Hello i watched almost all of your Videos and read your book about totalitarism, but here i am quite suprised of your response, here are my thoughts.
Anyhow, the text ended up much longer than I intended, so I guess few will read it anyway. But a man I once considered wise said: even in the darkest chamber, alone, speaking out can still start a chain reaction and might have an impact,. I would add: at least on one’s own soul (whatever that is). So, here we go:
While Mattias’s post attempts to offer a nuanced and philosophical view of the Israel-Palestine conflict, it ultimately overlooks key historical facts and structural realities that are essential to any honest discussion. especially when the aim is to engage in genuine “truth-telling.”
First of all, the portrayal of 1948 as a war in which Arab states unilaterally "attacked" Israel is highly contested. Multiple historians — including Avi Shlaim, Ilan Pappé, and Walid Khalidi — have shown that the establishment of Israel involved premeditated displacement and ethnic cleansing of over 700,000 Palestinians (the Nakba). Far from being a defensive war, Israel's actions in 1948 were part of a broader settler-colonial project aimed at creating a Jewish-majority state on land inhabited by a native Arab population with no end, since the borders were never clear defined and open for discussion back then. This involved land expropriation, destruction of villages, and deliberate military strategies to prevent Palestinian return. While Arab states did enter the war, Israel had already carried out significant military operations and expulsions before their full involvement (Plan Dalet, Deir Yassin,...).
Dehumanization is exactly what has happened to the Palestinian people over the course of many decades—typical for settler-colonial projects worldwide. The solution is clear and immediate: an end to supremacy, full and equal rights for everyone, and the dismantling of apartheid. What is needed is a truly democratic system that guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and equal political rights for all its people—without privileging one group over another.
This is precisely what Palestinians have been demanding. Yet, because they have been so thoroughly dehumanized, their voices are rarely heard or taken seriously. Hamas itself must be understood as a reaction to the root causes of oppression. Even those labeled as extremists are human beings—and we must never forget that.
Once the oppression ends, the cycle of violence will break. However, this system of supremacist rule and apartheid will not end on its own—just as it did not in South Africa. It will require sustained international pressure, including sanctions and accountability, to dismantle Israel’s unjust political system and bring about lasting justice and peace.
Peace and justice for all people means no one has to be displaced or leave their homes. It simply calls for a political system where everyone—regardless of identity—has equal rights and protections. This is not about denying Israel’s existence, but about transforming it into a truly democratic state that serves all its inhabitants fairly. The demands are clear, and such a solution would benefit everyone living in the land.
The roots of the conflict are not simply a matter of “lost humanity” or mutual hatred. They are deeply structural: settler colonialism, apartheid policies (as recognized by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and B’Tselem), systemic discrimination, home demolitions, land expropriation, military occupation, and the ongoing denial of basic civil and human rights to millions of Palestinians. Not been able to see the facts (like typical in a massformation, not been able to see the facts...) is quite dominant in this topic!
What we are witnessing is the continuation of a European Zionist settler-colonial project — one that instrumentalizes both religion and the historical suffering of a people as tools of oppression. Leading human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention have not only found the situation to plausibly meet the legal definitions of apartheid and genocide, but have explicitly stated that Israel is committing these crimes. This is further evidenced by numerous statements from Israeli political and military officials that clearly express genocidal intent. Yet, despite this, Israel continues to act with near-total impunity, shielded by powerful allies and a lack of international enforcement — a silence that enables and perpetuates these crimes.
This is why there is a significant and growing anti-Zionist Jewish movement around the world — made up of people who reject the misuse of Judaism to justify state violence and mass displacement. In fact, many Jewish voices argue that equating Zionism with Judaism, and using the Jewish faith as a shield for state crimes, is in itself a deeply antisemitic act. In this light, the university’s decision to end its institutional ties with Israeli universities is not only justified, but a clear expression of humanistic values and a commitment to human rights. Cutting ties with a state that is systematically committing grave violations — including apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and potentially genocide — is a moral and necessary step.
Reducing the conflict to a symmetric "human drama" between two equal sides is misleading. It erases the reality of one people living under military rule, while another enjoys sovereignty, full rights, and international protection. This power asymmetry is not a philosophical issue — it is a political and legal one.
Moreover, movements like BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) are not expressions of fanaticism or hatred. They are rooted in international law and in the long-standing tradition of nonviolent resistance to injustice — just as seen in the global movement against apartheid in South Africa. Dismissing such forms of protest as “unbalanced” fails to recognize that neutrality in the face of oppression often protects the status quo.
Without acknowledging these structural injustices, appeals to “dialogue” and “mutual understanding” risk becoming moral distractions rather than meaningful steps toward justice.
Isn’t what we are witnessing in Gaza since 1,5 years unteil right now an example of a totalitarian system turning into a monster that devours its own children? Israel controls all of historic Palestine and has subjected 2.3 million people in Gaza to mass starvation and a brutal siege with no way out—half of whom are children. On top of that, more than five times the equivalent of the Hiroshima atomic bomb has been dropped on Gaza. Isn’t this exactly what Hannah Arendt described—a monster that devours its own children?
Mattias, you tried to write a well-balanced viewpoint in June last year. I am curious how your viewpoint has developed as the regon is now descending in to total chaos and civilians are starved (or shot whilst trying to get to food).
