Based on a recent reading of Haaretz, Israel’s center left newspaper…..a few paragraphs from an article on the revenge cycle and permanent security, as it describes genocide; and a response of mine written in the discussion on the article of the Sculpture of Trump in Miami.
….one needs to use the concept of “permanent security” coined by the genocide researcher Dirk Moses. This was the basis of most genocidal acts throughout history. “Permanent security” is the idea that there is a need to nullify and efface any hint of threat, real or imaginary. According to this approach, an entire population, including women and children, is perceived as a permanent threat to the security of a dominant group – “there are no innocent people in Gaza,” some said.
The best example of this logic is a statement by panelist Stella …….Channel 13, who said that a baby in Gaza is akin to a “terrorist in an incubator.”
Revenge and the concept of “permanent security” merged into an unbridled war in Gaza. Chasing revenge and permanent security is a recipe for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. But this chase almost always harms the quality of life and security of the attacking side.
One can see this in the deceptive war with Iran and Hezbollah. Chasing after the last launcher, carrying out a Sisyphean effort to kill more and more military and political figures and destroying villages in Lebanon did not contribute a thing to the security of Israelis. It seems that they only bolstered extremist elements and their resolve to arm themselves.
On the Statue of Trump in South Florida
This gaudy Trump statue with its gilded surface, evoke the aesthetics of authoritarian cults of personality rather than democratic leadership. The piece substitutes spectacle for substance and it reveals the spiritual emptiness of these Christian and Jewish cults who sponsored the sculpture and the unveiling of it.
Art by Kate W 