion.
Palestinian journalists demonstrate outside the Palestinian Authority against the banning of media
Yet despite this that pathetic poodle
of US imperialism, Keir Starmer and his contemptible fool of a Foreign
Secretary, David Lammy, could not bring themselves to criticise Trump. As the
Guardian’s Peter Walker put it, ‘Prime minister and colleagues use political
code to push back at proposal without directly criticising US president.’
Even
Ed Davey of the Lib Dems criticised the loathsome Trump whilst pushing for the
resurrection of that old lame duck, the two-state solution. Starmer has built
his career on slavish loyalty to the American Empire and Trump is not going to
stop him.
Starmer
told us how he was ‘moved’ by the image of Emily
Damari, the Israeli hostage who was reunited with her family. The images of
Palestinian hostages, who had been starved, beaten and tortured, did not make
any impression on this apology for a human being. However it is doubtful that anything
could move Starmer apart from a subsidy from one of his millionaire friends
towards his wardrobe.
When
Israel was established as a ‘Jewish’ State it fabricated a
narrative that the Palestinian refugees had run away, on orders from the Arab
regimes, despite pleas from the Zionists to stay. This was comprehensively
debunked, first by Erskine Childers
and Rashid Khalidi
and then Israeli historians Benny Morris and Ilan Pappe.
I
was brought up to believe this nonsense.
Israel had closed its archives and even reclassified documents that had
been released in order to hide the truth. [see Burying the Nakba: How
Israel Systematically Hides Evidence of 1948 Expulsion of Arabs].
Benny Morris explained that ‘Defense Ministry officials
apparently hope their actions will raise doubts about the conclusions and
credibility of various scholars.’ This enabled people
like Israel’s vile Ambassador, Tzipi Hotoveli, to proclaim that
stories of the Nakba were an ‘Arab lie’.
Only 3% Of Jewish Israelis Think Trump's Ethnic Cleansing Plan For Gaza Is Immoral
Today
there is no pretence. Israelis in their overwhelming majority want the
Palestinians of Gaza (and the West Bank) either expelled or exterminated. Some 82% of Israeli Jews support Trump’s
plan and just 3% consider the proposals immoral. The rest think it impractical.
This is what memory of the Holocaust has become in Zionist hands.
It
is worth bearing in mind that Israelis are far more racist towards the
Palestinians than Germans were to Jews. Anti-Semitism in Germany was never
respectable. The Nazis had to work hard to persuade Germans and they never
succeeded. Anti-Semitism was confined to the core of the Nazi party itself.
Between 1930 and 1933 Hitler downplayed anti-Semitism to the point of
non-existence.
Of
course people will find this difficult to accept given the way the media portrays
the reasons why Hitler came to power. However all serious historians agree. For
example Ian Kershaw wrote in Popular
Opinion and Dissent in the Third Reich
that the more than five million extra votes that the Nazis obtained in the 1930
elections ‘were in no sense anti-Semites’. David
Cesarani suggested in The Final Solution that
Hitler’s attacks on Jews ‘diminished to vanishing point’. Even Zionist historian Yehuda Bauer
accepted this.
In
1939 Hitler began to fulfil his desire to create ‘living space’ lebensraum for the German people by
conquering first Poland, then Western Europe and finally Russia. That is precisely
what Israel is doing. Achieving its Arab-free living space.
For
15 months they carpet bombed Gaza under the pretence that they were seeking to
destroy Hamas when it was obvious to anyone, bar Jews for Genocide and that
inveterate liar Starmer, that Hamas was the one thing they hadn’t destroyed.
Hospitals,
schools, clinics, universities, journalists, residential homes and agricultural
land – all were subject to the an intensity of bombing that made the
destruction of Nuremberg, Dresden and Hamburg seem like a picnic.
All
the while Butcher Biden supplied the 2,000 lb bombs that enabled the
devastation. Now Trump comes along and says that of course Palestinians can’t
live in the rubble whilst still continuing to supply the 2000 lb bombs. The
hypocrisy and mendacity of our rulers knows no bounds.
