How many times did we hear the phrase, “they hate us for our freedoms” in the aftermath of September 11th and the Iraq War? Terrorists are terrorists, it is argued, because they hate something innate in the modern liberal democracies. They hate t-shirts, internet pornography and pension plans. Don’t forget mini-skirts.
The very same argument has been brought out once again for the latest invasion of Palestine by Israel. This time, however, the enemy (Hamas), simply hates the existence of the invading country (Israel). This simplistic view of the situation has been upheld by our own government with the phrase “Israel has the clear right to defend itself” then qualifies this with “it must minimize civilian casualties”. “First and foremost” said foreign minister Lawrence Cannon, “the rocket attacks must stop”. Since Hamas has launched rockets into Israel, Israel has the right to launch an all-out attack on Gaza to supposedly defend its citizens. Little mention in the mainstream media has been made of why Hamas has launched rockets into Israel in the first place, or why Hamas exists and is calling for the destruction of the Israeli state. This suggests that the assumption is that Hamas hates Israeli irrationally and must be destroyed in order to protect the citizens of Israel.
In an article titled “they hate us for our bombs“, Globe & Mail columnist Rick Salutin dissects this disturbing myth:
This is so in Kandahar, where Canadians keep dying, and “they,” or some of them, don’t hate us for our good intentions, but for the bombs that land on wedding parties. It’s so in Gaza, where people often show bomb remnants marked “Made in U.S.A.” That’s why they see “us” as enemies, like Israel. That, plus “our” support for Israel’s bombing. George Bush said it was fine with him. “No comment,” said Barack Obama, squandering some of the goodwill toward him. “First and foremost, those rocket attacks must stop,” said Canada’s Foreign Minister. It’s the “first and foremost” that invited rage. Most people, including Palestinians, know that rocketing others is bad – but so is being bombed. This is about understanding how people think, not debating it.
The bad guys should be punished with violence, not because of their actions or why they commit their actions, because there is something inherent to their character that causes violent outbursts. Could they be launching rockets because they feel locked up like animals in a compound smaller than the size of metropolitan Toronto? Could the violence committed by Israel in response to their treatment of the Palestinians be spurring even more violence, increasing hatred in retaliation? This does not justify the violence perpetrated by Hamas–it just makes sense of it.
This comes down to simple dehumanization. The perpetrators show no sense of rationality–one of the markers of humanity. They attack because they are either evil or commit evil acts with no rationale. To mark fellow human beings as “other” is to deny the fact that they are human and psychologically remove any right that they have to justice or compassion. This gives the “good guys” any right necessary to blot out the irrational other. You see this in the violence in Iraq, the oppression of Apartheid, and the massacres akin to My Lai. It is far too easy to call someone a religious fanatic because it takes the onus off the perpetrator for their own indiscretions and divides the world neatly into Manichean realms of absolute good and evil. And evil must be extinguished, must be extinguished through an act or acts of redemptive violence, which barring complete extermination of the “other” has never brought security to the “good guys” no matter how smart their bombs are.
Victory before peace, once again, rather than justice before peace.
