We Should Not be Shocked by Ben Gavir's Racist Remarks

By: Nourdine Shnino

Israel extremist minster Itamar Ben Gavir said in a TV statement that his rights and his family’s rights are more important than the rights of Arabs.

But one should NOT be shocked by such racist comments since they already expose the reality of a wider image of Israel’s system of apartheid committed against Palestinians on a daily basis for decades.

Such racist statements are the result of a hidden Israeli Talmudic culture that holds that the Jew is the best race and has the right to sovereignty over others who are servants of that race which are not the first and won’t be the last.

They are the crudely declared form of Zionist ideology that permeates the Zionist society.

Since Israel’s founding in 1984, Ben Gvir’s statements have been practiced discreetly against Palestinians. He only made them public now that the new Israeli administration has turned its back on the outside world and human rights organizations.

Palestinians struggle on a daily basis with hardships such as mobility limitations, restricted access to resources like water and land, discriminatory policies, and socioeconomic disadvantages.

The US government and other European nations fiercely condemned these remarks after realizing how serious they were.

Several international organizations asserted that these regulations amount to an apartheid-like form of systemic oppression.

In 2021, Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Israel of committing crimes against humanity apartheid, and persecution against Palestinians in the occupied territories.

This reality cites the Israeli-built wall between the two peoples as proof of apartheid-like conditions, as well as the different legal treatment of Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank.

The Apartheid Wall in the West Bank

The most immediate consequence of the barrier is its physical separation of Palestinian communities in the West Bank from each other and from vital resources such as farmland, healthcare facilities, and educational institutions.

Palestinian families have been cut off from each other, and previously accessible services are now harder to reach. This isolation disrupts the fabric of daily life and hinders the development of cohesive Palestinian communities.

The Apartheid Wall also resulted in the seizure of Palestinian land and the destruction of property, often leading to the displacement of families and communities. Palestinian farmers have lost access to their agricultural lands due to the barrier’s placement, impacting their livelihoods and exacerbating economic challenges.

Unlike the Israelis, Palestinians who live on the “Israeli side” of the barrier but hold West Bank IDs face onerous restrictions on their movement, making it difficult for them to access their places of work, education, healthcare, and even family members in other parts of the West Bank.

Moreover, the barrier has exacerbated social fragmentation within Palestinian society. Families, friends, and communities have been physically separated, leading to a breakdown of social ties and networks that were integral to Palestinian culture and societal cohesion.

Bin Gavir and those like him represent the criminal occupation of a people who have the right to live freely on their land and in their country of origin, perpetuating a situation of crimes and suffering that has persisted for far too long.

Their actions and ideologies not only undermine the principles of human rights and self-determination but also stand as barriers to the Palestinian right to self-determination.

The continued denial of the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people, as exemplified by figures like Bin Gavir, deepens wounds and animosities, perpetuating a cycle of oppression and apartheid against Palestinians in their homeland.