“Nothing About Today is ‘Unprovoked’”

After the Palestinian group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years – with many killed, hostages taken, and fighting raging – many U.S. elected officials released statements Saturday condemning the “unprovoked” attacks.

But many others took to Twitter Saturday to ask incredulously how Israel’s continued brutal occupation of the Palestinian people cannot be considered a provocation.

Author, comedian and political activist Amer Zahr, for instance, tweeted the following.

• 75 years of ethnic cleansing
• 15 years of blockade
• Confiscation of Palestinian lands
• Pogroms on Palestinian towns
• Desecration of Palestinian sacred sites
• Daily raids into Palestinian homes
• Constant humiliation of an entire people

Nothing about today is “unprovoked.”

Writer Caitlin Johnstone tweeted: “It’s clear now that whenever the western political/media class starts bleating the word ‘unprovoked’ in unison, you know with absolute certainty that whatever they’re talking about was massively provoked.”

– Common Dreams Staff
Excerpted from “Horrific. Unjustified.
Morally Wrong. But ‘Unprovoked’?”
Common Dreams
October 7, 2023

NEXT:
Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About
Ending This Spiraling Violence,
We Need to Look at Root Causes”

Related Off-site Links:
Hamas Surprise Attack Out of Gaza Stuns Israel and Leaves Hundreds Dead in Fighting and Retaliation – Josef Federman and Issam Adwan (AP News, October 7, 2023).
Israel Vows “Mighty Vengeance” After Surprise Attack – Maayan Lubell, Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Ammar Awad (Reuters, October 7, 2023).
Biden’s “Concerns” About Israel Don’t Match Voters’ Concerns About Injustice – Phyllis Bennis (The Hill, August 17, 2023).

UPDATES: Debacle – Marianne Williamson (Transform, October 8, 2023).
The West's Hypocrisy Towards Gaza's Breakout Is Stomach-Turning – Jonathan Cook (Middle East Eye, October 8, 2023).
“A Massive War Crime”: Israel Announces Total Blockade of Gaza Strip – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, October 9, 2023).
Who to Blame for the Latest Violence in Israel and Gaza? Benjamin Netanyahu – Haaretz Editorial Board via Common Dreams (October 9, 2023).
Hamas Attack a Response to Netanyahu’s and Biden’s Choices – Mitchell Plitnick (Mondoweiss, October 9, 2023).
As Israel and Gaza Erupt, the U.S. Must Commit to Ending the Violence — All the Violence – Phyllis Bennis (The Hill, October 9, 2023).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “The Mistreatment and Discrimination Against Palestinians Is Not Unprecedented. It’s Baked Into the Foundation of the Political System in Israel”
• Progressive Perspectives on the Ongoing Israeli-Palestinian “Nightmare”
• Something to Think About – July 29, 2018
• Noura Erakat: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
• For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
• Remembering the Six-Day War and Its Ongoing Aftermath
• David Norris: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2014
• Something to Think About – July 18, 2014
• “We Will Come Together in Our Pain”
• Thoughts on Prayer in a “Summer of Strife”

Image 1: Rockets are fired from Gaza City towards Israel on October 7, 2023. (Photo: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images)
Image 2: A sign at a protest against Israel’s attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem – Israeli Embassy in London, April 8, 2023. (Photo: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)