What do you think?
Rate this book
Gaza davanti alla storia
Israele viene solitamente descritto come un’isola democratica in mezzo a un oceano oscurantista e Hamas come un esercito di belve assetate di sangue. La storia sembra tornare al XIX secolo, quando l’Occidente perpetrava genocidi coloniali in nome della sua missione civilizzatrice. I suoi presupposti essenziali rimangono gli stessi: civiltà contro barbarie, progresso contro intolleranza. Accanto alle dichiarazioni di rito sul diritto di Israele a difendersi, nessuno menziona mai il diritto dei palestinesi a resistere a un’aggressione che dura da decenni. Ma se in nome della lotta all’antisemitismo viene scatenata una guerra genocida, sono i nostri stessi orientamenti morali e politici a offuscarsi. A uscirne minati sono i presupposti della nostra coscienza morale: la distinzione tra bene e male, oppressore e oppresso, carnefici e vittime. L’attacco del 7 ottobre è stato atroce, ma deve essere analizzato e non solo condannato. E dobbiamo farlo chiamando a raccolta tutti gli strumenti critici della ricerca storica. Se la guerra a Gaza dovesse concludersi con una seconda Nakba, la legittimità di Israele sarebbe definitivamente compromessa. In tal caso, né le armi americane, né i media occidentali, né la memoria distorta e oltraggiata della Shoah potranno riscattarla.
95 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2024
79 people are currently reading
1288 people want to read
About the author
Enzo Traverso
58 books201 followersEnzo Traverso is an Italian scholar of European intellectual history. He is the author of several books on critical theory, the Holocaust, Marxism, memory, totalitarianism, revolution, and contemporary historiography. His books have been translated into numerous languages. After living and working in France for over 25 years, he is currently the Susan and Barton Winokur Professor in the Humanities at Cornell University.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews
September 4, 2025
انزو تراورسو در این کتاب کوتاه در فصلهای گوناگون به چند مساله مهم در مورد مناقشه تمام نشدنی اسرائیل و فلسطین میپردازه. مساله ای که در طی فصول مختلف کتاب میخواد به مخاطب بفهمونه اینه که نقطه آغاز اختلافات و تعارضات و دشمنی ها و جنگهای میان اسرائیل و فلسطین هفت اکتبر نبوده.خیلی این حرف درستیه.عجیب ترین مسائل و تحلیل هایی که میشنوم و میخونم مربوط به کسانی میشه که نقطه آغازین این اختلافات رو به هفت اکتبر نسبت میدند.هشت دهه اشغال و جنگ و انواع و اقسام اتفاقات ریز و درشت و چند دهه برنامه ریزی قبل از اون رو نادیده گرفتن و تمرکز بر هفت اکتبر به نظرم تحلیل و دید درستی به آدم نمیده. البته اعتبار تحلیل تراورسو برای شخص من اینجایی شد که از این عملیات حمایت نکرد.او کشتن غیرنظامیان رو اشتباه دونست و این مساله رو بدون فایده برای فلسطین میدونست اما حرفش در این کتاب این بود که مخاطب گرامی، بیا و ببین قبل هفت اکتبر چه خبر بوده. هفت اکتبر مثل دیگی جوشان بود که منفجر شد و علت این انفجار هم دهه ها ظلم و نادیده گرفتن و اشغال بود.من این شکل تحلیل در مورد هفت اکتبر رو خیلی میپسندم.یعنی طرز فکری که هم گوشزد کنه هت اکتبر نقطه آغاز این نزاع نبوده و هم بر بی فایده بودنش تاکید کنه و هم به این مساله اشاره کنه که باید بیشتر از محکوم کردنش به تحلیل کردنش پرداخت. تحلیل چرایی و بررسی تاریخ قبل هفت اکتبر.در مورد مساله فلسطین تقریبا همه روش ها امتحان شده و روز به روز هم وضع مردم فلسطین بدتر شده. پیمان اسلو، انتفاضه، حمله نظامی. از تعامل تا نقابل. امتیاز دادن حداقلی تا حداکثری.ولی همیشه توسط دولتهای گوناگون اسرائیل تمام این طرحها با شکست مواجه شد. به شخصه با کاری که سنوار کرد به خاطر اینکه بیش از اینکه عملیات بدونم،یک نوع انتحار بود مخالف بودم و هستم اما حقیقتا در پی این عادی سازی اسرائیل با کشورهای عربی و گسترش شهرک سازی و نادیده گرفتن فلسطینیان چه باید میکردند؟باید تن به طرح کوچ اجباری رئیس جمهور فعلی آمریکا داد؟ گزینه دیگری هم بود که فلسطینیان صدای خودشون رو به دنیا برسونند؟ صحبت های بن گویر و اسموتریچ وزرای امنیت داخلی و دارایی اسرائیل که علنا حرف از پاکسازی نژادی میزنند و چیزی نام به فلسطین و فلسطینی رو علنا به رسمیت نمیشناسند گواه خیلی واقعیت هاست..
در طی فصول کتاب موضوعاتی که بررسی میشه مثل جعل اخبار و پروپاگاندا یا مثلا در فصل شرق شناسی که با استناد به حرفهای ادوارد سعید و تحلیل خود نویسنده به استانداردهای دوگانه کشورهای غربی در قبال این جنگها میپردازه. اساسا یکی از کارهای اساسی تراورسو اینه که یک سری مفاهیم رو تعریف میکنه. مثلا به مفهوم یهودستیزی و نسل کشی میپردازه و دست ردی بر ادعاهایی مثل اسرائیل تنها کشور دموکراتیک خاورمیانه میزنه.سعی میکنه تناقضات فکری اسرائیل و غرب رو در مساله فلسطین و این چند دهه توضیح بده. در کل کتاب خوبی بود و از خوندنش راضی بودم.به امید روزی که ویروسی مثل کرونا بیاد و تمامی ادوات جنگی بشر در کل دنیا رو نیست و نابود کنه وگرنه به این موجود دوپا نمیشه امید داشت که از اینها استفاده نکنه!.
در طی فصول کتاب موضوعاتی که بررسی میشه مثل جعل اخبار و پروپاگاندا یا مثلا در فصل شرق شناسی که با استناد به حرفهای ادوارد سعید و تحلیل خود نویسنده به استانداردهای دوگانه کشورهای غربی در قبال این جنگها میپردازه. اساسا یکی از کارهای اساسی تراورسو اینه که یک سری مفاهیم رو تعریف میکنه. مثلا به مفهوم یهودستیزی و نسل کشی میپردازه و دست ردی بر ادعاهایی مثل اسرائیل تنها کشور دموکراتیک خاورمیانه میزنه.سعی میکنه تناقضات فکری اسرائیل و غرب رو در مساله فلسطین و این چند دهه توضیح بده. در کل کتاب خوبی بود و از خوندنش راضی بودم.به امید روزی که ویروسی مثل کرونا بیاد و تمامی ادوات جنگی بشر در کل دنیا رو نیست و نابود کنه وگرنه به این موجود دوپا نمیشه امید داشت که از اینها استفاده نکنه!.
October 9, 2025
Postular a absoluta singularidade do Holocausto é epistologicamente improdutivo (os acontecimentos históricos podem ser comparados), politicamente irresponsável (os crimes podem repetir-se, pelo que devem ser compreendidos e não apenas comemorados) e moralmente dúbio (uma vez que cria uma hierarquia entre as vítimas).
