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Arab News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Cracks appear in myth of Israel's ‘brave' armed forces
One morning in early June 1967, when I was 14, I took the bus to school having read in the newspaper over breakfast that Egypt, Syria and Jordan were at war with Israel. The first class of the day was history. Our history teacher, Mr. Ferry (teachers in those days did not have first names), was a fervent supporter of the still nascent state of Israel, which had existed for less than 20 years. Enterprisingly, he decided to scrap the lesson he had planned and instead devote the time to his favorite subject. Jews, he told us, having endured discrimination and persecution in Europe for centuries, now had their own country, in which they could enjoy security and safety, thanks largely to their own indefatigable campaign for a Jewish state, but also due in part to the wisdom and munificence of the UN, based on an original proposal in 1917 by Britain's own Lord Balfour. Warming to his theme, Mr. Ferry waxed lyrical about fit, bronzed and athletic young kibbutznikim, toiling daily under a hot sun to turn the dry and unforgiving desert green. It was all terribly inspiring. Mr. Ferry omitted to mention that the territory then comprising the state of Israel had been obtained by means of driving, at gunpoint, about 750,000 Palestinians off the land they had inhabited for centuries, and sending into exile those who were not killed. Or that the 'indefatigable campaign for a Jewish state' had been conducted by homicidal thugs from Irgun and the Stern Gang, who nowadays would be referred to as 'terrorists' but who nevertheless went on to hold key ministerial roles in successive Israeli governments. Or that much of the 'dry and unforgiving desert' was already green, thanks to generations of farming by Palestinian families who were now homeless and stateless. It is easy to be brave when you are armed to the teeth and your 'dangerous enemy' is a 12-year-old boy throwing rocks Ross Anderson To be fair, he only had 35 minutes, and it is possible that Mr. Ferry intended all this for a future lesson that somehow slipped his mind: he was, in many ways, an excellent teacher and I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, the peroration of his discourse was that Israelis were inherently brave people who were not about to be deprived of their birthright by Arabs, who had a propensity for fighting among themselves, and the war would be over in a week. We boys were skeptical. After all, as young children we had played among the bombed-out ruins of a conflict that had lasted for six long years: the idea of a brief one seemed unlikely. But hey, we were 14, what did we know? Six days later, Mr. Ferry was proved right. It was about this time that a myth took hold, a fiction held as incontrovertible truth by many in Israel and by its cheerleaders in the West: that the Israeli armed forces are strong, determined and fearless, battle-hardened veterans who can never be defeated in a conflict — and are, above all, brave. But it is easy to be brave in the occupied West Bank when you are armed to the teeth and protected by body armor and your 'dangerous enemy' is a 12-year-old boy throwing rocks. It is easy to be brave when you are operating an armed Elbit Hermes 900 drone above southern Lebanon from the safety and comfort of a control room 50 km away. It is easy to be brave in an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter or an F-161 Sufa fighter jet in the skies above Gaza, aiming your weapons at a Hamas enemy without air defenses — or, more probably, innocent Palestinian women and children with no defenses of any kind. And it is easy to be brave inside your heavily armored Merkava Mk4 battle tank on the outskirts of Rafah, firing your 120mm cannon at those few innocent Palestinian civilians who have survived the attack helicopters and the fighter jets. For a fighting force, the Israeli forces do precious little fighting. And when they are required to do so, they turn out not to be very good at it. When Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, the troops on the unit whose job it was to protect civilians — the 77th Battalion, 7th Armored Brigade (Gaza Division) — appear to have been mostly asleep. Their Re'im base was quickly overrun and reinforcements delayed entering the combat zone even though civilians were under attack (limited enthusiasm there for a fight, evidently). A military investigation described the attack as the 'biggest security failure in Israel's history,' the army admitted it had 'failed in its mission to protect Israeli civilians,' and Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi had the decency to resign. The Israeli forces do precious little fighting. And when they are required to do so, they turn out not to be very good at it Ross Anderson You will find no defense of Hamas' cowardly attack here, but there are other signs that cracks are appearing in the fragile carapace of Israel's military invincibility, including shameless mendacity in how it defends its actions. There is by now a clearly defined three-stage process: 1. It definitely wasn't us. 2. Well, it may have been us. 3. OK, it was us. This has always reminded me of the wild west days of the British tabloid press, before legislation on privacy and other restrictions reined in the worst excesses of Fleet Street. At that time, there was a mantra for newspapers dealing with any difficulties: never apologize, never explain and, when cornered, lie. There are countless examples of Israel putting this into practice. When an Israeli sniper assassinated the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin in May 2022, the Israeli military lied through its teeth. When Israeli soldiers deliberately killed 15 paramedics and aid workers after opening fire on a clearly identified rescue convoy in Gaza in March this year, the military lied through its teeth. Most recently, Israeli gunfire has killed at least 160 Palestinians as they desperately scrambled for food at shambolic aid 'distribution sites' set up by the deeply suspect Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Since the first such incident, on May 27, when they killed 10 Palestinians, the Israeli military has been lying through their teeth. The armed forces of Ukraine, currently fighting in the trenches of Donbas to defend their country against an unprovoked invasion by a militarily more powerful and numerically superior aggressor — now that's brave. Israel's army, not so much.