We
have a weak and shaky ceasefire, which hasn’t stopped Israel killing
Palestinians in Gaza although the bombing has (temporarily) stopped. There
isn’t an agreement that Israel has made that hasn’t been broken and they are
still killing people in Lebanon. Netanyahu and much of his coalition would like
to restart the slaughter because to the Zionists not enough Palestinians have
yet died.
Yet
whatever Israel does, as far as Starmer, Trump and our own Jews for Genocide in
the form of the Board of Deputies, are concerned it is acting in self-defence. It
is an interesting legal concept as to whether an occupying power has the right
of self-defence. Perhaps Russia has such a right in Ukraine! Maybe we should
consult our favourite ‘human rights lawyer’ Sir Kid Starver.
I
fear that Israel will find a pretext to restart the war against Gaza. What
Trump has done is to provide Israel with a pretext to break the ceasefire, as
Netanyahu has promised, after the first phase, in which case we will see a
continuation of the genocide. This is a very real danger. Of course it will be
difficult politically to restart the slaughter but that will depend on the
American administration. One thing is for certain. The Arab regimes could stop
it in a day if they stopped the oil. And
the Arab masses could stop it if they overthrew those regimes.
Israeli military operation in Jenin: Palestinian homes attacked with simultaneous blasts
Instead
Israel’s war on the Palestinians has spread to the West Bank. For the past 5
years I have raised funds for the Al Tafawk Children’s Centre
in Jenin refugee camp. Three times the Israeli military has deliberately
wrecked the interior of the Centre.
Today
I have no idea if Al Tafawk is even standing because much of Jenin’s refugee
camp has been blown up and
numerous people, including children have been killed. Yet still Western leaders
have the audacity to about Israel’s ‘self-defence’. If only Goebbels had had
such good propagandists as the BBC provide he could have achieved far more
without the opprobrium.
Israeli Soldiers Celebrate Destruction in Jenin
Israel’s
attack on Jenin we should not forget was preceded by 25 days of violence
by the Quisling Palestine Authority. Yet even now organisations like Britain’s
Palestine Solidarity Campaign are afraid of calling these Quislings by their
name. First Israel banned Al Jazeera and then the PA banned it.
See Two Days after Speaking to the Palestine
Chronicle – Jenin Journalist Killed by Palestinian Authority
See The PA and Israel are allies
in silencing the truth
Trump’s
plan though is unlikely to be carried out. The last thing the Egyptian and
Jordanian states want is hundreds of thousands of Palestinians determined to
seek their revenge. Despite their role as collaborators, neither regime has a
death wish.
If
the Zionists cannot achieve an empty Gaza by ethnic cleansing then mass murder
and genocide is the alternative and the only thing standing in the way are
Hamas and the Palestinian resistance.
This
of course is where Britain’s political police come in. They will do their
utmost to arrest and persecute anyone who supports resistance to Israel’s genocide.
All in the name of ‘the fight against
terrorism’. This is the state of British ‘democracy’ today and we can rely
on Britain’s compliant judiciary to do their best to help.
There
has been one of those absurd ‘debates’ about whether Israel is committing genocide.
As if not using the word changes the reality. I suggest people read Yuval
Abraham’s article in +972 Magazine, Bomb the area, gas the
tunnels: Israel’s unbridled war on Gaza’s underground as to what
Israel’s tactics were. Abraham writes that:
The Israeli army intensively bombarded residential areas in Gaza when
it lacked intelligence on the exact location of Hamas commanders hiding
underground, and intentionally weaponized toxic byproducts of bombs to
suffocate militants in their tunnels…
The investigation, based on conversations with 15 Israeli Military
Intelligence and Shin Bet officers who have been
involved in tunnel-targeting operations since October 7, exposes how this
strategy aimed to compensate for the army’s inability to pinpoint targets in
Hamas’ subterranean tunnel network. When targeting senior commanders in the
group, the Israeli military authorized the killing of “triple-digit numbers” of
Palestinian civilians as “collateral damage,” and maintained close real-time
coordination with U.S. officials regarding the expected casualty figures.