Passam hoje dois anos sobre o hediondo ataque do Hamas aos territórios ocupados por Israel, com um balanço calculado em 1200 mortos e 250 reféns do lado israelita e represálias na Faixa de Gaza que podem ascender actualmente a 680 mil mortos, segundo Francesca Albanese, relatora especial para a ONU, na altura em que surge um eventual tratado de paz garatujado em cima do joelho por um megalómano e um psicopata, sem a participação de uma das duas únicas partes envolvidas oficialmente no conflito. 730 dias de uma limpeza étnica iniciada em 1948 aquando da Nakba.
O terrorismo do Hamas é apenas o reverso dialéctico do terrorismo de Estado israelita. O terrorismo nunca é belo, mas o terrorismo dos oprimidos é gerado pelo terrorismo dos opressores. Os terroristas que matam crianças num kibutz são odiosos; os atiradores que matam crianças na rua ou fazem explodir uma caravana da ajuda humanitária são igualmente odiosos: ambos devem ser condenados. Mas isto não significa que podemos equiparar a violência de um movimento de libertação nacional à de um exército de ocupação.
Se só puderem ou quiserem ler um livro sobre a tragédia humanitária a que se assiste hoje em Gaza, este é a escolha certa, já que o seu autor, Enzo Traverso, além de não ser israelita nem palestiniano, é um especialista em história política e intelectual que se tem dedicado ao estudo do Holocausto e do totalitarismo. “Gaza perante a História” não é um bê-á-bá do conflito israelo-palestiniano que passe em revista os acontecimentos de forma cronológica, pelo que exige algum conhecimento prévio, mas detém-se nos principais momentos, contextualiza-os, e denuncia a falta de vontade de todos os envolvidos directa e indirectamente para implantar uma paz duradoura e a solução dos dois estados.
“Gaza perante a História” é uma obra que espicaça o pensamento crítico do leitor, sobretudo daquele que confunde anti-zionismo com anti-semitismo, aquele que não vê a presença de Israel no Levante como um prolongamento do colonialismo europeu, aquele que foi formatado a pensar que os ataques de 7 de Outubro de 2023 brotaram do vácuo.
A luta por encontrar um porto seguro converteu-se numa guerra pela criação de um Estado excepcionalista em que os Judeus substituiriam a população indígena, como muitos colonialistas europeus já haviam feito na América do Norte, na Austrália e na África do Sul. Mas Israel foi fundado em 1948, quando o mundo entrava na era da descolonização e o mundo árabe, na Palestina e noutros lugares, tinha desenvolvido uma ideia de consciência nacional.
Acreditar nisso revela a mesma ingenuidade do que julgar que a guerra na Ucrânia eclodiu em 2022 ou que o genocídio no Ruanda começou com os massacres de Abril de 1994. Há uma razão para estudarmos História na escola e não é só para maçar os jovens com datas e nomes; é porque ela está sempre em loop e, se formos ignorantes, somos puras vítimas de perigosa propaganda.
Na Europa e nos Estados Unidos, Israel nunca é tratado como um país de facto, mas antes como “uma ideia ou uma espécie de talismã”, o sinal revelador de uma má consciência, cuja expiação pode ser subcontratada, como sempre acontece num mundo iníquo e hierárquico. Israel beneficiou desta mudança de humor na opinião internacional e nunca estabeleceu as suas fronteiras, que se tornaram provisórias e expansivas. Foram os Palestinianos que pagaram, e continuam a pagar, a dívida da Europa para com os Judeus. Hoje integrado no mundo ocidental, Israel adoptou a linguagem e os velhos preconceitos raciais do Ocidente para os aplicar aos Palestinianos.
Passam hoje dois anos sobre o hediondo ataque do Hamas aos territórios ocupados por Israel, com um balanço calculado em 1200 mortos e 250 reféns do lado israelita e represálias na Faixa de Gaza que podem ascender actualmente a 680 mil mortos, segundo Francesca Albanese, relatora especial para a ONU, na altura em que surge um eventual tratado de paz garatujado em cima do joelho por um megalómano e um psicopata, sem a participação de uma das duas únicas partes envolvidas oficialmente no conflito. 730 dias de uma limpeza étnica iniciada em 1948 aquando da Nakba.
O terrorismo do Hamas é apenas o reverso dialéctico do terrorismo de Estado israelita. O terrorismo nunca é belo, mas o terrorismo dos oprimidos é gerado pelo terrorismo dos opressores. Os terroristas que matam crianças num kibutz são odiosos; os atiradores que matam crianças na rua ou fazem explodir uma caravana da ajuda humanitária são igualmente odiosos: ambos devem ser condenados. Mas isto não significa que podemos equiparar a violência de um movimento de libertação nacional à de um exército de ocupação.
Se só puderem ou quiserem ler um livro sobre a tragédia humanitária a que se assiste hoje em Gaza, este é a escolha certa, já que o seu autor, Enzo Traverso, além de não ser israelita nem palestiniano, é um especialista em história política e intelectual que se tem dedicado ao estudo do Holocausto e do totalitarismo. “Gaza perante a História” não é um bê-á-bá do conflito israelo-palestiniano que passe em revista os acontecimentos de forma cronológica, pelo que exige algum conhecimento prévio, mas detém-se nos principais momentos, contextualiza-os, e denuncia a falta de vontade de todos os envolvidos directa e indirectamente para implantar uma paz duradoura e a solução dos dois estados.
“Gaza perante a História” é uma obra que espicaça o pensamento crítico do leitor, sobretudo daquele que confunde anti-zionismo com anti-semitismo, aquele que não vê a presença de Israel no Levante como um prolongamento do colonialismo europeu, aquele que foi formatado a pensar que os ataques de 7 de Outubro de 2023 brotaram do vácuo.
A luta por encontrar um porto seguro converteu-se numa guerra pela criação de um Estado excepcionalista em que os Judeus substituiriam a população indígena, como muitos colonialistas europeus já haviam feito na América do Norte, na Austrália e na África do Sul. Mas Israel foi fundado em 1948, quando o mundo entrava na era da descolonização e o mundo árabe, na Palestina e noutros lugares, tinha desenvolvido uma ideia de consciência nacional.
Acreditar nisso revela a mesma ingenuidade do que julgar que a guerra na Ucrânia eclodiu em 2022 ou que o genocídio no Ruanda começou com os massacres de Abril de 1994. Há uma razão para estudarmos História na escola e não é só para maçar os jovens com datas e nomes; é porque ela está sempre em loop e, se formos ignorantes, somos puras vítimas de perigosa propaganda.
Na Europa e nos Estados Unidos, Israel nunca é tratado como um país de facto, mas antes como “uma ideia ou uma espécie de talismã”, o sinal revelador de uma má consciência, cuja expiação pode ser subcontratada, como sempre acontece num mundo iníquo e hierárquico. Israel beneficiou desta mudança de humor na opinião internacional e nunca estabeleceu as suas fronteiras, que se tornaram provisórias e expansivas. Foram os Palestinianos que pagaram, e continuam a pagar, a dívida da Europa para com os Judeus. Hoje integrado no mundo ocidental, Israel adoptou a linguagem e os velhos preconceitos raciais do Ocidente para os aplicar aos Palestinianos.
August 27, 2025
Siema pls zróbcie coś dla siebie i przeczytajcie ten króciutki esej. (Jest też na BookBeat i trwa 2h45m) Autor znakomicie wyjaśnia czym różni się syjonizm od antysemityzmu i dlaczego ten pierwszy ma bardzo negatywny wpływ na definiowanie antysemityzmu w przyszłości czyli jest dla niego krzywdzący. Dodatkowo rozprawia się z europejskim orientalizmem, który podobnie jak Izrael niszczy obecnie Palestyńczyków. Esej sam w sobie jest analiza nie całej historii konfliktu a raczej pewnych aspektów taktycznych jakie stosuje rząd Izraela aby wyciągnąć kartę pułapkę jaką jest bycie ofiarą Holokaustu, co ma domniemanie usprawiedliwiać całkowicie ludobojstwo jakie się dokonuje. Szapo ba za odwołanie do Fanona, bez tego analiza byłaby niekompletna. Jeżeli komuś nie chce się czytać książek historycznych nt tegoż konfliktu (chociaż i tak powinien) to to będzie znakomity fundament, bo zabieranie głosu w tej kwestii, protesty studenckie i wszelkie ruchy oporu są kluczowe właśnie w tej krytycznej chwili.