Mattias, you tried to write a well-balanced viewpoint in June last year. I am curious how your viewpoint has developed as the regon is now descending in to total chaos and civilians are starved (or shot whilst trying to get to food).
I grew up in an ultra orthodox family and community. It was instilled at a very young age and throughout my life (and BTW the actually meaning is repair the WORLD not yourself- that would just be TIKUN to repair the same way you repair a car) Why do you think Jews have always be in the forefront on innovation and technology? It's embedded into our DNA. Believe me, I am as far right as a Jew can be, I've never been a leftist! Am Israel Chai
Very disappointed by this very conservative essay. I am surprise that a thinker like you who took an unpopular stance during the pandemic can totally overlook the killing of children, women , elderly , sick people by a western power backed by imperialist powers and overlook as well the events since 1948 that led to the creation of the open air prison camp of Gaza and the apartheid state. I am surprised , as a friend of mine remarked that you did not discern that Zionism is a mass formation psychosis. I will not read you anymore and neither recommend any of your works.
This is a most pathetic example of how humans, especially the "educated" who spend their lives in thier own heads, can come up with ideas about reality and then be completely in denial about them.
The writer is obviously an imbecile or has someone turning the thumbscrews on him so that he ignores the holocaust of Palestinians that's being done by Israel and largely supported by Jewish people everywhere, and by the entirety of Western civilisation. And by the majority of industrial civilisation, if you want a broad view.
Mr Desmet apparently has such a narrow view he can't even apply his own theory to himself. A complete waste of space.
They are not pro-Palestinian marches - this is how the press labels them. The marches are for a ceasefire in Gaza and a free Palestine (equal rights for Palestinians who live in what is known legally as the Occupied Territories). This would lead to less deaths of Palestinians and the release of Israeli hostages. Thousands of Jewish people march, speak and support these rallies - horrified that 'Israel' behaves like those who oppressed Jews in WWII (their words, not mine).
Palestine was given by the British Empire in 1917 to what was effectively a Zionist movement they helped nurture. It had nothing to do with WWII. And it had nothing to do with a Homeland for Jews. This was the selling point which hid something darker. Both Churchill (in charge of the mid-east at the time) and Balfour were raging antisemites and saw Palestine as a way to rid Europe of Jews and not to lose land advantage following the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This is documented. The British Empire used the Zionist movement, which in turn used a modern (1800s) narrative that the Jews from Europe were the chosen people. They were chosen - not by God - but by the British Empire to act as human shields for the colonial expansionist project. This expansionism for Western interests has continued under the US hegemon. As RFK Jr says 'Israel is useful to us...like having an aircraft carrier in the mid-east'.
Hamas' aim is not to kill Jews. These are lazy tropes regurgitated daily by MSM and pro-Israel lobby groups. As the 2017 Hamas Covenant says: 'Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion. Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine. Yet, it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity.'
This is exactly the point. Israel isn't about Jews or Judaism. How could anybody be safe in a land stolen by the British Empire and surrounded by the very refugees created by the theft? How could anybody be safe building their houses on the razed villages of dead Arabs, while their relatives watched from a few miles away? It was a lie and a cruel trick played on Jewish people so desperate for safety following the atrocities of WWII.
As for a 'deserved' homeland - what use is that if it merely transfers the loss, expulsions and ethnic cleansing the Jews suffered, onto the Palestinians. It's still the same problem. Nothing has been solved.
As for taking one side or the other. If this was WWII and there was mobile phone footage broadcast live from the camps, we'd also be out on the streets. But it is happening now to the Palestinians. Hence the protest focusing mainly on Gaza, the West Bank and freedom & equality for Palestinians.
The Arabs and Jews have something in common. They were both lied to by the British Empire. The Arabs (as the British colonists referred to the Palestinians) were told they could have the land if they helped the British rid the place of the Ottomans. The European Jews were told they hailed from the Levant, whereas both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (who make up 95% of the Israeli Jewish population) are predominantly European according to their DNA.
Antisemitism has been used to prevent a deep-dive into the real reasons for the creation of a 'bulwark' (RFK Jr again) in the middle East created to serve the interests of the Anglo-colonial and later Anglo-US Empire. If people knew the truth and how and why they've been lied to, they may not be as keen to defend what is effectively an Anglo-US colony that cares little for the safety of Jews & Palestinians.
