By Common Dreams Staff
Horrific. Unjustified. Morally wrong. But ‘unprovoked’?
After the Palestinian group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years – with many killed, hostages taken, and fighting raging – many US elected officials released statements Saturday condemning the “unprovoked” attacks.
But many others took to Twitter Saturday to ask incredulously how Israel’s continued brutal occupation of the Palestinian people cannot be considered a provocation.
- 75 years of ethnic cleansing
- 15 years of blockade
- Confiscation of Palestinian lands
- Pogroms on Palestinian towns
- Desecration of Palestinian sacred sites
- Daily raids into Palestinian homes
- Constant humiliation of a entire people
Nothing about today is “unprovoked”.
Writer Caitlin Johnstone tweeted: “It’s clear now that whenever the western political/media class starts bleating the word ‘unprovoked’ in unison, you know with absolute certainty that whatever they’re talking about was massively provoked.“
AFP Picture: May 13, 2021
And here is a sampling of statements released Saturday by US elected officials and politicians calling the attacks “unprovoked”.