November 1, 2024
Free Palestine!
October 22, 2024
Μάλλον δεν είμαι πολύ αντικειμενική με τον Έντσο Τραβέρσο, καθώς με έχει κάνει να βλέπω κάποια πράγματα με άλλη οπτική. Ανεξάρτητα από αυτό, όμως, εδώ έχουμε *αντικειμενικά* ένα πολύ καλό δοκίμιο για ό,τι ζουν κάποιοι άνθρωποι όχι πολύ μακριά μας εδώ και πάνω από έναν χρόνο. Με νηφαλιότητα, με δεδομένα, ξεδιπλώνει το ιστορικό πλαίσιο της γενοκτονίας που συντελείται για να καταλάβουμε όλες και όλοι πώς και γιατί.
Με λίγα λόγια, ένας κοινωνικός, πολιτικός και, κυρίως, ανθρώπινος προβληματισμός για μια υπόθεση που κρατάει πολλά χρόνια, την ώρα που τα λόγια μοιάζουν να μην είναι αρκετά.
ΥΓ.: Ο Νίκος Κούρκουλος ήταν ένας σπουδαίος μεταφραστής, θα λείψει (ήδη λείπει) πολύ.
Με λίγα λόγια, ένας κοινωνικός, πολιτικός και, κυρίως, ανθρώπινος προβληματισμός για μια υπόθεση που κρατάει πολλά χρόνια, την ώρα που τα λόγια μοιάζουν να μην είναι αρκετά.
ΥΓ.: Ο Νίκος Κούρκουλος ήταν ένας σπουδαίος μεταφραστής, θα λείψει (ήδη λείπει) πολύ.
January 23, 2025
Ein wunderbares kurzes Buch, das die Reaktion Europas (und allen voran Deutschlands) auf den Genozid in Gaza in einen historischen und sozialen Kontext setzt. Eine wichtige Momentaufnahme mit klaren, kritischen Worten. Wie der Autor selbst in der Einleitung sagt: "Die Entscheidung (von Wirklichkeit Books) diesen Essay zu veröffentlichen, ist angesichts der heute in der BRD herrschenden Burgsfriedenstimmung und der Kriminalisierung von Andersdenkenden mutig." Und gerade deshalb hoffe ich, dass besonders Menschen in Deutschland dieses Buch lesen werden.
August 30, 2024
Me animé a leer este opúsculo de Enzo Traverso sin conocer apenas nada sobre él por dos motivos: su brevedad y porque creía que comprendería un relato condensado del conflicto israelí-palestino. El autor inmediatamente te saca de tu error en el prefacio (no va a introducir al lector en el enfrentamiento que viene produciéndose entre ambos pueblos desde la proclamación de Israel en 1948), pero el opúsculo sigue teniendo un clarísimo interés, que me ha llevado a valorarlo muy positivamente: por un lado, aunque de forma algo deslavazada, claro, sí que presenta un análisis historiográfico, sociopolítico y geopolítico de los acontecimientos, de forma que puedo admitir que he aprendido un buen puñado de cosas que desconocía antes de leerlo; por otro, la obra representa un claro y valiente alegato en favor de la paz defendiendo que el sionismo en Israel (que adopta una postura victimista, que no reconoce el colonialismo que ejerce sobre Cisjordiania y la franja de Gaza pero continúa apoyándose en el Holocausto para presentar dicha imagen) está ejerciendo sobre el pueblo palestino lo mismo que experimentó el suyo en la Alemania nazi, con el único pretexto de construir un Estado étnico-religioso amparado en los límites étnicos y geográficos marcados por la Biblia.
Resulta descorazonador que sean pocos los intelectuales occidentales que están alzando la voz para denunciar este nuevo desastre humanitario, completamente evitable, o que sean pocos los medios de comunicación que les dan cobertura, por lo que resulta especialmente refrescante su argumentario, muy lúcido, bien armado y cargado de sentido común.
Resulta descorazonador que sean pocos los intelectuales occidentales que están alzando la voz para denunciar este nuevo desastre humanitario, completamente evitable, o que sean pocos los medios de comunicación que les dan cobertura, por lo que resulta especialmente refrescante su argumentario, muy lúcido, bien armado y cargado de sentido común.
August 3, 2025
Me lo he leído de una sentada en un par de horas.
Necesario, nítido, comprometido. Elige los temas claves, desmonta los mitos y las noticias falsas, analiza de dónde vienen los discursos y los intereses. Claro y contundente, de lectura obligatoria.
Necesario, nítido, comprometido. Elige los temas claves, desmonta los mitos y las noticias falsas, analiza de dónde vienen los discursos y los intereses. Claro y contundente, de lectura obligatoria.
January 6, 2025
*This book is a must read for anyone looking for a lucid analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict post October 7th*
"The concept of war is not entirely appropriate to define what is happening in Gaza, where two armies are not clashing but where a very powerful and sophisticated war machine is methodically eliminating a set of urban centers inhabited by almost two and a half million people.”
In Gaza Faces History, Enzo Traverso challenges the Western narrative that frames the Holocaust as a unique, unrepeatable atrocity under the slogan "Never again." This perspective has become a hollow phrase that fails to recognize the recurring nature of genocide throughout modern history. Traverso's analysis forces us to confront the fact that genocide is not an anomaly but a repeated crisis, one that continues to unfold in Gaza today. He powerfully distinguishes the conflict from a conventional war, describing it as a "methodical elimination" by a vastly superior military.
Traverso also incisively critiques the weaponization of history, particularly the way Israel uses the memory of Jewish suffering to justify its war crimes. Equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism is a dangerous tactic that “kills three birds with one stone,” silencing anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and Jewish non-conformism. This distortion of historical memory erases the Palestinian experience and blurs the lines between oppressors and oppressed, downplaying Palestinian suffering and mischaracterizing Gaza as an "open-air prison." In a real prison, one doesn't expect to be "shot at or bombed except in the case of a full-fledged riot."
Traverso’s book offers a sharp critique of the ongoing injustice in Gaza and the manipulation of history to mask it.
"The concept of war is not entirely appropriate to define what is happening in Gaza, where two armies are not clashing but where a very powerful and sophisticated war machine is methodically eliminating a set of urban centers inhabited by almost two and a half million people.”
In Gaza Faces History, Enzo Traverso challenges the Western narrative that frames the Holocaust as a unique, unrepeatable atrocity under the slogan "Never again." This perspective has become a hollow phrase that fails to recognize the recurring nature of genocide throughout modern history. Traverso's analysis forces us to confront the fact that genocide is not an anomaly but a repeated crisis, one that continues to unfold in Gaza today. He powerfully distinguishes the conflict from a conventional war, describing it as a "methodical elimination" by a vastly superior military.
Traverso also incisively critiques the weaponization of history, particularly the way Israel uses the memory of Jewish suffering to justify its war crimes. Equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism is a dangerous tactic that “kills three birds with one stone,” silencing anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and Jewish non-conformism. This distortion of historical memory erases the Palestinian experience and blurs the lines between oppressors and oppressed, downplaying Palestinian suffering and mischaracterizing Gaza as an "open-air prison." In a real prison, one doesn't expect to be "shot at or bombed except in the case of a full-fledged riot."
