Jack Albrecht
2 min readJun 12, 2024

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My opinions in no way overlook the situation since the early 20th century when Zionists, under the protection of the then colonial power Great Britain, started the ethnic cleansing that has continued until this day, albeit ramped up to full genocide since 7 October 2023.

"The situation that currently exists did not occur in a vacuum." It most certainly didn't. Just as Israel was not "created" in an empty land. The indigenous population has been pushed out by the minority Zionists at the barrel of a gun.

The "concessions" you write about are ridiculous on their face. Every agreement between Israel and Palestine from 1948 until today has been a variation of telling the Palestinians, "be happy you get to keep some of your country with no sovereignty, because it could have been worse." The violence behind these "offers" was explicit and ubiquitous.

What has changed since early 20th century is that the world no longer accepts settler colonialism, media has become decentralized, and most recently, world near-hegemony by a western power has ended.

The terror that no doubt Israelis live with could end - if they stopped occupying Palestinian land. Prior to the Zionist experiment Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in relative peace for centuries. It is only when the Zionists became an occupying power bent on ethnic cleansing that ongoing violence has been endemic to the region.

A state that cannot survive without constant internal violence clearly has fundamental problems. I have no doubt that external forces support the internal resistance to occupation, just as it is openly stated that external forces support the suppression of that internal resistance.

The main problems for Israel in 2024 are those I listed a few paragraphs above. Since the mid-20th century former colonial powers have given up all or near all their colonies. The acceptance that one group or country can take and hold (key difference) the lands of another group or country is gone.

World-wide connectivity and hand-held end-user video capabilities mean that the visual, visceral reality of ethnic cleansing cannot be suppressed as it was even a couple of decades ago. It is one thing to read about The Trail of Tears from 150 years ago. It is another to see a video from two days ago of a man holding up his headless child after his refugee camp was firebombed in the middle of the night.

The end of western hegemony means even previously subservient countries are hedging against the West. This makes a difference in the support needed by Israel - a small country that depends on world-wide trade to survive. Without overwhelming support, Israel cannot survive as it is currently structured.

This is not history. This is the present. We can stop this killing, or at least try, by making it clear we do not support the genocide happening right now in Gaza.

Israel is committing multiple war crimes every day in Gaza. Regardless of the crimes of Hamas (and their are many!) it is illegal under international law for Israel to commit war crimes. Israel cannot legally justify its war crimes based on crimes committed against Israel.

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Jack Albrecht
Jack Albrecht

Written by Jack Albrecht

US expatriate living in the EU; seeing the world from both sides of the Atlantic.

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