"Israel Has A Right To Defend Itself" Is A Genocidal Slogan

"Israel Has A Right To Defend Itself" Is A Genocidal Slogan

April 16, 2025

ISRAEL IMPERIALISM - FOLLOW THE MONEY

Caitlin Johnstone

Sanders has been mixing his support for Israel in with periodic criticisms of Netanyahu and the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, always taking care to make his criticisms about the behavior of Israel's current leadership and not the nature of the racist apartheid state itself.

Sanders is doing this for two reasons. Firstly, he is working to galvanize a big tent inclusive coalition of Democrats in opposition to Trump, and he wants that big tent to include people who think genocide is bad and people who think genocide is fine. He doesn't want to offend the pro-genocide liberals.

Secondly, Sanders is doing this because he himself is a Zionist. Like other liberal Zionists, Bernie Sanders upholds a vision of an Israel that has never, ever existed: one which remains an ethnostate dominated by Jews, but which conducts itself in a kind and just manner, without constantly murdering and abusing Palestinians.

This iteration of the state of Israel is a fiction. An imaginary fantasyland, like Narnia. Everything about Israel is stacked against the possibility of such a status quo ever emerging, and Israel has always done everything it can to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. By pretending it is possible to have the Zionist entity and also have peace and justice, liberal Zionists help manufacture public consent for continuing to feed weapons to the genocidal apartheid state of Israel.

Reading by Tim Foley

Article with supporting links: https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/04/17/israel-has-a-right-to-defend-itself-is-a-genocidal-slogan

Original: https://youtu.be/XXr9G8Q9kxk

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I write about the end of illusions. 100% reader-funded writer. All works co-authored with my American husband Tim Foley.

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