Traverso’s book offers a sharp critique of the ongoing injustice in Gaza and the manipulation of history to mask it.
May 21, 2025
Poucos dias depois de ter lido o "Gaza está em toda a parte" da Alexandra Lucas Coelho este livro é um paralelo de leitura. Contexto, cronologia e a forma como se conta a história ajudam a perceber com maior clareza o que está a acontecer, porque a história se escreve todos os dias é importante que a memória não seja desde logo distorcida.
October 1, 2025
W ksiazce o faszyzmie, ktora jakis czas temu czytalam jedna z rozmow byla wlasnie rozmowa z Traverso. Spodobala mi sie wtedy jego wiedza, sposob myslenia i klarownosc wypowiedzi. Zbierajac sie za usystematyzowanie rozparcelowanych watkow dotyczacych Gazy pomyslalam, zeby zaczac na dzien dobry wlasnie od Traverso i nie zawiodlam sie. Polecam jako antipasto. Bardzo.
October 13, 2025
Traverso überfliegt auf knapp 100 Seiten essayistisch den Genozid in Gaza und dessen Hintergründe und stellt ethische, rechtliche und geschichtliche Aspekte dar.
Viele Punkte im ersten Teil klingen bekannt, sind aber gut aufbereitet, mehr mitgenommen habe ich insbesondere aus der Auseinandersetzung mit dem moralischen Ungleichgewicht der Gewalt im Gaza-Krieg. "Verbrechen der Befreiungsbewegung beruhen auf dem Einsatz illegitimer Mittel, die Verbrechen der Besatzungsarmee auf ihrem eigenen Zweck, aus der sie sich ableitet", meint er hierzu abschließend.
Der Essay endet mit einem Abschnitt über einen binationalen Staat als logische langfristige Lösung. Traverso schließt mit dem bleiern-positiven Gedanken, eine demokratische Republik Palastina-Israel könne ein echter Schritt für Frieden im Nahen Osten und in der Welt werden - "Manchmal dienen Tragödien auch dazu, neue Horizonte zu eröffnen".
Viele Punkte im ersten Teil klingen bekannt, sind aber gut aufbereitet, mehr mitgenommen habe ich insbesondere aus der Auseinandersetzung mit dem moralischen Ungleichgewicht der Gewalt im Gaza-Krieg. "Verbrechen der Befreiungsbewegung beruhen auf dem Einsatz illegitimer Mittel, die Verbrechen der Besatzungsarmee auf ihrem eigenen Zweck, aus der sie sich ableitet", meint er hierzu abschließend.
Der Essay endet mit einem Abschnitt über einen binationalen Staat als logische langfristige Lösung. Traverso schließt mit dem bleiern-positiven Gedanken, eine demokratische Republik Palastina-Israel könne ein echter Schritt für Frieden im Nahen Osten und in der Welt werden - "Manchmal dienen Tragödien auch dazu, neue Horizonte zu eröffnen".
January 3, 2025
really great historical parallels as a tool to point out hypocrisy, even if the information is not necessarily anything new to those familiar with Palestinian history and post Oct 7th. Definitely disagree with some takes on resistance and a couple other things but it’s confusing bc every other sentence this guy seems to agree with my take but then says some lib shit but then follows it up with based shit. does a great job of hitting so many points with eloquence and conciseness, I definitely recommend it and it’s a quick read.
February 17, 2025
Gaza Faces History, Enzo Traverso, French-to-English translation by Willard Wood (originally published in Italian), 2024 (the author's preface is dated 2024.07.10), 105 pages, ISBN 9781635425543, Dewey 956.94055
GENOCIDE
The enormously powerful and sophisticated Israeli war machine is methodically eliminating a set of urban centers inhabited by close to 2.5 million Palestinian people. The destruction is unilateral, continuous, and inexorable. p. 11
Israel has killed 40,000-60,000 Palestinians, including 30,000-50,000 civilians, all deliberately targeted, 2023.10.07-2024.07.10(?); Hamas killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, including 800 civilians, in random attacks. p. 17.
Israel planned all of it: the destruction of roads, buildings, schools, hospitals, universities, museums, monuments, cemeteries; destruction of water supplies, electricity, natural gas, gasoline, Internet; denial of access to food and medical supplies; evacuation of more than 1.8 million of the 2.3 million Gazans toward the southern portion of the Strip, where Israel bombs and displaces them again; disease, epidemics, and now famine. pp. 17-18.
Unable to eradicate Hamas, Israel has set about eradicating the Palestinian intelligentsia: academics, doctors, technicians, journalists, artists, intellectuals, and poets. p. 18.
U.S.
Israel is massacring Gazans. p. 18. With an arsenal supplied mainly by the U.S. pp. 29-30.
U.S. president[s] Biden [and Trump both have] led cheers for Israel. pp. 12-14.
APARTHEID
Israel has relegated Palestinians to an apartheid system comparable to what once existed in South Africa. p. 46.
Israel is a democratic state for its citizens, but a military dictatorship for Palestinians. p. 83.
MEDIA
Mainstream media parrot Israeli lies (such as fictitious atrocities Israel claimed Islamists committed, reported as fact in the U.S.). pp. 39-42, 69. And censor images of the corpses of Palestinian children, humanitarian aid workers, and civilians, killed by Israeli snipers and drones, p. 79, and reports of Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian girls. p. 70.
For the awful truth, we have Al Jazeera: pp. 39-42. https://www.aljazeera.com
ANTIARABISM
The fiction of anti-Jewism has been weaponized, aiming to criminalize any criticism of Israel. Mainstream media, and both political parties [even Bernie Sanders], are fully on board. p. 45. [Jews and Arabs are both Semites.]
Equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism kills three birds with one stone: anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and Jewish nonconformism
pp. 46-47.
MONEY TALKS
Universities have banned protests of Israel's genocide of Gazans, at the behest of large donors. p. 49.
ZIONISM
Zionists made an agreement with Hitler in 1933, to send Jews to Palestine. p. 47.
"A Jewish national state would be a dangerous and stupid joke." --Hannah Arendt, 1946. pp. 86-87.
ISRAEL
Today Israel presents a ghastly image: a place where sneering eighteen-year-olds with M16 carbines taunt helpless old men ("security measures"); where bulldozers regularly flatten whole apartment blocks ("collective punishment"); where helicopters fire rockets into residential streets ("targeted assassination"); where subsidized settlers frolic in grass-fringed swimming pools, oblivious to Arab children a few meters away who fester and rot in the worst slums on the planet; and where retired generals and cabinet ministers speak openly of cleansing the land of its Arab cancer. --Tony Judt, 2004. pp. 77-78.
Israel is devoid of any shred of moral legitimacy. p. 91.
GENOCIDE
The enormously powerful and sophisticated Israeli war machine is methodically eliminating a set of urban centers inhabited by close to 2.5 million Palestinian people. The destruction is unilateral, continuous, and inexorable. p. 11
Israel has killed 40,000-60,000 Palestinians, including 30,000-50,000 civilians, all deliberately targeted, 2023.10.07-2024.07.10(?); Hamas killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, including 800 civilians, in random attacks. p. 17.
Israel planned all of it: the destruction of roads, buildings, schools, hospitals, universities, museums, monuments, cemeteries; destruction of water supplies, electricity, natural gas, gasoline, Internet; denial of access to food and medical supplies; evacuation of more than 1.8 million of the 2.3 million Gazans toward the southern portion of the Strip, where Israel bombs and displaces them again; disease, epidemics, and now famine. pp. 17-18.
