And with one fell swoop, the dragon was slain. Peace returned to the kingdom, and the people lived happily ever after.
That’s how it goes, right? It’s easy to see the appeal; to reduce the history of the world into evil dragons and brave heroes, to understand cause and effect as a result of the actions of these “Great Men” and not as a part of something bigger, something structural. I wish it were that simple.
When news first broke that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, it felt like a shift happened. These two men have been instrumental in conducting the genocide in Palestine and, after over a year of no consequences for these actions, there might be some measure of justice. This warrant would compel the countries signed to the ICC—all 124 of them—to aid in the arrest of the Prime Minister and the former Defense Minister. While I should note that neither Israel nor the US are a part of the ICC, many other important allies are. This means that there can finally be some tangible, legal consequences for Israel’s crimes, something that hasn’t been possible due to America’s veto power in the UN.
While it's true that Netanyahu and Gallant are unlikely ever to set foot in those countries, this ruling still marks a significant change from the apathetic meandering that has signified this crisis thus far. One can also imagine that it becomes easier for the world’s nations to take a material stand against Israel when those at the helm are wanted criminals which, in the long run, can help bring this genocide to an end even if the arrest warrants themselves don’t.
What worries me, however, is that the problem runs far deeper than just these two warmongers. This goes beyond the Knesset, beyond Israel’s Western accomplices, beyond even the IDF soldiers who continue to target civilians. Specifically, I worry that if and when the foremost orchestrators of this genocide face justice, history will be explained with a “Great man”-approach, or intentionalism as historians would call it. This would center Netanyahu and his accomplices as the root cause of all of this and would frame the genocide as a consequence of a few bad and powerful men. As such, justice would also stop with these men, these mythical dragons, these symptoms of a much greater disease, without addressing the fundamental issues that both create and enable men like that to begin with.
This genocide isn’t happening because Bibi is a terrible person (though he is that), it’s happening because of political and social structures that for almost a century have dehumanized Palestinians and encouraged Israeli brutality. After all, we know that the plight of the Palestinian people didn’t begin with this genocide: Whether it’s the ethnic cleansing during the 1948 Nakba, Israel’s role as an apartheid state, or the settler violence perpetrated since Palestine has been oppressed for as long as Israel has existed. While the extent and intensity of this oppression have varied depending on who’s had control of the Knesset and presidency, it’s been a constant in the history of the region long before Netanyahu.
As such, it seems ridiculous to assume that the mistreatment of the Palestinian people would end just because Netanyahu may or may not stand trial in the Hague. For the purpose of a free Palestine, it also wouldn’t matter if every single one of his collaborators in Israel or the West followed him there, either. That doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t happen—it absolutely should—but what I’m saying is that we shouldn’t get complacent with a (hypothetical) trial. For the longevity of Palestine, we need to recognize that Palestine’s history isn’t shaped by “great men” (intentionalism), but by the ideas/ideologies (intellectualism) and institutional powers (structuralism) that both precede and succeed “great men” like Netanyahu. Recognize it, and change it.
First, we must accept the fact that Zionism is an ideology rooted in ethnonationalism and will therefore always emphasize an in-group (Jews) to defend and an out-group (Palestinian Arabs) to defeat. Like all ethnonationalist ideologies before and since—from White Supremacy to Hutu Power—this othering will always result in violence and oppression. How else can Israel be ethnically Jewish if Palestinian Arabs still hold on to and govern large swaths of land? How else can this land be claimed if not by force? We already know the answer, both from the Nakba and the ongoing genocide, and the answer should never be acceptable.
For Israel to be anything other than the racist terrorist state it currently is, it needs to move past its founding principles of Zionism and progress into a pluralistic society. I don’t mean that just politically, either, but also socially and culturally: Many Israelis have taken to social media to mock the victims of the genocide and there are even sightseeing trips for families who want to see the bombing of Gaza. This in-group/out-group-think is so extreme and so deeply entrenched in Israeli society that nothing short of a complete deprogramming and restructuring of the country can save it from itself. But make no mistake; this is a learned behavior with no intrinsic link to Jews or Jewish culture, and so it can and should be unlearned. No matter what propaganda Israel is pushing, conflating Judaism with Zionism is one of the most grotesque forms of antisemitism and so our opposition towards the latter needs to be as staunch and unrelenting as towards any other ethnonationalistic ideology.
Second, we must also look to Israel’s enablers in the West. Even now, both France and the Netherlands are bending over backward trying to find loopholes so as not to comply with the ICC arrest warrant. This follows a full year of many of the most powerful Western countries vocally supporting Israel’s rampage while also providing them with funds and arms. Of course, these European countries pale in comparison to the frankly embarrassing sycophancy coming out of the US, with Senator Lindsey Graham threatening sanctions on allies complying with the ICC’s arrest warrant. Despite their claims, none of this is in any way out of a desire to protect Jewish interests. If that were true, Western nations would do far more against the rising antisemitism on their streets and in their halls of power.
No, the West’s commitment to Israel is rooted in their own geopolitical and economic ambitions in the region: Whether it’s the direct bribes from Israeli lobbyist groups or the long-term investments that Israeli control of the Jordan River and the region’s oil reserves might bring to its allies, US politicians make themselves rich off of Palestinian suffering. Israel also functions as a military stronghold in the Middle East, America’s only stronghold due to the many interventionist and imperialistic projects that’s destroyed their relationship with the surrounding Arab nations. As such, I believe it’s obvious that US involvement (and, by extension, Western involvement) in Israel-Palestine is solely due to their own self-interest. President Biden said it best himself: “If there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one.”
With all of this in mind, I believe it’s time we look beyond the glamour and supposed moral superiority of America—and, indeed, the collective West—and recognize it as the rogue state it is. More concretely, this means that we need to dismantle Western interests in the region by committing to organized boycotts in accordance with the BDS movement, staging non-violent direct action, and at every level refuting the myth of Western moral superiority. While the implied values in “Western values” are certainly worth praising, to call them “Western” even as we sanction weaponry and stand dumbstruck in the face of genocide is nothing short of laughable. Although not all Western countries are guilty of aiding the genocide, we’re all guilty of not doing enough to stop it.
I realize this is a lot to digest in the wake of an announcement such as the ICC’s. We still don’t know what sort of impact this ruling will have but, though it’s unlikely to result in an actual arrest and trial, it’s a necessary first step for justice and peace in Palestine. A step, not a resolution. No matter what happens next, no matter how this genocide ends, the path towards a truly free and independent Palestine shouldn’t stop with the arrest of their oppressors but with the dismantlement of the systems that allow them to be oppressed to begin with. There are no dragons here and the century-late ICC aren’t our sword-wielding heroes. There are no shortcuts, just the grit of a righteous collective working against a corrupt system. That, and the hope and strive for a better tomorrow.
Written by Stephen K. Pettersson.
Cover photo by Merle Emrich.