Buzz Feed
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Amelia Dimoldenberg Embraces Bella Hadid's Heritage
Bella Hadid has always been incredibly proud of her Palestinian heritage, and is one of the biggest celebrities to regularly speak out in support of Palestine. The 28-year-old model uses her public profile to advocate for Palestinian rights, raise awareness amid Israel's occupation of the country, and donate generously to relief efforts. For reference, Bella's dad, Mohamed Hadid, was born in Nazareth back in 1948, but he and his family were forced to flee to Lebanon before settling in Syria due to the 1948 Palestinian Nakba. This saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs flee their homes or get expelled from their country by Zionist paramilitaries, Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi, which later merged to become the Israel Defense Forces once Israel was established. In December 2015, Mohamed shared a childhood photo of himself with his parents and three siblings on Instagram as he opened up about his family's history. He wrote at the time: 'Thats how we became refugees to Syria and we lost our home in Safad to a Jewish family that we sheltered when they were refugees from Poland on the ship that was sailing from country to country and no one would take them... they were our guest for 2 years till they made us refugees and they kicked us out of our own home. That my history.. Strange thing. That I and my family would do it again.' And while Bella's Palestinian pride has always been a huge part of her public image, the star has faced severe backlash from Israel's supporters in recent months. With that in mind, people were delighted by her recent appearance on Chicken Shop Date, where interviewer Amelia Dimoldenberg subtly let the star know she was in a safe space to discuss and embrace her heritage. 'You are half-Dutch, half-Palestinian,' Amelia began. 'So, out of your mom and your dad, who makes the best food?' 'My dad,' Bella immediately replied. 'Growing up, it'd be, like, spreads… He doesn't cook for four people. Anybody that's Arab knows Arab parents cook for 50 people, and that's pretty much it. My dream for him one day would always be to open a restaurant.' 'Take care of his heritage,' Bella continued, before appearing to hesitate over how to phrase what she said next. 'And, like, the legacy of our, uhm… You know, who we are as people, and… And what our food is to the world.' 'I think the Palestinian restaurant sounds amazing,' Amelia quickly and enthusiastically interjected, at which point Bella visibly relaxed and smiled as she said: 'It would be incredible.' Viewers were quick to pick up on this sweet moment between Amelia and Bella when the interview clip was shared to X, with one particularly viral tweet reading: 'I think Amelia let her know this was a safe space to say Palestine and I actually love that. You can see the hesitation a bit.''She was lowkey avoiding saying Palestinian, then Amelia said it,' a similarly popular tweet added. Somebody else wrote: 'Bella seemed so nervous to say the word so she just didn't (I don't blame her given the disgusting attacks on her), meanwhile Amelia made a point of saying the word Palestinian twice, making it really clear where she stood. Makes such a difference.''I really appreciate Amelia saying Palestine out loud bc watching Bella mince her words is actually painful to witness, she should never have to be so careful just talking about where her family is from,' another more theorized: 'bella wasn't afraid to say palestine for her sake but rather didn't want to create any controversy for amelia and her show but then amelia let her know she was an ally and i think that's wonderful.'While somebody else circled back to the original topic as they tweeted: 'I encourage anyone to try Palestinian cuisine if you ever wanna try some of the most incredible food you will ever eat in your life."