good nuanced points. Thanks. One thing I must note is that the state of Israel was not founded because of the holocaust. You wrote:
" the cause of the Arab countries' invasion was the colonialist founding of the state of Israel by the United Nations, the cause of that founding was the Holocaust, and so on. "
I really must stress this as it's commonly misunderstood. Zionism (a Jewish nationalist movement which sought a homeland for European jews), whose ideology was finally realized in the founding of Israel, was first being spoken of in Jewish European circles in the 1880's. Theodor Hertlz being the central figure. European Jews took themselves to Palestine as early as the late 1800s, into the early 1900s (google first and 2nd Aliyah). the first Zionist congress took place in 1886- there the drafts for jewish national homeland with international support took place. in 1901 , the Jewish National Fund was established, tasked with buying land in Palestine. Strategic patches of Zionist Jewish settlement propped up through the early 1900s. Google the "Al-Fula Affair" of 1910 , in which land purchased by the Jewish National Fund displaced 1000 Palestinians, and caused a bloody fight between the two parties. 1917 Balfour Declaration , as commonly known, aided Zionism in legally enabling further Jewish settlement in Palestine. Between 1917 and 1948, there was much back and forth about whether this growing Zionist mission should occur. the King - Crane commission of 1918, commissioned by the U.S, found most locals opposed Zionism and thus called for a limit on Jewish immigration into Palestine. it was ignored. the 1930 Hope - Simpson Commission of Enquiry found similar discontent among Arabs. The report found Arabs peasants needed help and that Jewish immigration was again troubling. and so on and so on. 1948 the Zionist movement is successful enough to establish istself as the state of Israel. the holocaust merely meant Israel could be a safe place for European Jews to flee to after the horrors of Europe. But it played no part in the creation of Israel or the Zionist ideology whatsoever.
I found this essay to be pretty even-handed, although I disagree with some of the specific points. I was relieved to not read another diatribe against Israel, as is so typical these days.
The “Palestinians” wanted control of Gaza. Israel withdrew all Jews from Gaza in 2005. What has resulted is a terrorism hotbed. Sorry, but it is impossible to live in peace with people whose only option for peace is your destruction and death.
Is anyone talking about areas A, B, and C in Judaea and Samaria? Despite my interest in Israel for many years, I only learned about these areas the other day.
It’s interesting how it is hardly mentioned that israel has been accepting as a matter of course, the lobbing of rockets into Israel from Gaza and Lebanon for years. Who has been talking about the fact that Israelis need to have “safe rooms” in their houses and other places where they can run when the alarms sound to warn of these incoming rockets?
How can people not see the evil of Hamas and the impossibility of being at peace with a terrorist organization bent on Israel’s destruction?
Many people who are “conspiracy theorists” and don’t trust the UN, the ICC, the WHO, et al, are suddenly willing to believe NWO entities when they are anti-Israel.
I could go on and on, but I will conclude with this article, written in 2005. This is the fundamental issue in this situation.
Where there is occupation, there will be resistance, just as night follows day. This is why the Jewish resistance blew up the King David Hotel - to rid the place of the British occupiers - same thing.
You don't know what you are talking about, you are clueless.
We are talking about genocide by Israel. It has already killed more than 39 000 people, most of them civilians and half of them children and women.
That is called a crime against humanity.
The conspiracy theorists know perfectly well that most of the countries in the UN do not have the power they should have and that the UN has been hijacked by the US. That is why they veto anything that would stop wars and genocide.
I live in the woods. No houses in sight. Off grid. Haul my water. Split my wood - sometimes with a gas-powered splitter, but last year, I split all 5+ cords by myself with a maul. Stacked it, hauled it in. I’m no sissy. Not all Americans are the type that I’m ashamed of being associated with, but I AM ashamed of this country and my “fellow”-Americans. Most of them, at least. They have no clue about what real life is like in their sterile houses and offices. I have made almost every bookcase and trunk and kitchen shelf in my cabin with hand tools. I eat organic food. Almost 100% of the meat I eat is what I have raised (chickens, cows, sheep). I quit processed white sugar in 1996 and eat honey and maple syrup (often homemade). I have never done drugs. I’ve never even drunk alcohol. So be careful about assuming too much just because of the country of one’s birth.
It’s about controlling the price of energy worldwide “oil”. One of the most abundant resources labeled “fossil fuels.” We’re being played by fascist psychopaths working for central bankers. All the world’s a stage. War is about natural resources. Religions are for manipulations like media. Jews have very little Hebrew in their DNA. I wish I had a “promise land” or was “chosen”, but those beliefs were conjured up by scribes working for Kings. There is Truth in the Great Religions but the institutions have been hijacked by psychopaths.
"Britain's - and later America's- drive to conquest was foreshadowed unmistakably by Mackinder's cursory yet almost oracular mention of the several bridgeheads that the Sea Powers need to graft unto the heartland to draw out its armies in a deliberate sequence of separate clashes. To isolate each conflict, the targeted territorial portion had to be severed from its adjacent district, and bled white by prolonged strife waged in the name of political, religious, or ethnic diversity. Thus the Anglo-Americans have always acted: in Europe by spinning everybody against Germany (1904-45); in the Near East, by jamming Israel in the heart of the Arab world (1917-present); in the Far East, by planting thorns in the side of China: Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan (1950-present); in Central Asia by destabilizing the entire region into tribal warfare with the help of Pakistan to prevent the Caspian seaboard from gravitating into the Russian sphere of influence (1979-present).
... Imperial stratagems are protracted affairs. The captains of world aggression measure their achievements, or failures, on a timescale whose unit is the generation. -- Guido Preparata, Conjuring Hitler, pg. 16
"Scientists at Tel Aviv University's School of Plant Sciences announced these days that they have recorded with special ultrasonic-sensitive microphones the cries of pain that plants emit when they are cut or when they lack water. There are no microphones in Gaza."
