Wednesday Edition | Who Needs a Hegemon: Lessening the Impact of US-Induced Chaos

Source: Palestine Chronicle
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/who-needs-a-hegemon-lessening-the-impact-of-us-induced-chaos/

By Ron Forthofer
Published June 7, 2022

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the US has been able to exert tremendous influence on other nations through its military and economic power. The world no longer was bipolar with the US and the Soviet Union competing for leadership. Instead, it has been a unipolar world under US hegemonic leadership.

In 1997, US neoconservatives created a think tank, Project for the New American Century, to promote and extend American global leadership. In 2000, PNAC issued a report, ‘Rebuilding America’s Defenses’ that called for extending the US global leadership through maintaining the preeminence of US military forces. It was also considered important to deter the rise of a new great-power competitor.

War Crimes

During the period since 1991, the US has misrepresented itself as a benign hegemon. The US mainstream media has worked hard to convince the US public and the world that US actions are for good causes. The US corporate media tout this era as a continuation of Pax Americana.

However, many nations around the world view things very differently. They see, for example, the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 that was based on lies as a major war crime that devastated Iraq and led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. There were no sanctions imposed on the US or its allies for this shocking crime and no call for reparations to help rebuild Iraq.

Moreover, this attack, along with the US involvement in the attack on Libya and its military support for terrorists in Syria, created instability and devastation throughout much of the Middle East...

Read more: Who Needs a Hegemon: Lessening the Impact of US-Induced Chaos

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Anti-intellectualism as Zionist policy

Source: Mondoweiss
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/06/anti-intellectualism-as-zionist-policy/

By OMAR ZAHZAH
Published June 4, 2022

Zionism not only seeks to dismember Palestinian life and connectedness, but also the threads of signification that nurture steadfastness and resistance.

After 74 years of ongoing Nakba, Palestinians continue to face deprivation upon deprivation, but a shortage of descriptors for the colonization we have suffered so far and continue to suffer presently is not one of them. In fact, this is one area in which Palestinians may be afflicted by a curious over-abundance, as many terms and concepts become mobilized to situate a coherent paradigm for the Zionist entity’s oppression of Palestinians, often outside of our control. 

It’s important here to distinguish between a plethora of terms and concepts and their standardization. Even if there is an abundance of words about Palestinians, that does not mean, first of all, that Palestinians themselves are being granted authorial agency in their creation and/or explication. Maha Nassar effectively captures how this paradox unfolds within the realm of US media. And even in the aftermath of the Unity Intifada, at a moment in which Palestinian representation seems to have increased some, and Palestinians began to be afforded slightly more access to speak back to the hegemonic narrative of the so-called “conflict,” Mohammed El-Kurd has been a tireless analyst of how Western media effectively functions as an additional arm of Zionist entity propaganda, continuing to normalize and obfuscate the callous plurality of the Zionist state’s colonial violence against Palestinians.

All of this is to say that more words about the Palestinian condition does not necessarily translate to an amelioration of that condition. In fact, even when the epistemological embargo against concepts initially used by Palestinians to describe their struggle ends, and these concepts become increasingly entrenched within human rights organizations, this diffusion is not a guarantor that the full spectrum of Palestinian oppression and humanity has been validated.

Read more: Anti-intellectualism as Zionist policy

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60 Percent of Israeli Jews Favor Segregation From Arabs, Survey Finds

Source: Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-06-06/ty-article/60-percent-of-israeli-jews-favor-segregation-from-arabs-survey-finds/00000181-351b-dee8-aba7-3d9fdfdf0000

By Or Kashti
Published June 6, 2022

The support rose from 45 percent last year, before riots broke out in a number of mixed Jewish-Arab cities during the last round of fighting in Gaza
 

Some 60 percent of Israeli Jews believe it is best for Jews and Arabs to live apart, according to a survey conducted by the Israeli Democracy Institute in March of this year.

This is a significant rise compared with the rate that agreed with the same statement in April 2021, which then stood at 45 percent. Last year's survey was taken before the violent incidents that broke out in some of Israel's mixed cities during the last round of fighting in Gaza, and before the United Arab List joined the government's ruling coalition.

Among Arab respondents there was almost no change in the rate of support for living apart, which has stood at 20 percent for several years. In other words, most Jews now support segregation, compared with a constant minority among Arabs.

“The report shows a complex picture,” said Dr. Tamar Herman, who led the study. “Among Arabs there has been an intensification of their sense of discrimination as a collective, as opposed to a weakening of the perception of this discrimination among Jews. The former show a rise in the desire to participate in decision-making, and among Jews there is a declining willingness to share that privilege with them.”

She added that over the past year “there has been a decline in willingness among Jews to live in proximity to Arabs or allow them to purchase land outside of Arab municipalities.” However, recent events “have not harmed the high willingness of both groups to share workplaces.”...

Read more: 60 Percent of Israeli Jews Favor Segregation From Arabs, Survey Finds