US and Israeli exceptionalism and the exception of humanity
Nov 17, 2023
Both The US and Israel have turned out to be exceptionally brutal, exceptionally authoritarian and exceptionally unjust. The zeitgeist is peace, and Israel and the U.S. will be left behind when the world moves towards humanity and cooperation. Meanwhile they are going to dig in, stand firm on their use of blood curdling violence against their prisoners and send us all to hell unless the general public resist with every ounce and fibre of their humanity.
The United States of America and the State of Israel are two self-entitled, elitist nations who believe themselves to be exceptional and above international law and global opinion. They are bound under one realm – a sui generis on the world stage. Definitions are plentiful on the nature of American exceptionalism, such as being set apart from Europe, having a special mission to play in world authority, and the laws of history don’t apply to them. The U.S. will conduct itself according to its own rules and if other people or nations stand in its way it will charge forth on the strength of its conviction. The U.S. likes to claim they are the most democratic, freedom loving and moral country in the world. Replace the above word “U.S.” with Israel, and there you have it. Two nations utterly convinced of their superiority. It reminds me of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others’. Democracy and freedom only applies to them, no one else.
Both nations were founded on a sense of exceptionalism, religious zealotry and settler-colonialism. Both felt they had God given authority to take land and relegate indigenous people to the ‘they don’t matter’ bin of humanity. Both nations were founded initially on religious conviction and coincidentally England, a Christian nation, facilitated the beginnings of both the U.S. and Israel. Cronyism and exceptionalism have become their joint religion.
The American formulation of religious national exceptionalism precedes the State of Israel and created an historical narrative on which both Israel and America rest and rely on today. Both nations have forged unbridled national myths to justify settler-colonialism. The English Pilgrims who arrived on the shores of America in c.1620 believed themselves to be divinely appointed and had a covenant with God. They identified with Ancient Israelites and believed they were guided by divine providence. Israel believed it was founded due to divine promise from a book which claimed the Jews had a covenant with God and that they could have Palestine in the 20th century. They considered themselves the New Israelites.
Man-made myths not only bound the U.S. and Israel but offered them a foothold in the Middle East: Israel for historical biblical claims and America for oil and hegemony. They are bound by military manufacturing, revenue and might, which will be used against their enemies – perceived or orchestrated. Do you think the U.S. would be even remotely interested in the “back waters” of the Middle East unless there was oil bubbling underneath?
The initial land grab of Palestine had nothing to do with the Holocaust because numerous Zionists, as far back as c.1897, had been trying to procure land where the Jews could live exclusively. It took till 1917 for this land grab to come to fruition with the Balfour Declaration. The Holocaust is what encouraged many more Jews to seek refuge in Palestine and by 1948, when Zionists had either killed, kicked out (at the point of a gun) or decimated villagers and villages in Palestine, the State of Israel was self-declared. Within hours of this hostile takeover, U.S. President Truman congratulated, acknowledged and encouraged their fellow settler-religious-colonisers to thrive. The Jews were awarded a return from exile from a 2,000-year-old claim while the Palestinians have been waiting for their right of return since 1948, which is UN Resolution 194 – not claimed in a very old book.
Palestine had nothing to do with the Holocaust but is now the victim of its own…how to term this…nightmare? Heaven forbid we use the actual appropriate term. The Palestinians have been trying to find justice ever since 1948 and for the world to take notice of the theft of their land, their inability to return and their inhumane plight in jail for over seventy-five years.
Israel and America stick together, in part, because they are both founded on myth and legend. The other part is profit. Crack this partnership open to reveal the truth behind the myth making and settler-colonialism, and the house of cards would collapse. We can already see how this marriage of exceptional, brutal states has led them to this point of bordering on pariah states which heeds no laws other than their own. International law means nothing more than annoying words they need to swat away. But they are on the wrong side of history as is evident with the enormous groundswell of people who no longer will tolerate a world of incessant wars which the United States is largely (almost exclusively) responsible for, or involved in. We no longer will tolerate a ravaged Middle East always on the brink because two nations will not listen to the world and act with humanity and justice. We’re sick of it. We want to live in peace, as do the majority of Palestinians and Israelis. The veil has fallen from the eyes of the world this October and we now see, with stark awakening, the cruelty and inhumanity of the leaders of these two nation states. They come first – the rest of the world can go to hell. We have arrived at a time in history where the myths, legends and ‘carving of nations with bare hands’ are known to be fanciful, if not outright lies.
Settler-colonial-hegemonic-religious-exceptional-supremacy must end. Few approve this status quo other than two crippled, imploding, immoral, unethical states – Israel and the U.S. Many Western leaders are probably, privately, appalled with both nations yet lack the spine to stand up to them. If both nations are so convinced that God is on their side as they bulldoze over the heads of the rest of the world, why have neither of them come out with any exceptional blessings from their God? They are both in dire straits. Both nations were struggling internally before October 7, and their brutal reaction has sent both their reputations careening into the abyss of disgust.
Both nation states have turned out to be exceptionally brutal, exceptionally authoritarian and exceptionally unjust. The zeitgeist is peace, and Israel and the U.S. may want to get with the program or be left behind when the world moves towards humanity and cooperation. Meanwhile they are going to dig in, stand firm on their use of blood curdling violence against their prisoners (including women, children, the elderly) and send us all to hell unless the general public resist with every ounce and fibre of their humanity.