So typical how all these anti-flu protesters suddenly lost the ability to judge right after 7 October! Mattias Desmet, you may think that you’re an original independent thinker, but you’re actually very very typical, look at the examples that I gave in this opinion piece that I wrote last October, you fit in 100%
We definitely need to take a stance, but neutrality is also a stance that is not allowed in highly polarised times. But more important than taking a stand is something else: saying what the reality of the situation is.
The danger of losing friends and making new friends in chaotic times is that the new transfer (a psychoanalytical concept) clouds our minds.
Desmet may be losing himself in this - among anticovid friends there are also tacit supporters of genocide. But maybe it's not just that: I think he wants to reformulate the problem in a different way, but I don't know if he realises the danger of doing so - because he is rapidly drifting away from the truth of the problem.
So he misses the mark twice:
- he has lost resonant contact with the civilian victims of Israel's systematic genocide
- he has not engaged in serious historical analysis, only clichés such as 'Human, all too human', he could have said 'Homo homini lupus'.
And you know, in my opinion, it all comes down to a lack of understanding colonialism as a system of oppression. Zionism is a political and ideological branch of the Western colonial empire. Without Western/colonial support, Zionism would be dead. That’s why I ironically speak of the ‘anti-flu movement’ to express my disappointment, it’s not a movement of resistance, it’s just a bunch of white people crying that the empire hurt them too. This selective outrage is not only illustrative for the very Eurocentric (and often openly colonial!) world view within these circles, it also prevents to connect some important dots.
Okay, I got it. That's partly true. As I follow critical theory and philosophy, it may be quite true that Anti-colonial thought is probably the last critical position today.
Sorry your convoluted way of arguing makes it very tiring to continue the conversation. You keep derailing the issue and keep on defending Mattias no matter what! You may not know him personally, but he’ll be very happy with loyal supporters like you who criticize his critics but do not apply the same standards to his writings. It’s also pretty annoying how you keep on lecturing others on what appropriate is or not, meanwhile congratulating yourself with how morally superior you are. Good luck with that, I rest my case!
It is remarkable how even in the political movement formed during the corona-era, venting criticisms about the pandemic narrative and, generally spoken, also not buying into the current pro Ukranian NATO-narrative, new forms of political correctness arise. This article above is a clear example of that.
Notice how this so-called movement allows itself to analyse what’s going on in Ukraine in-dept on the one hand, but hesitates to do any serious analysis of what’s happening in Gaza on the other hand. It is hard to escape the conclusion that this is due to a political choice. The reason could be that the movement mentionend consists of pro-Palestinian people, neutral people as well as (often fundamentalist christian) zionists alike while the perception prevails that the movement risks falling apart if it would delve too much into the Israeli conflict. A more personal and opportunistic reason could very well be that Desmet is using the conflict, of which he clearly has neither a relevant clue nor even the slightest grasp, to appear a bit more moderate and balanced in the eyes of his employer Ghent University while rejecting the demands for a boycott, just to compensate for his more radical years of warning for the danger of totalitarian movements and conformism during the corona-era.
However, a political movement which is neither willing nor capable of well-informed and intelligent analysis, but starts to satsify itself with romanticised bedtimefiction instead, is doomed to fade away sooner or later.
Apparently, you missed my third remark below in which I criticise Mr. Ely's comment and present such an analysis. It is easy to just feed people some nice sounding risk-free semi-intellectual twaddle, like Desmet does. It's less easy to properly study the historical and legal aspects of this conflict in order to develop a well-informed opinion.
Postmodern praise of uncertainty and display of other forms of intellectual helplessness will undoubtedly endear some girls, especially if it happens around the campfire after a couple of Belgian beers, but in reality it amounts to a plea for disengagement and self-immobilization.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian population is usually associated with complexity, but much of it is merely a smokescreen in order to discourage people from investigating its cause. In this way the myth is fed to the masses of a spiral of violence without beginning or end. This myth obviously suits the strongest party in this asymmetrical power conflict, namely apartheid-state Israel, which will undoubtedly persists in the targeted bombing of Gazan civilians (by most Israeli’s blatantly called ‘seed of Amalek’), despite of that.
Unfortunately, the same can be said of Desmet's sweettalk endeavour above, which is based on this myth. In this way, Desmet himself in fact actively contributes to the dehumanization that he claims to be against.
The superficial half-baked mysticism from Desmet, which will undoubtedly cater to the masses which on average don’t like bloodshed and have no clue either, isn't based on any substantial analysis and therefore only capable of pulling the wool over our eyes once more.
Hello i watched almost all of your Videos and read your book about totalitarism, but here i am quite suprised of your response, here are my thoughts.
Anyhow, the text ended up much longer than I intended, so I guess few will read it anyway. But a man I once considered wise said: even in the darkest chamber, alone, speaking out can still start a chain reaction and might have an impact,. I would add: at least on one’s own soul (whatever that is). So, here we go:
While Mattias’s post attempts to offer a nuanced and philosophical view of the Israel-Palestine conflict, it ultimately overlooks key historical facts and structural realities that are essential to any honest discussion. especially when the aim is to engage in genuine “truth-telling.”