So there we have it. Israel was prepared to
kill hundreds of Palestinian civilians on the off chance that they might kill a
member of Hamas. And then creatures like
Lammy & Starmer dare to call Hamas ‘terrorist’.
In
the process three Israeli hostages — Nik Beizer, Ron Sherman, and Elia Toledano
— were killed by asphyxiation as a result of a Nov. 10, 2023, bombing that
targeted Ahmed Ghandour, a Hamas brigade commander in northern Gaza. Even if
the bombs didn’t kill them then the carbon monoxide they produced did.
Israel
soldiers were not willing to fight in the tunnels but thought that carpet
bombing would do the trick. Fortunately it didn’t and at the end of the war
Hamas and the Resistance was killing more of Israel’s war criminal military
than it was at the beginning.
Imagine
if Hamas exploded a bomb in the middle of Tel Aviv because they believed a
senior officer of the Israeli army was passing by? Or Russia bombed a market place because it
believed a Ukrainian general was doing his shopping there. The pages of the
tabloids would be filled with blood curdling rhetoric.
Israel’s
figures of Hamas fighters killed were always phony. Every male civilian they
killed was a Hamas ‘terrorist’ but at the end of the day the Zionists ended up
fooling themselves, which was why, when the ceasefire came into effect,
Israelis were stunned to see hundreds of Hamas fighters in their distinctive
olive green uniforms handing over the healthy and well-fed Israeli captives,
unlike the emaciated and tortured bodies of the Palestinian captives that
Israel had seized.
Israel’s
2,000 lb bombs were supplied by the United States despite knowing how they
would be used but ‘bloody’ Blinken stymied any declaration that human rights
violations were being carried out. Why?
Because
under the Leahy law if the
US State Department declared that Israel was committing war crimes then the U.S. Government would have been barred
from using funds to assist in those crimes. Instead investigations into Israel’s
war crimes never progressed beyond an initial stage.
"אז יאמרו בגויים הגדיל ה' לעשות עם אלה, הגדיל ה' לעשות עמנו היינו שמחים"
— בצלאל סמוטריץ' (@bezalelsm) February 4, 2025
ועוד יותר טוב ועוד יותר טוב.
תודה לך הנשיא טראמפ.
Together, we will make the world great again 🇮🇱🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/3Wjx0VZRTK
Netanyahu
and his far-right partner Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Finance Minister, ‘proud homophobe’ and fascist are
itching to get back into the bombing on the grounds that if you haven’t
succeeded yet try, try and try again. But what is clear is that Hamas and the
Palestinian Resistance has not been defeated and is unlikely to be
defeated.
At
the moment Israel’s genocidal lust and desire for more living space is now
translating into war on the people of the West Bank.
Even
Trump cannot simply declare that he wants Palestinians to leave Gaza because he
wants the gas fields in the sea off Gaza. Instead he dresses it up as
concern for the Palestinians. He wrote that the Palestinians in Gaza would have
"far safer and more beautiful
communities, with new and modern homes, in the region."
There
is nothing new in this duplicity. As Abdaljawad Omarwrote
the same language has been used before.
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson justified the Indian Removal Act as a necessary
measure for the “happiness” of Native Americans, ethnically cleansing them
under the guise of protecting their way of life....
The logic remains unchanged —
displacement framed as pragmatism, ethnic cleansing cloaked in the language of
order and progress, and for Trump: Palestinians as an obstacle to a beautiful
beachfront where everyone could live, including “some
Palestinians.”
In
Trump’s impossible Gaza plan
can still do a great deal of harm Michelle Plitnick wrote that ‘in one of the cruelest, most repulsive
twists of the Trump argument, he actually argued
that his plan for ethnic cleansing was intended to benefit the Palestinians.’
