Israeli propaganda bordering on absurdity

Zionist propaganda in justifying the slaughter of Palestinians displays a level of absurdity underlying the tragedy of genocide, writes Lyn Bender.

WHEN MY FATHER was in his last days, he responded to a well-wisher urging him to have a good sleep – it sounds funnier in Yiddish – with a smile:

“Soon, I will be having a very good sleep.”

My father cracked the comedy code.

There is nothing whatsoever funny about the Nazi Holocaust or about the massacres of Palestinians. My father’s and mother’s murdered family and relatives could attest to that if they had a voice. The Palestinians who are currently being live-stream murdered, and who have suffered massacres and displacement from the 1948 Nakba, deserve our sorrow horror and actions to save them.

As a career, I opted for the serious business of tears, sadness, trauma and grief counselling. The zenith of my career was the role of manager of Lifeline. I turned my back on the gallows humour of my childhood.

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I am now wondering about returning to my roots and pivoting towards comedic, reductio ad absurdum, at least when responding to Zionist propaganda.

Wikipedia definition:

Reductio ad absurdum is a Latin phrase that means “reduction to the absurd”. The phrase describes a kind of indirect proof. It is a proof by contradiction and is a common form of argument. It shows that a statement is true because its denial leads to a contradiction or a false or absurd result. It is a way of reasoning that has been used throughout the history of mathematics and philosophy from classical antiquity onwards.

Bassem Youssef, an Egyptian American, now attracting an audience of millions worldwide, swapped his career as a heart surgeon for the craft of comedy. Married to a Palestinian woman, he lamented that he was unable to kill her despite having tried repeatedly and that she uses the children as human shields.

Replying to the absurd with rational argument can be an enterprise more hopeful than gratifying. I’m not denying that it must be done. It’s a tough job but somebody must do it. Hats off to evidence, investigative journalism and eyewitnesses’ testimony.

When a protester objecting to the killing of 60,000 Iraqis during the Iraq War threw a shoe at former Prime Minister John Howard, this act resonated with viewers who wanted to throw objects at their television screens. John Howard had been “justifying” the invasion on the discredited myth of “weapons of mass destruction”.

Remember the WMDs that the UN weapons inspector Hans Blix failed to find? The Blair-Bush-Howard coalition said that only meant that they were well hidden and invaded anyway.

Yes, cried Howard’s unseen viewers as minders hustled the protester away from the seemingly respectfully compliant television audience. The shoe was later sold on eBay for over $3,600.

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The greatest comedy, such as that of John Cleese and Barry Humphries, exposes the absurd. In his last days in hospital, Humphries is reported to have joked about the Grim Reaper stalking the corridors. And the John Cleese sketch, ‘Don't mention the war’, as he goose-steps towards the German customers in the Fawlty Towers hotel, cracks us up. Yet it disrupts our denial and pretence.

We are now watching much of our enabling media trying not to mention the “the war” or the Palestinians in a manner that has me cursing and wishing to throw a shoe at the sycophantism that supports the myth of Israeli victimhood. It’s not a “war”, it’s an occupier liquidating the Ghetto.

Here is a list of some of the absurd responses of the Israeli spokespersons.

When confronted with the mounting death toll displacement and starvation of the people in Gaza, the response may be one or all of the following:

Blame Hamas.

The numbers of civilians killed and injured are not true.

We don’t know how they died.

We work hard not to bomb hospitals schools and civilians.

There were tunnels under the hospital that we bombed.

Hamas uses all Palestinians as human shields.

We warn people before we bomb them.

We tell them to go to safe zones.

Israel is a democracy.

Anyone who criticises Israel is anti-Semitic.

Jews who criticise Israel are self-hating Jews.

We can’t be committing genocide because of the Holocaust.

The International Court of Justice is anti-Semitic.

When confronted with the evidence of Gazans suffering, the conversation must be diverted to a lament about 7 October.

Everyone interviewed is asked to first denounce Hamas.

1,200 killed on 7 October is a holocaust.

Over 30,000 Palestinians killed is not a holocaust.

Jews cannot be perpetrators because they suffered the Nazi Holocaust.

How dare you mention the Warsaw ghetto. (That happened in Warsaw.)

There is no occupation of Gaza. (We just control it and can and have put it under siege.)

Israel has the world’s most moral army.

We have instructed our Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) not to kill unnecessarily or post compromising videos (of them displaying Palestinian women’s underwear, or laughing as they blow up stuff).

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I could go on. But I hope you get the drift.

In short, Israel declares:

We didn’t do it; but if it happened it was Hamas, who did it.

Okay, we did it, but Hamas made us.

It may have happened, but we didn’t mean to do it.

If there is no evidence, we can make some up.

We are permanently off the hook because of the Holocaust.

All criticism is invalid because it is anti-Semitic.

There should be special awards bestowed on the most absurd propagandists who convey hasbara, which, according to Wikipedia:

‘Hasbara (Hebrew: הַסְבָּרָה) has no direct English translation, but roughly means “explaining”. It is a communicative strategy that “seeks to explain actions, whether or not they are justified”.’

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Special absurdity awards should be created for blatant self-incriminating admissions. They must go to Israeli Minister for Finance Bezalel Smotrich for declared ongoing support for extending illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Also to Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for advocating for the shooting of Palestinian women and children.

And to Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli Ambassador to Britain who has long advocated for mass killings of Gazans.

The U.S. under President Biden deserves an award for feeble calls for restraint while providing billions to Israel for weapons. Plus announcing a possible “peace agreement” for starving Gazans between licks of an ice cream held aloft as though it was a microphone.

Finally, to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for invoking Amalek and calling for the biblical instruction to justify the annihilation of the Palestinians. All the while claiming that Israel is a modern democracy.

On 1 March, over 100 Gazans desperate for food were killed in Northern Gaza when IDF opened fire on them. IDF reports that they were killed in the crush for food and the IDF feared for their own safety. And it was the trucks. (Not the extreme panic from being fired at or the imposed starvation.)

Despite eyewitness reports, special adviser Mark Regev “implies” that the IDF was not responsible for the deaths.