First of all, the portrayal of 1948 as a war in which Arab states unilaterally "attacked" Israel is highly contested. Multiple historians — including Avi Shlaim, Ilan Pappé, and Walid Khalidi — have shown that the establishment of Israel involved premeditated displacement and ethnic cleansing of over 700,000 Palestinians (the Nakba). Far from being a defensive war, Israel's actions in 1948 were part of a broader settler-colonial project aimed at creating a Jewish-majority state on land inhabited by a native Arab population with no end, since the borders were never clear defined and open for discussion back then. This involved land expropriation, destruction of villages, and deliberate military strategies to prevent Palestinian return. While Arab states did enter the war, Israel had already carried out significant military operations and expulsions before their full involvement (Plan Dalet, Deir Yassin,...).
Dehumanization is exactly what has happened to the Palestinian people over the course of many decades—typical for settler-colonial projects worldwide. The solution is clear and immediate: an end to supremacy, full and equal rights for everyone, and the dismantling of apartheid. What is needed is a truly democratic system that guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and equal political rights for all its people—without privileging one group over another.
This is precisely what Palestinians have been demanding. Yet, because they have been so thoroughly dehumanized, their voices are rarely heard or taken seriously. Hamas itself must be understood as a reaction to the root causes of oppression. Even those labeled as extremists are human beings—and we must never forget that.
Once the oppression ends, the cycle of violence will break. However, this system of supremacist rule and apartheid will not end on its own—just as it did not in South Africa. It will require sustained international pressure, including sanctions and accountability, to dismantle Israel’s unjust political system and bring about lasting justice and peace.
Peace and justice for all people means no one has to be displaced or leave their homes. It simply calls for a political system where everyone—regardless of identity—has equal rights and protections. This is not about denying Israel’s existence, but about transforming it into a truly democratic state that serves all its inhabitants fairly. The demands are clear, and such a solution would benefit everyone living in the land.
The roots of the conflict are not simply a matter of “lost humanity” or mutual hatred. They are deeply structural: settler colonialism, apartheid policies (as recognized by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and B’Tselem), systemic discrimination, home demolitions, land expropriation, military occupation, and the ongoing denial of basic civil and human rights to millions of Palestinians. Not been able to see the facts (like typical in a massformation, not been able to see the facts...) is quite dominant in this topic!
What we are witnessing is the continuation of a European Zionist settler-colonial project — one that instrumentalizes both religion and the historical suffering of a people as tools of oppression. Leading human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention have not only found the situation to plausibly meet the legal definitions of apartheid and genocide, but have explicitly stated that Israel is committing these crimes. This is further evidenced by numerous statements from Israeli political and military officials that clearly express genocidal intent. Yet, despite this, Israel continues to act with near-total impunity, shielded by powerful allies and a lack of international enforcement — a silence that enables and perpetuates these crimes.
This is why there is a significant and growing anti-Zionist Jewish movement around the world — made up of people who reject the misuse of Judaism to justify state violence and mass displacement. In fact, many Jewish voices argue that equating Zionism with Judaism, and using the Jewish faith as a shield for state crimes, is in itself a deeply antisemitic act. In this light, the university’s decision to end its institutional ties with Israeli universities is not only justified, but a clear expression of humanistic values and a commitment to human rights. Cutting ties with a state that is systematically committing grave violations — including apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and potentially genocide — is a moral and necessary step.
Reducing the conflict to a symmetric "human drama" between two equal sides is misleading. It erases the reality of one people living under military rule, while another enjoys sovereignty, full rights, and international protection. This power asymmetry is not a philosophical issue — it is a political and legal one.
Moreover, movements like BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) are not expressions of fanaticism or hatred. They are rooted in international law and in the long-standing tradition of nonviolent resistance to injustice — just as seen in the global movement against apartheid in South Africa. Dismissing such forms of protest as “unbalanced” fails to recognize that neutrality in the face of oppression often protects the status quo.
Without acknowledging these structural injustices, appeals to “dialogue” and “mutual understanding” risk becoming moral distractions rather than meaningful steps toward justice.
Isn’t what we are witnessing in Gaza since 1,5 years unteil right now an example of a totalitarian system turning into a monster that devours its own children? Israel controls all of historic Palestine and has subjected 2.3 million people in Gaza to mass starvation and a brutal siege with no way out—half of whom are children. On top of that, more than five times the equivalent of the Hiroshima atomic bomb has been dropped on Gaza. Isn’t this exactly what Hannah Arendt described—a monster that devours its own children?
Mattias, you tried to write a well-balanced viewpoint in June last year. I am curious how your viewpoint has developed as the regon is now descending in to total chaos and civilians are starved (or shot whilst trying to get to food).
Mattias, you tried to write a well-balanced viewpoint in June last year. I am curious how your viewpoint has developed as the regon is now descending in to total chaos and civilians are starved (or shot whilst trying to get to food).
I grew up in an ultra orthodox family and community. It was instilled at a very young age and throughout my life (and BTW the actually meaning is repair the WORLD not yourself- that would just be TIKUN to repair the same way you repair a car) Why do you think Jews have always be in the forefront on innovation and technology? It's embedded into our DNA. Believe me, I am as far right as a Jew can be, I've never been a leftist! Am Israel Chai
Very disappointed by this very conservative essay. I am surprise that a thinker like you who took an unpopular stance during the pandemic can totally overlook the killing of children, women , elderly , sick people by a western power backed by imperialist powers and overlook as well the events since 1948 that led to the creation of the open air prison camp of Gaza and the apartheid state. I am surprised , as a friend of mine remarked that you did not discern that Zionism is a mass formation psychosis. I will not read you anymore and neither recommend any of your works.