Unable to eradicate Hamas, Israel has set about eradicating the Palestinian intelligentsia: academics, doctors, technicians, journalists, artists, intellectuals, and poets. p. 18.
U.S.
Israel is massacring Gazans. p. 18. With an arsenal supplied mainly by the U.S. pp. 29-30.
U.S. president[s] Biden [and Trump both have] led cheers for Israel. pp. 12-14.
APARTHEID
Israel has relegated Palestinians to an apartheid system comparable to what once existed in South Africa. p. 46.
Israel is a democratic state for its citizens, but a military dictatorship for Palestinians. p. 83.
MEDIA
Mainstream media parrot Israeli lies (such as fictitious atrocities Israel claimed Islamists committed, reported as fact in the U.S.). pp. 39-42, 69. And censor images of the corpses of Palestinian children, humanitarian aid workers, and civilians, killed by Israeli snipers and drones, p. 79, and reports of Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian girls. p. 70.
For the awful truth, we have Al Jazeera: pp. 39-42. https://www.aljazeera.com
ANTIARABISM
The fiction of anti-Jewism has been weaponized, aiming to criminalize any criticism of Israel. Mainstream media, and both political parties [even Bernie Sanders], are fully on board. p. 45. [Jews and Arabs are both Semites.]
Equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism kills three birds with one stone: anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and Jewish nonconformism
pp. 46-47.
MONEY TALKS
Universities have banned protests of Israel's genocide of Gazans, at the behest of large donors. p. 49.
ZIONISM
Zionists made an agreement with Hitler in 1933, to send Jews to Palestine. p. 47.
"A Jewish national state would be a dangerous and stupid joke." --Hannah Arendt, 1946. pp. 86-87.
ISRAEL
Today Israel presents a ghastly image: a place where sneering eighteen-year-olds with M16 carbines taunt helpless old men ("security measures"); where bulldozers regularly flatten whole apartment blocks ("collective punishment"); where helicopters fire rockets into residential streets ("targeted assassination"); where subsidized settlers frolic in grass-fringed swimming pools, oblivious to Arab children a few meters away who fester and rot in the worst slums on the planet; and where retired generals and cabinet ministers speak openly of cleansing the land of its Arab cancer. --Tony Judt, 2004. pp. 77-78.
Israel is devoid of any shred of moral legitimacy. p. 91.
October 25, 2025
Bardzo ciekawe, informacje w pigułce. Nie natkniemy się na ogromną ilość dat, ale na refleksje, które zostaną w głowie trochę dłużej.
December 26, 2025
10/10, no notes, would definitely put this on display again.
December 29, 2024
Enzo Traverso, the foremost Marxist historian of the so-called "Jewish question," just published this short essay about the genocide in Gaza, expanding on articles he's written for left-wing publications. With a wide range of historical arguments, Traverso dismantles the Zionists' claim — backed by Western imperialists — that Israel's campaign of mass murder is justified by the Holocaust.
One analogy in particular stood out to me. Traverso asks how right-wing German publications like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which in the 1980s defended historian Ernst Nolte's attempts to justify and relativize the Holocaust, have now become the most fanatical supporters of Israel. This might seem like a contradiction, first claiming that the Shoah was simply a reaction to the Bolsheviks' crimes, and now arguing it is a unique event beyond comparison.
Traverso points out the continuity: In both cases, the FAZ is trying to justify a genocide by blaming the victims. The mass murderers supposedly had no other option, provoked in the first case by Jewish communists, in the second by Palestinian militants. I think this is why the German bourgeoisie loves Zionism so much: it offers a respectable way to deny disturbing historical truths. If it's morally acceptable to claim the Nakba didn't happen, why shouldn't it be allowed to deny the crimes of the Wehrmacht?
One analogy in particular stood out to me. Traverso asks how right-wing German publications like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which in the 1980s defended historian Ernst Nolte's attempts to justify and relativize the Holocaust, have now become the most fanatical supporters of Israel. This might seem like a contradiction, first claiming that the Shoah was simply a reaction to the Bolsheviks' crimes, and now arguing it is a unique event beyond comparison.
Traverso points out the continuity: In both cases, the FAZ is trying to justify a genocide by blaming the victims. The mass murderers supposedly had no other option, provoked in the first case by Jewish communists, in the second by Palestinian militants. I think this is why the German bourgeoisie loves Zionism so much: it offers a respectable way to deny disturbing historical truths. If it's morally acceptable to claim the Nakba didn't happen, why shouldn't it be allowed to deny the crimes of the Wehrmacht?
May 10, 2025
Enzo Traverso, classe 1957, è storico e saggista, esperto della Shoah e di totalitarismi.
Tra le sue pubblicazioni vi sono La violenza nazista. Una genealogia. Il Mulino (2002); Il totalitarismo. Storia di un dibattito. Mondadori (2002).
Ha curato Insegnare Auschwitz. Questioni etiche, storiografiche, educative della deportazione e dello sterminio. Bollati Boringhieri (1995).
Con Marcello Flores, Marina Cattaruzza e Simon Levis Sullam ha scritto l’opera monumentale in 10 volumi: Storia della Shoah. UTET (2019).
Dal 1985 si è trasferito in Francia, ove ha insegnato a Parigi all’Ecole des hautes études en Sciences sociales e all’Université de Picardie. È attualmente docente alla Cornell University, a Ithaca, New York.
La posizione di Traverso è esplicita sin dall’introduzione: “Ho cercato di scrutare con occhio critico il dibattito politico e intellettuale che la crisi di Gaza ha suscitato, esaminando il grumo di storia e memoria che la avvolge. In breve, una riflessione critica sul presente e su come la storia viene chiamata in causa per interpretarlo. La questione è vasta e meriterebbe molto di più di queste note scritte in fretta, ma c'è urgenza […] Tutti hanno compreso che questa guerra segna una svolta, non solo per le sue conseguenze ma per quello che i palestinesi e gli israeliani rappresentano agli occhi del mondo. Questa vicenda, tuttavia, appartiene al presente e non siamo ancora in grado di scriverne la storia […] Per il momento, possiamo soltanto riflettere sugli usi pubblici del passato che l'accompagnano, sull'aiuto che la storia può fornirci per scrutare il presente e sulle strumentalizzazioni, spesso discutibili e talvolta ignobili, di cui è oggetto”.
La voce di Traverso si pone "fuori dal coro" rispetto ai governi e alla maggior parte dei mass media occidentali, quelli che alla distruzione di Gaza hanno fornito e forniscono quotidianamente una opportuna “scorta mediatica”, per citare una definizione efficace coniata da Raffaele Oriani, giornalista che l’ha usata nella sua lettera di dimissioni dal quotidiano “La Repubblica”.
Lo storico rifiuta di far partire il contatore della storia dal 7 ottobre 2003, data dell’attentato compiuto da Hamas - di cui sottolinea l’intento terrorista e su cui esprime inequivocabile condanna - ma lo inquadra in un contesto che in Occidente è spesso colpevolmente taciuto o banalizzato: quello della occupazione militare israeliana, esercitata da decenni con ferocia, con crudeltà, ricorrendo a mezzi squisitamente terroristici: “Dopo il ritiro di Israele nel 2005, la striscia di Gaza ha subito continui attacchi da parte di Tsahal che hanno causato migliaia di morti: 1.400 nel 2008 (di fronte a 13 israeliani), 170 nel 2012, 2.200 nel 2014. Il 30 marzo del 2018, una grande manifestazione pacifica contro il blocco della striscia si è conclusa con un massacro: 189 morti e 6.000 feriti. Nel 2023, tra il primo gennaio e il 6 ottobre, Tsahal aveva già ucciso 248 palestinesi nei territori occupati e ne aveva arrestati 5.200. Tra il 2008 e il 6 ottobre 2023, Tsahal ha ucciso più di 6.300 palestinesi, di cui oltre 5.000 a Gaza”, scrive, citando dati delle Nazioni Unite.