This could be so magnificent. But more
importantly than that is the people that have been absolutely destroyed that
live there now can live in peace in a much better situation because they are
living in hell. And those people will now be able to live in peace. We’ll make
sure that it’s done world class.
It
is noticeable that German leaders have said next to nothing. But why should
Germany’s leaders say anything? The worse it gets for Palestinians the more
they can come to terms with their own holocausts. After all, if even the Jews perpetrate
a holocaust then it can’t be that bad.
Today
Gaza is unliveable in because Israel deliberately made it so. For the
Palestinians to be removed would be to reward the war criminals. That Trump can
suggest it and the media can actually debate it seriously demonstrates how low
moral standards have sunk in the western world.
One
wonders what Western leaders would say if Putin had carpet bombed Ukraine and
then said he was removing the population to save them further trauma and he
expected Britain, Germany and France to take them in and foot the bill! All in
order that they could have ‘beautiful’ lives free from Russian bombs! Yet this
is what Trump is saying and our leaders cannot even spell out the implications
for fear of offending his fragile ego.
We
are entering a period of great uncertainty. The Palestine solidarity movement
has a responsibility to step up its protests and begin to make life
uncomfortable for those in power. Instead of allowing the Metropolitan Police
to disrupt our protests we should be disrupting the rhythms of London. The
first thing we should be doing is to hold the demonstration which was initially
planned for the BBC – with or without the agreement of Britain’s political
police.
Tony Greenstein
See
also
The Gaza 'war' was a lie, as is the
ceasefire. Trump just told you
Jonathan Cook
The PA and Israel are allies in silencing the truth
The PA and Israel are allies
in silencing the truth
I witnessed firsthand the PA’s brutality against journalists in Gaza. Its possible return does not bode well for us.
Published On 1 Feb 2025
A group of
Palestinian journalists protest in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council
headquarters against the decision of the Palestinian Authority to close
Bethlehem-based private TV channel, Al-Roah, in Gaza City on October 17 1999
[File: Mohammad Saber/AFP]
On December 28, 21-year-old journalism student Shatha Al-Sabbagh was
assassinated near her home in Jenin. Her family accused snipers from the
Palestinian Authority (PA) deployed in the camp of shooting her in the head.
Al-Sabbagh had been active on social media, documenting the suffering of Jenin
residents during the raids by Israel and the PA.
Just a few days after Al-Sabbagh’s assassination, the authorities in
Ramallah banned Al Jazeera
from reporting from the occupied West Bank. Three weeks later, PA forces
arrested Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamad Atrash.
These developments come as the Israeli occupation has killed more than
200 media workers in Gaza and arrested dozens across the occupied Palestinian
territories. It has also banned Al Jazeera and refused to allow foreign
journalists to enter Gaza. The fact that the PA’s actions mirror Israel’s
reveals a shared agenda to suppress independent journalism and control public
opinion.
To Palestinian journalists, that is hardly news. The PA has never been
our protector. It has always been a complicit partner in our brutalisation.
That is true in the West Bank and it was true in Gaza when the PA was in power
there. I witnessed it myself.
Growing up in Gaza, I watched how my people were oppressed by Israeli
forces and by the PA. In 1994, the Israeli occupation formally handed over the
Strip to the PA to administer under the provisions of the Oslo Accords. The PA
remained in power until 2007. During these 13 years, we saw more collaboration
with the Israeli occupation than any meaningful attempt at liberation. For
journalists, the PA’s presence was not just oppressive, it was
life-threatening, as its forces actively stifled voices to maintain its fragile
grip on power.
As a journalism student in Gaza, I experienced this suppression
firsthand. I walked the streets, witnessing PA security officers looting shops,
their arrogance apparent in the brazen act of theft. One day, when I attempted
to document this, a Palestinian officer violently grabbed me, ripped my camera
from my hands, and smashed it to the ground. This wasn’t just an assault, it
was an attack on my right to bear witness. The officer’s aggression only ceased
when a group of women intervened, forcing him to retreat in a rare moment of
restraint.
