Gaza is our Guernica
by Joseph E Fasciani
Victoria, BC Canada
It
is long past time for the world to acknowledge that the
destruction of Gaza is the Guernica of our time. All our moral
compasses will be set from this point, as to our attitude in
this true holocaust. Not one of us is exempt; all will be
weighed in the balance of our beliefs and actions.
Here is a photograph of the painting with a statement from
Picasso, followed by the present carnage at Gaza [Reuters Jan
12, 2009, url:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5053R720090112]:
“What do you think an artist is? An imbecile who has only eyes
if he is a painter, or ears if he is a musician, or a lyre in
every chamber of his heart if he is a poet, or even, if he is a
boxer, just his muscles? Far, far from it: at the same time he
is also a political being constantly aware of the heartbreak-
ing, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world,
shaping himself completely in their image. How could it be
possible to feel no interest in other people, and with a cool
indifference to detach yourself from the very life which they
bring to you so abundantly? No, painting is not done to decorate
apartments. It is an instrument of war.” Pablo Picasso
“In 1937 Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, a mural, as the
centerpiece for the Spanish Pavilion of the World’s Fair in
Paris. It is a bitter irony that Guernica, the most lasting
monument of the exposition, is the Twentieth century's most
enduring symbol of the horrors of war and the inhumane use of
technology. It is a portent for the terrors of the next decade.
The painting is based on the events of April 27, 1937, when the
German air force, in support of the Fascist forces led by
Generalissimo Francisco Franco, carried out a bombing raid on
the Basque village of Guernica in northern Spain.
“At that time such a massive bombing campaign was unprecedented.
The hamlet was pounded with high-explosive and incendiary bombs
for over three hours. The non-combatant townspeople including
women and children were indiscriminately cut-down as they fled
their crumbling buildings. The town of Guernica burned for three
days leaving sixteen hundred civilians killed or wounded in its
smoldering remains.
“The Fascist planners of the bombing campaign knew that Guernica
had no strategic value as a military target, but it was a
cultural and religious center for Basque identity. The
devastation was intended to terrorize the population and break
the spirit of the Basque resistance. In effect it was intended
to "shock and awe" the Basques into submission. The bombing of
Guernica was a sensation in the world press. The Times of London
called it the arch-symbol of Fascist barbarity.”
From
http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/ARTH200/guernica.html,
one in a series from the website devoted to
Responses to War created by David Hart of the University of
Adelaide.
That the above description could be applied to the present
horrors in Gaza with virtually no differences is condemnation
enough for Israel to stand trial for war crimes and crimes
against humanity.
Let us substitute Gaza for Guernica and Palestinian for Basque
and see the eerie parallels:
“The Fascist planners of the bombing campaign knew that Gaza had
no strategic value as a military target, but it was a cultural
and religious center for Palestinian identity. The devastation
was intended to terrorize the population and break the spirit of
the Palestinian resistance. In effect it was intended to "shock
and awe" the Palestinians into submission.”
That this massacre is made by the same people who scream
"Holocaust!" about themselves is of course the supreme irony,
and --from a Christian point of view-- the greatest
self-incrimination and sin. Sin. Well, there's a word!
Our idea of sin derives from the Greek word harmartia,
which means to 'miss the mark," something we cannot fault those
precision Israeli bombers for. They locate and hit schools,
hospitals, children's shelters, and UN aid stations. Any and all
humanitarian relief points are now suitable targets.
An Israeli friend of mine told me this was a common joke there
twenty years ago:
"Why does Israel need expensive spy satellites?"
"So we can spot Palestinian kids picking up stones to throw at
our tanks!"
For me, at nearly 66, it brings to mind all the black and white
documentaries I watched as a child, often at rallies and
memorials we attended with my father's business partners, Sam
Windstrauch and Sam Silberstein, two real Jews who had no
interest in Zionism, nor did Albert Einstein, no matter how
often he was asked to support "Israel Bond Drives".
Now the murderers are strangely transposed: the old black and
white movies of the Nazis destroying Guernica or taking the
Warsaw ghetto have morphed into full-colour TV journalists
documenting Israel's "Defense" Forces [IDF] taking Gaza, exactly
as was done sixty years ago.
The formerly abused become present abuser and use the same
tactics: enclose the victims, cut off food, water, and fuel;
bomb and shell one and all, set them fleeing in vain. Then move
in and use all the newest weapons to maximize their deaths at
minimal IDF losses. To date, it seems that goal is a kill ration
of 100:1 or better, if possible.
As we step into the Ninth Circle of Hell, please note the IDF’s
weapons and tanks are the best that money can buy and the USA
supply, in fact, pays for with the billions of dollars of
"foreign aid" it generously gives to Israel every year. If the
US gave its own citizens as much as it gives to Israel, each
man, woman, and child would receive more than US$ 33,000.00 a
year. Let me know when you got your cheque, as I have yet to get
mine.
"Is it an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment
of Palestinians with this criminalized Nazi record of collective
atrocity? [Holocaust] I think not."
Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human
Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and international
law authority at Princeton University, 2009
This much is certain: all these killers are true to their
leaders, such as Bush 43, who told us that "I listened to the
voices...and acted. I am the Decider." Some leader! Some
decisions!
Can anyone see Christ in anything that comes out from Bush 43,
or from any ZIonazi spokesperson? “For it is not what goes into
a man that makes him unclean, but what proceeds from his mouth!”
warned Jeshua, 2000 years ago. Nothing’s changed.
In the US of A and Canada, self-righteous “Christian”
evangelicals aligned with Zionazis defame Him for a fictitious
"security" which cannot ever be, for there can never be peace
without justice.
In truth, they are not Christians. They, along with the
Zionazis, are the new murderous Pharisees of our era, if we have
eyes that truly see, and unstopped ears to hear the screams of
agony in Gaza, the Guernica of our time.
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