Death, death and the IDF

I was in England a few weeks back, just after Glastonbury. The big scandal then was the BBC televising a chant of “Death, death to the IDF” by British rappers Bob Vylan. It followed performative outrage about another Glastonbury band, Irish independence trio Kneecap, whose lead singer Mo Chara has recently faced terrorism charges for allegedly flying the Hezbollah flag at a gig in London (he says he was thrown it by a fan and had no idea what it was). Following the broadcast, Culture Minister Lisa Nandy was publicly pondering the future of the BBC’s Director General, a position that serves as something of a punching bag for the repressed political dynamics of the Establishment, for failing to immediately cut the livestream.

I couldn’t understand the controversy. Or rather, I could understand it politically, but at a basic level it felt uncontroversial that, after nearly 2 years of brutal siege and slaughter, the Israeli Defence Force as a military outfit operating way outside any semblance of moral norms or decency is similarly beyond the pale of human sympathy or consideration. In my view, Israel has delegitimised itself through its actions since the mass murder of its citizens in Hamas’ October 7 attacks. I don’t really care what happens to its institutions or figureheads, least of all the one directly meting out the genocide.

Israel is now the roguest of states. No country in the current Middle East can compare - and to my mind (and I’m no expert), not even Syria, Libya or Iraq under Saddam operated with such reckless, provocative impunity. That is not to wish harm on any of its citizens, although when one reads about the latest murder by an Israeli settler in the West Bank, one is minded to side with the (Jewish) Chapo Trap House podcast host who recently called for shipments of weapons to Palestinians trying to defend their communities against illegal invasion. Instead, rather than reflexively referring to Jewish friends who I love dearly, I’ll simply say that in person I have liked every Israeli I have met, appreciating their wit, rugged energy and bluntness. And yet when I read about Italian islanders turning away an Israeli cruise ship with a portside protest, I think that’s great: they shouldn’t be allowed to vacation while the concentration camp they created at home starves to death.

I, needless to say, am allowed to holiday, while I’m also well aware of what’s happening. I was down south in June when I read the first full accounts of Palestinians being slaughtered for sport while desperately queueing at aid sites. And I was overseas in Europe when the inevitable outcome of the extremely deliberate Israeli government policy to starve Gaza of any food became apparent on phone screens and front pages - teenagers weighing 10 kilograms, babies reduced to spines and limbs, and floods of people mobbing the only food trucks that get in. Britain’s most right-wing tabloid published a front page yelling FOR PITY’S SAKE STOP THIS NOW. And of course Israel didn’t.

It’s a famine that’s not just directly caused by Israel but actively designed by Israel, who developed a plan to outsource food distribution in Gaza from the UN to a private US military contractor, on the justification that the UN was being exploited by Hamas who were stealing supplies. It has emerged in recent days that there is no evidence for this claim. It is a lie that has literally cost thousands of Palestinian lives - as many civilians have been murdered by Israel while queuing for aid in the past two months as were killed by Hamas on October 7.

The World Food Program this week described the starvation in Gaza as the worst the world has seen this century, and compared it to previous global famine flashpoints in Biafra and Ethiopia. But the images coming out of Gaza in recent week are most evocative of those from an older horror, which like this one was deliberate, man-made genocide: the Holocaust inflicted on European Jews by the Nazis.

And so what is the appropriate response to these images and accounts reappearing in 2025? I was travelling - I could have joined a freedom flotilla but that’s just PR, not aid delivery. It’s not as if Gaza needs more comms, although it has to be said that the reason I’ve been recently re-engaged is in large part due to the prominence it’s had again in recent weeks on the major international media outlets where I still go first for my news.

International law has afforded no restraints. As the Guardian said today, “The [Israeli] government has pursued a campaign of starvation despite pressure from its allies and repeated emergency orders from the international court of justice, issued to protect Palestinians as judges consider whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.” Israeli public figures called for “crippling sanctions” against their own country, and two Israeli human rights groups accused their government of committing genocide.

Meanwhile, the marches continue in cities around the world, and more pointy direct action becomes further proscribed, only fuelling further attention on its causes and contributing to a generally febrile atmosphere of public outrage, disgust and anger at Israel and its backers, whether explicit or complicit. Over the past two years, I've been to the rallies, donated some money and written a couple of articles - I stopped marching because nothing seemed to work.

And one’s mind turns to the question of taking out Netanyahu. It is well known that the continuation of the war is beneficial to his political survival, which likely motivates its escalation and duration. The ongoing assault on Gaza has not only repaired his political standing to some extent but also protects him from political corruption charges that would consume him if his government were to collapse and he lose office. According to a recent New York Times investigation, “once the war began, Netanyahu’s decisions were at times coloured predominantly by political and personal need instead of only military or national necessity.”

So why does no one try to kill him? To be clear, I’m not suggesting anyone should (least of all me) but simply noting that to the best of my knowledge no one has so far tried. The logistical obstacles are easy to imagine. It would probably only lead to someone even worse from his fascist coalition taking charge - repeatedly decapitating Hamas’ leadership hasn’t even fully neutralised them. But will anything stop the insane Israeli war machine? 

Barely a month after the BBC’s Glastonbury furore, outrage has turned serious - now more than a third of British MP’s signed an open letter demanding Britain recognise a Palestinian state, seemingly the greatest injury one can do to the Israeli government, as France shortly will by joining 140 other countries who already have (but no sign from Australia.) A swathe of UK cabinet members are reported to have urged Keir Starmer to move, and lo and behold he’s now also saying the UK will recognise Palestine if there’s no ceasefire by September. Even Trump is calling out Netanyahu’s bullshit, saying there’s no way of faking this famine and that his priority is “getting kids fed”.

This week, Israel has finally relented slightly in the face of what media keep calling “mounting global horror”, and announced a few tactical pauses and allowed in a bit more food. It’s almost impossible to imagine the end game here. But there was a small part of me that wondered as I flew back into Perth the other night whether the most ethical use of my air miles would have been a trip to Tel Aviv.

While researching whether there was any legal liability that might attach to publication of the above (Reddit thinks not), I learnt that an Israeli activist was recently accused of attempting to assassinate Netanyahu, and she's not the only one. It still feels like Gaza is really the only thing one can write about right now. I've got nothing to say that a million observers far closer to it than me haven't already, but what else can one reasonably focus on when starving people are still being mown down every single day. I'll have another piece later this week about something else a bit closer to home, and maybe some more updates on what's happens next. In the meantime you'll also probably find me back on Instagram.