A fine gennaio 2024 la Corte Internazionale di Giustizia ha “lanciato l’allarme sul rischio di genocidio nella striscia di Gaza”.
Cosa è tecnicamente un genocidio?
Secondo la Convenzione delle Nazioni Unite del 1948, il genocidio si verifica quando sono compiute azioni "con l'intenzione di distruggere, in tutto o in parte, un gruppo nazionale, etnico, razziale o religioso, come tale", attraverso "a) uccisione di membri del gruppo; b) lesioni gravi all'integrità fisica o mentale di membri del gruppo; c) il fatto di sottoporre deliberatamente il gruppo a condizioni di vita intese a provocare la sua distruzione fisica, totale o parziale; d) misure miranti a impedire nascite all'interno del gruppo".
Sulla scorta di questa definizione alcuni tra i principali esperti mondiali (tra cui Raz Segal, secondo cui quel che sta accadendo a Gaza è “un caso di genocidio da manuale”, e Dirk Moses) si sono espressi in modo univoco: a Gaza è in corso un genocidio.
Nella enclave palestinese “una potentissima e sofisticatissima macchina bellica sta metodicamente eliminando un insieme di centri urbani abitati da quasi due milioni e mezzo di persone. È una distruzione a senso unico, continua, inesorabile”.
In chiave storica quanto è sotto i nostri occhi è una declinazione dell’”orientalismo” occidentale, della dicotomia che serve all’Occidente per definirsi in contrapposizione ad un oriente barbaro, non civilizzato: un aggiornamento dei parametri alla base del colonialismo.
L’autore denuncia l’uso strumentale dell’accusa dell’antisemitismo, usata per screditare chi si oppone alla politica del governo israeliano, riportando il paradosso degli intellettuali, degli studenti ebrei antisionisti tacciati di antisemitismo, e di come dietro la bandiera di un dichiarato contrasto all’antisemitismo si raccolgano movimenti dichiaratamente xenofobi, eredi diretti di quelli che contribuirono alla Shoah.
E riflette sull’uso storico della violenza, degli oppressori e degli oppressi, sul suo ripudio, sulla zona d’ombra in cui scorrono le figure del combattente e del terrorista, spesso coincidenti e contrarie, nell’immaginario, a seconda dei punti di vista di chi narra le vicende, o di quella stessa ipocrisia di chi invoca i diritti umani per dare legittimità alle “guerre umanitarie” e adopera doppi standard quando le violazioni del diritto internazionale a seconda del fatto che vengano compiute da paesi considerati amici o meno.
Nelle conclusioni, tramontata l’ipotesi dei “due popoli / due Stati” dopo il fallimento degli accordi di Oslo, l’annessione di Gerusalemme Est, la politica di insediamenti illegali in Cisgiordania, la distruzione di Gaza, Traverso vede in una entità “binazionale”, o federata, ma unica, che unisca i due popoli, l’unica possibilità per sanare in futuro davvero la ferita sanguinante di un conflitto che ha già sconvolto esistenze di molte generazioni. E avverte: “…Se la guerra a Gaza dovesse concludersi con una seconda Nakba, la legittimità di Israele sarebbe definitivamente compromessa. In tal caso, né le armi americane, né i media occidentali, né la ragion di stato tedesca, né la memoria distorta e oltraggiata della Shoah potranno riscattarlo”.
Tra le sue pubblicazioni vi sono La violenza nazista. Una genealogia. Il Mulino (2002); Il totalitarismo. Storia di un dibattito. Mondadori (2002).
Ha curato Insegnare Auschwitz. Questioni etiche, storiografiche, educative della deportazione e dello sterminio. Bollati Boringhieri (1995).
Con Marcello Flores, Marina Cattaruzza e Simon Levis Sullam ha scritto l’opera monumentale in 10 volumi: Storia della Shoah. UTET (2019).
Dal 1985 si è trasferito in Francia, ove ha insegnato a Parigi all’Ecole des hautes études en Sciences sociales e all’Université de Picardie. È attualmente docente alla Cornell University, a Ithaca, New York.
La posizione di Traverso è esplicita sin dall’introduzione: “Ho cercato di scrutare con occhio critico il dibattito politico e intellettuale che la crisi di Gaza ha suscitato, esaminando il grumo di storia e memoria che la avvolge. In breve, una riflessione critica sul presente e su come la storia viene chiamata in causa per interpretarlo. La questione è vasta e meriterebbe molto di più di queste note scritte in fretta, ma c'è urgenza […] Tutti hanno compreso che questa guerra segna una svolta, non solo per le sue conseguenze ma per quello che i palestinesi e gli israeliani rappresentano agli occhi del mondo. Questa vicenda, tuttavia, appartiene al presente e non siamo ancora in grado di scriverne la storia […] Per il momento, possiamo soltanto riflettere sugli usi pubblici del passato che l'accompagnano, sull'aiuto che la storia può fornirci per scrutare il presente e sulle strumentalizzazioni, spesso discutibili e talvolta ignobili, di cui è oggetto”.
La voce di Traverso si pone "fuori dal coro" rispetto ai governi e alla maggior parte dei mass media occidentali, quelli che alla distruzione di Gaza hanno fornito e forniscono quotidianamente una opportuna “scorta mediatica”, per citare una definizione efficace coniata da Raffaele Oriani, giornalista che l’ha usata nella sua lettera di dimissioni dal quotidiano “La Repubblica”.
Lo storico rifiuta di far partire il contatore della storia dal 7 ottobre 2003, data dell’attentato compiuto da Hamas - di cui sottolinea l’intento terrorista e su cui esprime inequivocabile condanna - ma lo inquadra in un contesto che in Occidente è spesso colpevolmente taciuto o banalizzato: quello della occupazione militare israeliana, esercitata da decenni con ferocia, con crudeltà, ricorrendo a mezzi squisitamente terroristici: “Dopo il ritiro di Israele nel 2005, la striscia di Gaza ha subito continui attacchi da parte di Tsahal che hanno causato migliaia di morti: 1.400 nel 2008 (di fronte a 13 israeliani), 170 nel 2012, 2.200 nel 2014. Il 30 marzo del 2018, una grande manifestazione pacifica contro il blocco della striscia si è conclusa con un massacro: 189 morti e 6.000 feriti. Nel 2023, tra il primo gennaio e il 6 ottobre, Tsahal aveva già ucciso 248 palestinesi nei territori occupati e ne aveva arrestati 5.200. Tra il 2008 e il 6 ottobre 2023, Tsahal ha ucciso più di 6.300 palestinesi, di cui oltre 5.000 a Gaza”, scrive, citando dati delle Nazioni Unite.
A fine gennaio 2024 la Corte Internazionale di Giustizia ha “lanciato l’allarme sul rischio di genocidio nella striscia di Gaza”.
Cosa è tecnicamente un genocidio?
Secondo la Convenzione delle Nazioni Unite del 1948, il genocidio si verifica quando sono compiute azioni "con l'intenzione di distruggere, in tutto o in parte, un gruppo nazionale, etnico, razziale o religioso, come tale", attraverso "a) uccisione di membri del gruppo; b) lesioni gravi all'integrità fisica o mentale di membri del gruppo; c) il fatto di sottoporre deliberatamente il gruppo a condizioni di vita intese a provocare la sua distruzione fisica, totale o parziale; d) misure miranti a impedire nascite all'interno del gruppo".