This is a most pathetic example of how humans, especially the "educated" who spend their lives in thier own heads, can come up with ideas about reality and then be completely in denial about them.
The writer is obviously an imbecile or has someone turning the thumbscrews on him so that he ignores the holocaust of Palestinians that's being done by Israel and largely supported by Jewish people everywhere, and by the entirety of Western civilisation. And by the majority of industrial civilisation, if you want a broad view.
Mr Desmet apparently has such a narrow view he can't even apply his own theory to himself. A complete waste of space.
They are not pro-Palestinian marches - this is how the press labels them. The marches are for a ceasefire in Gaza and a free Palestine (equal rights for Palestinians who live in what is known legally as the Occupied Territories). This would lead to less deaths of Palestinians and the release of Israeli hostages. Thousands of Jewish people march, speak and support these rallies - horrified that 'Israel' behaves like those who oppressed Jews in WWII (their words, not mine).
Palestine was given by the British Empire in 1917 to what was effectively a Zionist movement they helped nurture. It had nothing to do with WWII. And it had nothing to do with a Homeland for Jews. This was the selling point which hid something darker. Both Churchill (in charge of the mid-east at the time) and Balfour were raging antisemites and saw Palestine as a way to rid Europe of Jews and not to lose land advantage following the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This is documented. The British Empire used the Zionist movement, which in turn used a modern (1800s) narrative that the Jews from Europe were the chosen people. They were chosen - not by God - but by the British Empire to act as human shields for the colonial expansionist project. This expansionism for Western interests has continued under the US hegemon. As RFK Jr says 'Israel is useful to us...like having an aircraft carrier in the mid-east'.
Hamas' aim is not to kill Jews. These are lazy tropes regurgitated daily by MSM and pro-Israel lobby groups. As the 2017 Hamas Covenant says: 'Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist project not with the Jews because of their religion. Hamas does not wage a struggle against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against the Zionists who occupy Palestine. Yet, it is the Zionists who constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project and illegal entity.'
This is exactly the point. Israel isn't about Jews or Judaism. How could anybody be safe in a land stolen by the British Empire and surrounded by the very refugees created by the theft? How could anybody be safe building their houses on the razed villages of dead Arabs, while their relatives watched from a few miles away? It was a lie and a cruel trick played on Jewish people so desperate for safety following the atrocities of WWII.
As for a 'deserved' homeland - what use is that if it merely transfers the loss, expulsions and ethnic cleansing the Jews suffered, onto the Palestinians. It's still the same problem. Nothing has been solved.
You may wish to read further on the unfolding of events on October 7th 2023 from witness statements on the ground (October7.org) to the actions of the IDF. I know someone who used to live in Kibbutz Be'eri who confirmed that IDF tanks fired into kibbutz buildings. This has been reported in both Haaretz and the Times of Israel. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-07/ty-article-magazine/.premium/idf-ordered-hannibal-directive-on-october-7-to-prevent-hamas-taking-soldiers-captive/00000190-89a2-d776-a3b1-fdbe45520000
As for taking one side or the other. If this was WWII and there was mobile phone footage broadcast live from the camps, we'd also be out on the streets. But it is happening now to the Palestinians. Hence the protest focusing mainly on Gaza, the West Bank and freedom & equality for Palestinians.
The Arabs and Jews have something in common. They were both lied to by the British Empire. The Arabs (as the British colonists referred to the Palestinians) were told they could have the land if they helped the British rid the place of the Ottomans. The European Jews were told they hailed from the Levant, whereas both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (who make up 95% of the Israeli Jewish population) are predominantly European according to their DNA.
Antisemitism has been used to prevent a deep-dive into the real reasons for the creation of a 'bulwark' (RFK Jr again) in the middle East created to serve the interests of the Anglo-colonial and later Anglo-US Empire. If people knew the truth and how and why they've been lied to, they may not be as keen to defend what is effectively an Anglo-US colony that cares little for the safety of Jews & Palestinians.
good nuanced points. Thanks. One thing I must note is that the state of Israel was not founded because of the holocaust. You wrote:
" the cause of the Arab countries' invasion was the colonialist founding of the state of Israel by the United Nations, the cause of that founding was the Holocaust, and so on. "
I really must stress this as it's commonly misunderstood. Zionism (a Jewish nationalist movement which sought a homeland for European jews), whose ideology was finally realized in the founding of Israel, was first being spoken of in Jewish European circles in the 1880's. Theodor Hertlz being the central figure. European Jews took themselves to Palestine as early as the late 1800s, into the early 1900s (google first and 2nd Aliyah). the first Zionist congress took place in 1886- there the drafts for jewish national homeland with international support took place. in 1901 , the Jewish National Fund was established, tasked with buying land in Palestine. Strategic patches of Zionist Jewish settlement propped up through the early 1900s. Google the "Al-Fula Affair" of 1910 , in which land purchased by the Jewish National Fund displaced 1000 Palestinians, and caused a bloody fight between the two parties. 1917 Balfour Declaration , as commonly known, aided Zionism in legally enabling further Jewish settlement in Palestine. Between 1917 and 1948, there was much back and forth about whether this growing Zionist mission should occur. the King - Crane commission of 1918, commissioned by the U.S, found most locals opposed Zionism and thus called for a limit on Jewish immigration into Palestine. it was ignored. the 1930 Hope - Simpson Commission of Enquiry found similar discontent among Arabs. The report found Arabs peasants needed help and that Jewish immigration was again troubling. and so on and so on. 1948 the Zionist movement is successful enough to establish istself as the state of Israel. the holocaust merely meant Israel could be a safe place for European Jews to flee to after the horrors of Europe. But it played no part in the creation of Israel or the Zionist ideology whatsoever.
