Juveriah Alam dissects Douglas Murray’s latest tirade against the Palestinians and argues that he, and his ilk, are immensely frustrated at the Palestinians’ refusal to admit defeat or leave their land.
Pro-Israel propagandist Douglas Murray recently wrote an entire column in the New York Post championing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. His argument for displacement was as flimsy as it was fervent.
He believes the “war” in Gaza cannot be over until the Palestinians have lost. And he believes that they must be “forced to realise that they have lost.” For Palestinians to lose and know they have lost, Murray recommends Donald Trump’s plan of “clearing people from the Gaza Strip.”
But what drives this obsession for seeing the Palestinians lose every last bit of dignity, culture and sense of personhood? It is especially odd to read such enthusiasm for the continued suffering of a people after 15 months of constant bombardment, homes destroyed and loved ones killed.
It seems that images of some of the worst, large-scale human suffering imaginable are not enough to satisfy Murray’s desires. Perhaps it was the smile of a little boy in Gaza receiving his first decent meal that triggered him? Or maybe it was witnessing the happiness and zeal of the Palestinians returning to their destroyed homes in northern Gaza?
For me, this attitude conjures up an image of 45 year old Douglas Murray watching Palestinian families reunite, screaming at the television: “You lost! You lost! Say it, damn you!”
Needless to say, these are not the words of a winning side.
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The dignity of Palestinians
The truth is that Murray and his fellow apologists for genocide are triggered by the Palestinians’ refusal to lose. Their display of strength, dignity and resilience are not good signs for Israel’s prospects in this “war.”
And there is no rule in war where one side has to surrender, or admit defeat. History is replete with examples of how a determined resistance movement can outlast a more powerful adversary – Vietnam, the Irish War of Independence and the Soviet-Afghan war to name a few.
It’s clear that Murray knows his target readership at the New York Post mainly consist of less-intelligent Americans. If he were writing in The Spectator, it’s doubtful whether he would write something as silly as “recommending that a population might move from where it is living is not the same thing as killing it.”
Anyone who knows anything about war crimes knows that you don’t have to kill a population to ethnically cleanse them. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that ethnic cleansing is the “forced removal of an ethnic group from a territory.” This is basic stuff and Murray knows it. And his American readers should be offended at his low opinion of them.
Murray goes on to make the tired old hasbara argument that the Palestinians are so awful and untrustworthy that none of the surrounding Arab countries are willing to take them in. It is doubtful whether his readership will ever realise that these countries simply don’t believe in relocating a whole population because it can amount to a war crime.
Perhaps New York Post readers might come across Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s statement that “displacement of the Palestinian people from their land is an injustice that we cannot take part in.” Of course, that wouldn’t be ideal for Murray’s narrative, which is why he only indirectly referred to such comments as “howls from parts of the Arab world.” Oh yes, his readers will think, those Arabs are always howling about something or another.
Murray then goes on to make the bizarre suggestion that Ireland, Canada and Pakistan take in the Palestinians and jokes that the Palestinians will “help these countries boom.” Hilarious – “boom” – get it? Not really. The premise of this crass and offensive jibe is invalid as none of these countries are even in favour of relocating the Palestinians. It is difficult to understand the purpose this joke serves other than to point and laugh at a population that has already suffered deeply.
Seething hatred
So to summarise, Murray thinks the Palestinians need to be removed from Gaza because that’s the only way they’ll properly lose and that’s the only language that these Palestinians will understand – while also claiming that they’re so bad that nobody wants to take them in because they’re terrorists who will probably blow things up. The seething hatred is off the scale.
It doesn’t make any sense. It is just a lot of gloating. And gloating when there is very little to gloat about usually has something to do with insecurity. Israel is insecure because it knows it has lost the propaganda war. The world is turning against them and even their allies are becoming increasingly embarrassed by them. Yes, Israel is facing an existential crisis – by its own hand.
But this is not a fringe, far-right thug spouting offensive drivel that gets dismissed by respectable people. This is a man who has been promoted by many mainstream figures – people like Katherine Birbalsingh, the headteacher of one of the most high-profile secondary school in Britain. Actor Tracy Ann-Obermann is also a fan of Murray and called him “very clever.”
But worst of all was Piers Morgan who had given Murray an official segment on his TalkTV show Piers Morgan Uncensored, allowing him to cosplay as a war correspondent. This was the platform that allowed Murray to begin his latest phase of pro-Israel advocacy and eventually endorse ethnic cleansing.
It is time for Morgan to finally distance himself from Murray’s views and apologise for giving him a platform. It is crucial for the wellbeing of Muslims that Murray’s hideous views return to the fringes of society where they belong.