Sulla scorta di questa definizione alcuni tra i principali esperti mondiali (tra cui Raz Segal, secondo cui quel che sta accadendo a Gaza è “un caso di genocidio da manuale”, e Dirk Moses) si sono espressi in modo univoco: a Gaza è in corso un genocidio.
Nella enclave palestinese “una potentissima e sofisticatissima macchina bellica sta metodicamente eliminando un insieme di centri urbani abitati da quasi due milioni e mezzo di persone. È una distruzione a senso unico, continua, inesorabile”.
In chiave storica quanto è sotto i nostri occhi è una declinazione dell’”orientalismo” occidentale, della dicotomia che serve all’Occidente per definirsi in contrapposizione ad un oriente barbaro, non civilizzato: un aggiornamento dei parametri alla base del colonialismo.
L’autore denuncia l’uso strumentale dell’accusa dell’antisemitismo, usata per screditare chi si oppone alla politica del governo israeliano, riportando il paradosso degli intellettuali, degli studenti ebrei antisionisti tacciati di antisemitismo, e di come dietro la bandiera di un dichiarato contrasto all’antisemitismo si raccolgano movimenti dichiaratamente xenofobi, eredi diretti di quelli che contribuirono alla Shoah.
E riflette sull’uso storico della violenza, degli oppressori e degli oppressi, sul suo ripudio, sulla zona d’ombra in cui scorrono le figure del combattente e del terrorista, spesso coincidenti e contrarie, nell’immaginario, a seconda dei punti di vista di chi narra le vicende, o di quella stessa ipocrisia di chi invoca i diritti umani per dare legittimità alle “guerre umanitarie” e adopera doppi standard quando le violazioni del diritto internazionale a seconda del fatto che vengano compiute da paesi considerati amici o meno.
Nelle conclusioni, tramontata l’ipotesi dei “due popoli / due Stati” dopo il fallimento degli accordi di Oslo, l’annessione di Gerusalemme Est, la politica di insediamenti illegali in Cisgiordania, la distruzione di Gaza, Traverso vede in una entità “binazionale”, o federata, ma unica, che unisca i due popoli, l’unica possibilità per sanare in futuro davvero la ferita sanguinante di un conflitto che ha già sconvolto esistenze di molte generazioni. E avverte: “…Se la guerra a Gaza dovesse concludersi con una seconda Nakba, la legittimità di Israele sarebbe definitivamente compromessa. In tal caso, né le armi americane, né i media occidentali, né la ragion di stato tedesca, né la memoria distorta e oltraggiata della Shoah potranno riscattarlo”.
November 6, 2024
"Il concetto di guerra non è del tutto appropriato per definire ciò che sta avvenendo a Gaza, dove non si stanno scontrando due eserciti ma dove una potentissima e sofisticatissima macchina bellica sta metodicamente eliminando un insieme di centri urbani abitati da quasi due milioni e mezzo di persone."
Grazie Enzo Traverso, per esserti distinto dalle tante voci giornalistiche omertose e ipocrite.
Grazie Enzo Traverso, per esserti distinto dalle tante voci giornalistiche omertose e ipocrite.
January 1, 2025
The Road to October 7th, 2023: “Between 2008 and October 6th, 2023, the IDF killed almost 6,400 Palestinians, including 5,000 Gazans and wounded 158,440, while Israeli casualties from Hamas and other Islamist groups came to 310 dead and 6,460 wounded”. During this time the Palestinian unemployment rate was 50%, 80% lived below the poverty line and 75% were under the age of 25 (and all of those had lived in segregated conditions since birth).
Post October 7th: Israel would have you believe the October 6th “rave party protected by an electric fence next to an open-air prison” was as benign as a grandmother’s birthday party. West Germany held rock concerts intentionally next to the Berlin Wall in the 80’s so the East Germans could intentionally hear, and it was a message of solidarity, not a slap in the face – like visually eating a full meal next to a starving child. Yes, some Palestinians rejoiced on October 7th, but so too did “Auschwitz inmates when they heard the news of the bombing of German cities.” And calling Gaza an “open-air prison” is still misleading because if you are in a real one, you don’t expect “to be shot at or bombed except in the case of a full-fledged riot.” Israelis calling October 7th a “pogrom” rewrites history because Hamas isn’t in power, Israelis are not some oppressed minority like Jews in tsarist times.
Israel has an AI program called Lavender which marks targets and generates kill lists. It’s kind of like a malignant Santa Claus. Palestinians then get taken out by sloppy air strikes (no smart bombs) of which an Israeli officer confessed “You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people.” So thoughtful. When Israel found it hard to “eradicate Hamas” the IDF “set about eliminating Palestinian intelligentsia: academics, doctors, technicians, journalist, artists, intellectuals and poets.” That’s easier when Israelis routinely call Palestinians “animals”, “vermin”, and “cockroaches.” Instagram has dozens of videos of IDF laughing at the completely undeserved misfortunes of humiliated Palestinians – not all unlike photos of Nazis smiling next to hanged partisans. Israel loves to compare the PLO and now Hamas to the Nazis, but where are the photos of Palestinians laughing over bound prisoners or corpses? Where’s the ghettoizing or genocide of Israelis by Palestinians?
During the Vietnam War, student protests played a big role in US policy changes and led to students being called “commies” – today protesting students are called “anti-Semites” or “Jew haters” by similarly morally bankrupt individuals. “Israel is a democratic state for its citizens but a military dictatorship for Palestinians in the occupied territories, who have been deprived of their rights.” Never forget Zionists made an agreement with Hitler called the 1933 Haavara Agreements “whose signatories were the Nazi government, a British bank and the Zionist Federation of Germany.” That agreement was direct slap in the face of Jews and anti-fascists who wanted an economic boycott of the Third Reich. Interesting Fact: “German geographer Friedrich Ratzel invented the concept of ‘vital space’ (Lebensraum).” Israelis call it Greater Israel.
Anti-Semitism: Anti-Semitism has been weaponized; it used to be rightfully directed against Jews but now there’s a “a new imaginary anti-Semitism aimed at criminalizing any criticism of Israel.” “Equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism kills three birds with one stone, striking at anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and Jewish non-conformism.” Note how “yesterday’s anti-Semites are today leading the fight against anti-Zionism” and it is clearly morally dubious that you can somehow “conduct a genocidal war in the name of fighting anti-Semitism.” That intentionally blurs the distinction between good and evil, oppressor and oppressed, and perpetrator and victim.
Unilateral narratives celebrate “the history of the one and denies or ignores the history of the other.” Tony Judt wrote that Israel “presents a ghastly image: a place where sneering eighteen-year-olds with M16 carbines taunt helpless old men”. Not to excuse it but all asymmetrical conflicts have killed civilians: the Algerian FLN, Nelson Mandela’s ANC, the PLO before Oslo, Vietnam’s FNL, French Resistance, Spanish Civil War, and of course the Zionist Irgun where just in one of their attacks in 1946 (King David Hotel) killed 91 civilians.
This was a really good 2024 book that clearly taught me more about the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Post October 7th: Israel would have you believe the October 6th “rave party protected by an electric fence next to an open-air prison” was as benign as a grandmother’s birthday party. West Germany held rock concerts intentionally next to the Berlin Wall in the 80’s so the East Germans could intentionally hear, and it was a message of solidarity, not a slap in the face – like visually eating a full meal next to a starving child. Yes, some Palestinians rejoiced on October 7th, but so too did “Auschwitz inmates when they heard the news of the bombing of German cities.” And calling Gaza an “open-air prison” is still misleading because if you are in a real one, you don’t expect “to be shot at or bombed except in the case of a full-fledged riot.” Israelis calling October 7th a “pogrom” rewrites history because Hamas isn’t in power, Israelis are not some oppressed minority like Jews in tsarist times.