I found this essay to be pretty even-handed, although I disagree with some of the specific points. I was relieved to not read another diatribe against Israel, as is so typical these days.
The “Palestinians” wanted control of Gaza. Israel withdrew all Jews from Gaza in 2005. What has resulted is a terrorism hotbed. Sorry, but it is impossible to live in peace with people whose only option for peace is your destruction and death.
Is anyone talking about areas A, B, and C in Judaea and Samaria? Despite my interest in Israel for many years, I only learned about these areas the other day.
It’s interesting how it is hardly mentioned that israel has been accepting as a matter of course, the lobbing of rockets into Israel from Gaza and Lebanon for years. Who has been talking about the fact that Israelis need to have “safe rooms” in their houses and other places where they can run when the alarms sound to warn of these incoming rockets?
How can people not see the evil of Hamas and the impossibility of being at peace with a terrorist organization bent on Israel’s destruction?
Many people who are “conspiracy theorists” and don’t trust the UN, the ICC, the WHO, et al, are suddenly willing to believe NWO entities when they are anti-Israel.
I could go on and on, but I will conclude with this article, written in 2005. This is the fundamental issue in this situation.
https://www.thebereancall.org/content/judgment-day-approaching?sapurl=Lys5MjZkL2xiL2xpLyt3dm44dWs4P2JyYW5kaW5nPXRydWUmZW1iZWQ9dHJ1ZSZyZWNlbnRSb3V0ZT1hcHAud2ViLWFwcC5saWJyYXJ5Lmxpc3QmcmVjZW50Um91dGVTbHVnPSUyQnd2bjh1azg=
Where there is occupation, there will be resistance, just as night follows day. This is why the Jewish resistance blew up the King David Hotel - to rid the place of the British occupiers - same thing.
You don't know what you are talking about, you are clueless.
We are talking about genocide by Israel. It has already killed more than 39 000 people, most of them civilians and half of them children and women.
That is called a crime against humanity.
The conspiracy theorists know perfectly well that most of the countries in the UN do not have the power they should have and that the UN has been hijacked by the US. That is why they veto anything that would stop wars and genocide.
How’s the koolaid?
you in America know it better: intoxicated by sugars and processed foods. And always have a crack on every street corner to finish you off.
I live in the woods. No houses in sight. Off grid. Haul my water. Split my wood - sometimes with a gas-powered splitter, but last year, I split all 5+ cords by myself with a maul. Stacked it, hauled it in. I’m no sissy. Not all Americans are the type that I’m ashamed of being associated with, but I AM ashamed of this country and my “fellow”-Americans. Most of them, at least. They have no clue about what real life is like in their sterile houses and offices. I have made almost every bookcase and trunk and kitchen shelf in my cabin with hand tools. I eat organic food. Almost 100% of the meat I eat is what I have raised (chickens, cows, sheep). I quit processed white sugar in 1996 and eat honey and maple syrup (often homemade). I have never done drugs. I’ve never even drunk alcohol. So be careful about assuming too much just because of the country of one’s birth.
I read some. I read enough.
Did you read the article I linked above?
Additional recommended reading for Mattias Desmet: https://rightsforum.org/opinie/uit-het-draaiboek-van-europa/
It’s about controlling the price of energy worldwide “oil”. One of the most abundant resources labeled “fossil fuels.” We’re being played by fascist psychopaths working for central bankers. All the world’s a stage. War is about natural resources. Religions are for manipulations like media. Jews have very little Hebrew in their DNA. I wish I had a “promise land” or was “chosen”, but those beliefs were conjured up by scribes working for Kings. There is Truth in the Great Religions but the institutions have been hijacked by psychopaths.
"Britain's - and later America's- drive to conquest was foreshadowed unmistakably by Mackinder's cursory yet almost oracular mention of the several bridgeheads that the Sea Powers need to graft unto the heartland to draw out its armies in a deliberate sequence of separate clashes. To isolate each conflict, the targeted territorial portion had to be severed from its adjacent district, and bled white by prolonged strife waged in the name of political, religious, or ethnic diversity. Thus the Anglo-Americans have always acted: in Europe by spinning everybody against Germany (1904-45); in the Near East, by jamming Israel in the heart of the Arab world (1917-present); in the Far East, by planting thorns in the side of China: Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan (1950-present); in Central Asia by destabilizing the entire region into tribal warfare with the help of Pakistan to prevent the Caspian seaboard from gravitating into the Russian sphere of influence (1979-present).