I knew the risks of being a journalist in Gaza and like other media
workers, I learned to navigate them. But the fear I felt near the PA forces’
ambush points was unlike anything else. That was because there was never logic
to their aggressive actions and no way to anticipate when they might turn on
you.
Walking near the PA forces felt like stepping into a minefield. One
moment, there was the illusion of safety, and the next, you faced the brutality
of those who were supposedly there to protect you. This uncertainty and tension
made their presence more terrifying than being on a battlefield.
Years later, I would cover the training sessions of Qassam Brigades under
the constant hum of Israeli drones and the ever-looming threat of air strikes.
It was dangerous but predictable – much more so than the actions of the PA.
Under the PA, we learned to speak in code. Journalists self-censored out
of fear of retribution. The PA was often referred to as “cousins of Israeli
occupation” – a grim acknowledgement of its complicity.
As the PA was fighting to stay in power in Gaza after losing the 2006
elections to Hamas, its brutality escalated. In May 2007, gunmen in
presidential guard uniforms killed journalist Suleiman Abdul-Rahim al-Ashi and
media worker Mohammad Matar Abdo. It was an execution meant to send a clear
message to those who witnessed it.
When Hamas took over, its government also imposed restrictions on press
freedoms, but its censorship was inconsistent. Once, while documenting the new
policewomen’s division, I was ordered to show my photos to a Hamas officer so
he could censor any image he deemed immodest. I often managed to bypass these
restrictions by swapping my memory cards preemptively.
The officers weren’t fond of anyone overriding their orders, but instead
of outright punishment, they resorted to petty power plays—investigations,
revoked access, or unnecessary provocations. Unlike the PA, Hamas did not
operate within a system of coordination with Israeli forces to suppress
journalism, but the restrictions journalists faced still created an environment
of uncertainty and self-censorship. Any violation on their part, however, was
met with swift international condemnation—something the PA rarely faced,
despite its far more systematic repression.
After losing control of Gaza, the PA shifted its focus to the West Bank,
intensifying its campaign of media suppression. Detentions, violent crackdowns,
and the silencing of critical voices became commonplace. Their collaboration
with Israel was not passive; it was active. From surveillance to campaigns of
violence, they play a crucial role in maintaining the status quo, stifling any
dissent that challenges their power and the occupation.
In 2016, the PA’s collusion became even more apparent when they
coordinated with Israeli authorities in the arrest of prominent journalist and
press freedom advocate Omar Nazzal, who had criticised Ramallah for how it
handled the suspected murder of Palestinian citizen Omar al-Naif at its embassy
in Bulgaria.
In 2017, the PA launched a campaign of intimidation, arresting five
journalists from different outlets.
In 2019, the Palestinian Authority blocked the website of Quds News
Network, a youth-led media outlet that has gained immense popularity. This was
part of a wider ban imposed
by the Ramallah Magistrate’s Court that blocked access to 24 other news
websites and social media pages.
In 2021, after the violent death of activist Nizar Banat in the PA’s
custody sparked protests, its forces sought to crack down on
journalists and media outlets covering them.
In this context, the prospect of the PA returning to Gaza following the
ceasefire agreement raises serious concerns for journalists who have already
endured the horrors of genocide. For those who survived, this could mean a new
chapter of repression that reflects the PA’s history of censorship, arrests and
stifling of press freedoms.
Despite the grave threats that Palestinian journalists face from Israel
and from those who pretend to represent the Palestinian people, they persevere.
Their work transcends borders, reflecting a shared struggle against tyranny.
Their resilience speaks not only to the Palestinian cause but to the broader
fight for liberation, justice and dignity.
Eman Mohammed is an award-winning Palestinian-American photojournalist
and Senior TED fellow currently based in Washington, DC.
