by Jonathan Krall
The ethnic cleansing of Palestine receives too little attention from the mainstream media. At present, typical media reports make it seem as if a few Israeli settlements are encroaching on Palestinian territory. In fact, Israeli settlements blanket the West Bank like McDonald’s franchises. Because roads connecting settlements to each other are controlled by Israel’s military occupation forces, Palestinian communities are cut off from each other. These roads, like the settlements, are built on expropriated Palestinian land. A separation barrier, also called the apartheid wall, curtails Palestinians’ freedom of movement and negatively affects their fundamental “rights to work, education, medical care, family life, earning a living and an adequate standard of living”. Israeli forces, aided by the USA, routinely bulldoze the homes of Palestinians who resist. Recently, Israel attempted to level an entire Palestinian village.
This alarms me because Israel is demonstrating that ethnic cleansing on a national scale is acceptable to the US mainstream political and social leadership. Because our mainstream media fails to call this out, white nationalists here in the USA, including Trump, are empowered to proceed with their own campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Yes, individual stories are reported, but the scope of the problem remains hidden in plain sight, both in the USA and in Palestine. While the media equivocates, the US military builds “tent cities” for migrant children at the US-Mexico border and quietly discharges immigrants from its ranks. The Justice Department escalates the “war on drugs,” targeting black Americans. “Law and order” policing targets minorities. Homeland Security generates and disseminates anti-Muslim propaganda. These are elements of an expanding, national-scale, ethnic cleansing campaign.
Richard Spencer and his white nationalist allies repeatedly demand that the USA become a “white ethno-state.” Trump is carrying out Spencer’s wishes.
I care. Do you?
Action: We are not helpless. The Grassroots Alexandria Anti Fascism Team continues protest at Richard Spencer’s home office in Alexandria on the 2nd and 4th Sunday each month. At these protests, we distribute fliers to educate the public and suggest specific actions to oppose white nationalism. All are welcome to participate.