“The massacre of innocent people [in Rafah] is a serious matter. It is not a thing to be easily forgotten. It is our duty to cherish their memory.” — Mahatma Gandhi

“No explanation, no justification or excuse could ever cover up [the] horror [in Rafah]. It would be best if Israel’s [hasbara] machine didn’t even try to. No stories of “Hamas is responsible for it all,” and no excuses pointing to Hamas hiding among civilians. Horror of this scope has no explanation other than the existence of an army and government lacking any boundaries set by law or morality.” ¹

Anyone who puts a fraction of his mind to the task can construct a case that is overwhelming: “more than 36,000 people have been killed […], and more than 81,000 injured, though the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher, with thousands of people missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings.” ² Surely it is now obvious that what Israel has done in Gaza since October 7, by “virtually every dimension, the intensity of bombing, the density of bombing, the magnitude of destruction of civilian dwellings and infrastructure, the absolute number of children killed, the relative number of children killed, the number of medical personnel killed, the number of journalists killed, the number of UN workers killed,” ³ is unprecedented and the reason why Israel was brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Lamentably, “the prevailing pattern [in Austria’s political landscape] is one of indignant outrage [not over Israeli crimes], but over [Hamas] crimes, with much self-congratulatory appeal to high principle.” ⁴ Austrias foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg ominously expounded that the killing of 1,105 Israelis ⁵ on October 7 “was a breach of civilisation” that “overshadowed everything else in its cruelty”, lamenting the fact that “the [supposedly] authentic videos and photos [of Hamas cruelty] sent to him will follow him for the rest of his life.” ⁶ He then went on to express his gratitude towards Austria’s “clear position” on the evil scourge of terrorism by declaring that “murder is murder […] [and] must not be contextualised, because that’s relativizing it.” ⁶

Given the “horrific images from the Rafah massacre [that] prompted widespread scorn from world leaders and global organizations” ², Schallenberg has a remarkable ability ‘not to see’ the case of Israeli crimes for which we bear complicity. Did no one send Schallenberg video and photographs that emerged from the Rafah massacre, described as “some of the worst we have seen in the past seven and [a] half months” depicting Palestinians desperately attempting to recover charred bodies from the still raging fire and a man holding up the limp body of a headless baby? ² Does Schallenberg not read the news where survivors reported that “the sand turned red from the number of people wounded”, describing “[Rafah as] a scene of pure horror”? ⁷ Surely someone in Austria’s political spectrum must call out Schallenbergs grotesque hypocrisy and political malpractice. Sadly, there seems to be an obligation of silence on these matters; that is depraved but not without logic. After all, Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer pronounced that “across all political parties from right to left, we are united in solidarity with the Israeli people and the state of Israel”. ⁸

What I find most terrifying is not far-right members of the Israeli Knesset, with their cheerful suggestion that “a nuclear attack on the Gaza Strip is an option”, ⁹ but rather the calm disquisitions of the political scientists constantly rationalising the ludicrous argument that Israel has a right to defend itself, or just what form of government will be acceptable to us in Gaza. What I find terrifying is the detachment and equanimity of all our political parties with which they view and discuss the unbearable tragedy that Israel inflicts on Gaza. We all know that if Russia or China were guilty of what Israel has done in Gaza, we would be exploding with moral indignation at these monstrous crimes. It is indeed Hypocrisy, as John Milton wrote, [that] is “the only evil that walks Invisible except to God alone.”

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1. Gideon Levy, 11,500 Children Have Been Killed in Gaza. Horror of This Scale Has No Explanation, Haaretz, Feb.4, 2024. ↩︎

2. Maureen Clare Murphy, Israeli strike on Rafah kills dozens of displaced Palestinians, The Electronic Intifada, May.27, 2024. ↩︎

3. Israel-Hamas War: Norman Finkelstein vs Rabbi Shmuley, Feb.20, 2024. ↩︎

4. Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions – Thought Control in Democratic Societies, House of Anansi Press, 2003. ↩︎

5. Linda Dayan and Maya Lecker, How Haaretz Is Counting Israel’s Dead From the October 7 Hamas Attack, Haaretz, Nov.23, 2023. ↩︎

6. Rede von Außenminister Alexander Schallenberg bei der 241. Sitzung des Nationalrats zum Terrorangriff der Hamas auf Israel, Nov.24, 2023. ↩︎

7. Abubaker Abed, A scene of pure horror, The Electronic Intifada, May.27, 2024. ↩︎

8. Bundeskanzler Nehammer: Stehen immer an der Seite Israels, Oct.9, 2023. ↩︎

9. It’s Clear to Everyone Gazans Must Be Destroyed, Israeli Lawmaker Says, Haaretz, Jan.3, 2024. ↩︎

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