... Imperial stratagems are protracted affairs. The captains of world aggression measure their achievements, or failures, on a timescale whose unit is the generation. -- Guido Preparata, Conjuring Hitler, pg. 16
"Scientists at Tel Aviv University's School of Plant Sciences announced these days that they have recorded with special ultrasonic-sensitive microphones the cries of pain that plants emit when they are cut or when they lack water. There are no microphones in Gaza."
Oct. 30, 2023
Giorgio Agamben
So typical how all these anti-flu protesters suddenly lost the ability to judge right after 7 October! Mattias Desmet, you may think that you’re an original independent thinker, but you’re actually very very typical, look at the examples that I gave in this opinion piece that I wrote last October, you fit in 100%
https://marjoleinvanpagee.substack.com/p/geen-oordeel-vellen-houdt-onrecht (In Dutch)
We definitely need to take a stance, but neutrality is also a stance that is not allowed in highly polarised times. But more important than taking a stand is something else: saying what the reality of the situation is.
The danger of losing friends and making new friends in chaotic times is that the new transfer (a psychoanalytical concept) clouds our minds.
Desmet may be losing himself in this - among anticovid friends there are also tacit supporters of genocide. But maybe it's not just that: I think he wants to reformulate the problem in a different way, but I don't know if he realises the danger of doing so - because he is rapidly drifting away from the truth of the problem.
So he misses the mark twice:
- he has lost resonant contact with the civilian victims of Israel's systematic genocide
- he has not engaged in serious historical analysis, only clichés such as 'Human, all too human', he could have said 'Homo homini lupus'.
And you know, in my opinion, it all comes down to a lack of understanding colonialism as a system of oppression. Zionism is a political and ideological branch of the Western colonial empire. Without Western/colonial support, Zionism would be dead. That’s why I ironically speak of the ‘anti-flu movement’ to express my disappointment, it’s not a movement of resistance, it’s just a bunch of white people crying that the empire hurt them too. This selective outrage is not only illustrative for the very Eurocentric (and often openly colonial!) world view within these circles, it also prevents to connect some important dots.
100%
Okay, I got it. That's partly true. As I follow critical theory and philosophy, it may be quite true that Anti-colonial thought is probably the last critical position today.
Are you Mattias’ personal assistant? The moral police of his comment section? Dictating others on how we should respond? Or are you Mattias himself?
Sorry your convoluted way of arguing makes it very tiring to continue the conversation. You keep derailing the issue and keep on defending Mattias no matter what! You may not know him personally, but he’ll be very happy with loyal supporters like you who criticize his critics but do not apply the same standards to his writings. It’s also pretty annoying how you keep on lecturing others on what appropriate is or not, meanwhile congratulating yourself with how morally superior you are. Good luck with that, I rest my case!
It is remarkable how even in the political movement formed during the corona-era, venting criticisms about the pandemic narrative and, generally spoken, also not buying into the current pro Ukranian NATO-narrative, new forms of political correctness arise. This article above is a clear example of that.
Notice how this so-called movement allows itself to analyse what’s going on in Ukraine in-dept on the one hand, but hesitates to do any serious analysis of what’s happening in Gaza on the other hand. It is hard to escape the conclusion that this is due to a political choice. The reason could be that the movement mentionend consists of pro-Palestinian people, neutral people as well as (often fundamentalist christian) zionists alike while the perception prevails that the movement risks falling apart if it would delve too much into the Israeli conflict. A more personal and opportunistic reason could very well be that Desmet is using the conflict, of which he clearly has neither a relevant clue nor even the slightest grasp, to appear a bit more moderate and balanced in the eyes of his employer Ghent University while rejecting the demands for a boycott, just to compensate for his more radical years of warning for the danger of totalitarian movements and conformism during the corona-era.
However, a political movement which is neither willing nor capable of well-informed and intelligent analysis, but starts to satsify itself with romanticised bedtimefiction instead, is doomed to fade away sooner or later.
that was also my point
Apparently, you missed my third remark below in which I criticise Mr. Ely's comment and present such an analysis. It is easy to just feed people some nice sounding risk-free semi-intellectual twaddle, like Desmet does. It's less easy to properly study the historical and legal aspects of this conflict in order to develop a well-informed opinion.
Postmodern praise of uncertainty and display of other forms of intellectual helplessness will undoubtedly endear some girls, especially if it happens around the campfire after a couple of Belgian beers, but in reality it amounts to a plea for disengagement and self-immobilization.
The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian population is usually associated with complexity, but much of it is merely a smokescreen in order to discourage people from investigating its cause. In this way the myth is fed to the masses of a spiral of violence without beginning or end. This myth obviously suits the strongest party in this asymmetrical power conflict, namely apartheid-state Israel, which will undoubtedly persists in the targeted bombing of Gazan civilians (by most Israeli’s blatantly called ‘seed of Amalek’), despite of that.
Unfortunately, the same can be said of Desmet's sweettalk endeavour above, which is based on this myth. In this way, Desmet himself in fact actively contributes to the dehumanization that he claims to be against.
The superficial half-baked mysticism from Desmet, which will undoubtedly cater to the masses which on average don’t like bloodshed and have no clue either, isn't based on any substantial analysis and therefore only capable of pulling the wool over our eyes once more.