Israel has an AI program called Lavender which marks targets and generates kill lists. It’s kind of like a malignant Santa Claus. Palestinians then get taken out by sloppy air strikes (no smart bombs) of which an Israeli officer confessed “You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people.” So thoughtful. When Israel found it hard to “eradicate Hamas” the IDF “set about eliminating Palestinian intelligentsia: academics, doctors, technicians, journalist, artists, intellectuals and poets.” That’s easier when Israelis routinely call Palestinians “animals”, “vermin”, and “cockroaches.” Instagram has dozens of videos of IDF laughing at the completely undeserved misfortunes of humiliated Palestinians – not all unlike photos of Nazis smiling next to hanged partisans. Israel loves to compare the PLO and now Hamas to the Nazis, but where are the photos of Palestinians laughing over bound prisoners or corpses? Where’s the ghettoizing or genocide of Israelis by Palestinians?
During the Vietnam War, student protests played a big role in US policy changes and led to students being called “commies” – today protesting students are called “anti-Semites” or “Jew haters” by similarly morally bankrupt individuals. “Israel is a democratic state for its citizens but a military dictatorship for Palestinians in the occupied territories, who have been deprived of their rights.” Never forget Zionists made an agreement with Hitler called the 1933 Haavara Agreements “whose signatories were the Nazi government, a British bank and the Zionist Federation of Germany.” That agreement was direct slap in the face of Jews and anti-fascists who wanted an economic boycott of the Third Reich. Interesting Fact: “German geographer Friedrich Ratzel invented the concept of ‘vital space’ (Lebensraum).” Israelis call it Greater Israel.
Anti-Semitism: Anti-Semitism has been weaponized; it used to be rightfully directed against Jews but now there’s a “a new imaginary anti-Semitism aimed at criminalizing any criticism of Israel.” “Equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism kills three birds with one stone, striking at anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and Jewish non-conformism.” Note how “yesterday’s anti-Semites are today leading the fight against anti-Zionism” and it is clearly morally dubious that you can somehow “conduct a genocidal war in the name of fighting anti-Semitism.” That intentionally blurs the distinction between good and evil, oppressor and oppressed, and perpetrator and victim.
Unilateral narratives celebrate “the history of the one and denies or ignores the history of the other.” Tony Judt wrote that Israel “presents a ghastly image: a place where sneering eighteen-year-olds with M16 carbines taunt helpless old men”. Not to excuse it but all asymmetrical conflicts have killed civilians: the Algerian FLN, Nelson Mandela’s ANC, the PLO before Oslo, Vietnam’s FNL, French Resistance, Spanish Civil War, and of course the Zionist Irgun where just in one of their attacks in 1946 (King David Hotel) killed 91 civilians.
This was a really good 2024 book that clearly taught me more about the Israel/Palestine conflict.
October 16, 2025
«Os ataques terroristas horrorizam-nos […] mas a nossa época, que tão depressa cai na retórica dos direitos humanos, está surpreendentemente habituada à violência de bombardeamentos de saturação, de alvos localizados em ecrãs de computador, de bombas inteligentes e de ataques “cirúrgicos” que arrasam cidades com milhões de habitantes. Os nossos “direitos humanos” são regularmente invocados para legitimar as nossas “guerras humanitárias”, e a guerra exige a união sagrada […].».
December 20, 2025
der Essay legt nicht die Geschichte Palästinas dar, aber er bezieht Stellung zum aktuellen Diskurs über den Nahostkonflikt und ordnet dabei viele Argumente ein. Ich finde, dass er viele Aspekte gut auf den Punkt bringt, auch indem er Parallelen zu anderen historischen Konflikten zieht und sich auf wichtige Intellektuelle bezieht. Ich glaube, dass es bei vielen Deutschen auf Unmut treffen könnte, aber finde es deswegen umso wichtiger, dass es gelesen wird.
September 1, 2025
"Equating anti-zionism with anti-Semitism kills three birds with one stone - striking at anti-colonialism, anti-racism and Jewish nonconformism."
"As Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations has pointed out, the events of October 7th did not happen in a vacuum. It was an extreme consequence of decades of occupation, colonization, dispossetion and humiliation. All forms of peaceful protests have been bloodily suppressed. Israel sabotaged the Oslo Accords from the outset and the Palestinian Authority, entirely powerless, has become a kind of auxiliary police for the IDF in the West Bank."
"Israel's goal, Edward Said wrote prophetically, was to make Palestinians invisible. That goal is tacitly shared by the United States, the European Union and even the Arab countries, who were recently on the verge of recognizing Israel in the wake of the Abraham Accords, which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan have already signed with Israel without regard for the Palestinians. October 7th reminded them that the Palestinians haven't dissappeared."
Enzo Traverso
"As Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations has pointed out, the events of October 7th did not happen in a vacuum. It was an extreme consequence of decades of occupation, colonization, dispossetion and humiliation. All forms of peaceful protests have been bloodily suppressed. Israel sabotaged the Oslo Accords from the outset and the Palestinian Authority, entirely powerless, has become a kind of auxiliary police for the IDF in the West Bank."
"Israel's goal, Edward Said wrote prophetically, was to make Palestinians invisible. That goal is tacitly shared by the United States, the European Union and even the Arab countries, who were recently on the verge of recognizing Israel in the wake of the Abraham Accords, which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan have already signed with Israel without regard for the Palestinians. October 7th reminded them that the Palestinians haven't dissappeared."
Enzo Traverso
February 17, 2025
Insightful and well documented historic review of the discourses that aim to legitimate the ongoing genocide. It's a refreshing analysis of one of the darkest moments in recent history
May 28, 2025
from the river to the sea, palestine will be free
January 3, 2025
"Ha surgido una nueva narrativa que convierte a Israel en víctima: el antisionismo es una forma de antisemitismo; el anticolonialismo ha revelado finalmente su matriz antioccidental, fundamentalista y antisemita. Los conspiradores «judeo-bolcheviques» de antaño han pasado a ser la «izquierda proislámica» de hoy. En los últimos meses, esta mitología se ha extendido al igual que lo hicieron las fake news sobre la guerra de 1914.Una inversión de la realidad de este calado no puede quedar sin consecuencias. Combatir el antisemitismo será cada vez más difícil después de haber desfigurado y distorsionado su naturaleza de un modo tan descarado. El riesgo de banalización es muy real: si se puede librar una guerra genocida en nombre de la lucha contra el antisemitismo, muchas personas honradas empezarán a pensar que sería mejor abandonar una causa tan dudosa. Nadie podrá evocar el Holocausto sin despertar sospechas e incredulidad; muchos llegarán a creer que se trata de un mito inventado para defender los intereses de Israel y sus aliados. La memoria de la Shoah como «religión civil» –la sacralización ritual de los derechos humanos a través del recuerdo de las víctimas– perderá todas sus virtudes pedagógicas".
December 5, 2024
More of a long essay (~150 pages) I found the book after watching Professor Traverso on Democracy Now! YouTube channel. A scholar who has lived and taught around the world, Traverso has a large base of solid research to make his arguments against the attempted genocide by Israel, who has colonized Palestine since 1948. He talks about the historical context the present exists within.
Very clearly written (and translated) to give the non-expert the information. Many resources to learn more are given in the bibliography.
Very clearly written (and translated) to give the non-expert the information. Many resources to learn more are given in the bibliography.
Read
June 14, 2025w porządku na początek
Displaying 1 - 30 of 181 reviews