Thom Yorke and the New Trap of Liberal Zionism

How Thom Yorke’s recent statement falls into the trap (and sets it for others) of supporting Zionist violence.

He tried to save face and failed — he only revealed himself as a liberal zionist and supporter of Neo-Imperialism.

Feeling the larger cultural shift away from unquestioning support for Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people, the world leaders, the network newscasters, the Piers Morgans, and the Thom Yorkes of the world are all coming out with a new wave of rhetoric, aimed at disarming resistance to apartheid and genocide.

Supporters of Zionism and neocolonialism are setting a trap — to water down and contain the movement that connects the genocidal Israeli occupation to the genocidal American Empire to each and every one of us caught in the systems of exploitation and domination.

The trap is this: To quell and contain the anger and outrage at the genocide, the apartheid state, and the entire project of Indigenous erasure that “Israel” represents; to redirect the anger towards one man (scapegoating Netanyahu), so that he can be criticized without admitting the truth that genocide is the only outcome of any ethno-supremacist project, especially one driven by and backed by European colonialism; to make us talk about humanitarian crisis rather than genocide; to stop short of condemning the entire genocidal project that Israel is.

Here’s the new liberal Zionist playbook, exemplified by Thom Yorke’s statement:

Call the “Israel/Palestine” situation a “humanitarian catastrophe”, not a deliberate and almost 100 year genocide. Make a show of criticizing the “current government”, not the Zionist supremacist ideology
Make sure the only real moral indignation is about the “truly horrific acts of Oct 7” — not the genocide, not the scores of babies murdered and schools bombed, not the sniping of children, not the medieval-style siege and forced starvation of over 2 million people, and definitely not the underlying violent displacement of 750,000 people, who make up the majority of the people in Gaza
Pretend to care about the suffering of Palestinians without any blame or acknowledgement of who is making them suffer (the Israeli military occupation)
Better yet, don’t mention Palestinian people at all, just say “all those who are suffering and who have died”, as if it’s possible to lump 1200 people living as oppressors in a brutal apartheid regime, many killed by the very military they served in, in with the somewhere between 50,000 and 250,000 people, the majority woman and children, all of whom have lived in a concentration camp for most or all of their lives
Center yourself as a victim of “witch hunts” or “being cancelled” Appeal to “coming together” and blame the masses of people who understand the underlying injustice and want to stop the genocide for “deliberate polarization”
Vilify “the extremists” and say “send them back to the darkness” — easily read as a genocidal call given the rhetoric of “human animals” and Netanyahu’s claim “We are the people of light, they are the people of darkness”
Overall make it a “both sides” thing, criticizing the manners and decorum of anyone horrified by actual live-streamed genocide
Bring back the age-old “it’s complicated” talking point to shut down further discussion or ethical clarity of supporting Palestine

We can’t let this new wave of rhetoric scapegoat “one bad man”, Mileikowsky (Netanyahu), as rogue extremist. The truth is that every zionist leader from Theodor Herzl and Chaim Weiss to Jabotinsky to David Grün (Ben-Gurion) to Golda Mabovitch (Meir) have all clearly stated their goal of an ethno-state that excludes “Arabs” (Palestinians).

Because the heart of this matter is very simple: the war crime of annexation and settlements. And this trap is a new push to move the collective awakening that is happening about Palestine away from this fundamental truth.

It is simply about zionists violently stealing the land. It is about “Israel” stealing and erasing Palestinian culture, food, music, agriculture, industry, and land. It is about Euro-Russian invaders driving “the Arabs” out of their homes with violence and erasing the stories of their long connection to the land. It is about settlers planting invasive pines on top of Palestinian villages.

So even though Thom Yorke says he does now see Netanyahu’s “transparent desire to take control of Gaza and the West Bank permanently” — but that is literally the stated goal of Zionism. “Israel” has always had this as its endgame. Every zionist leader from Theodor Herzl and Chaim Weiss to Jabotinsky to David Grün (Ben-Gurion) to Golda Mabovitch (Meir) to Yitzhak Rubitzov (Rabin) have all clearly stated this goal. Every Western leader who nodded and winked as they said “two-state solution” for decades have clearly supported the war crimes of settlements and land annexation.

We must be clear and strong that it’s not “stop Netanyahu”.

It’s end the genocide.

It’s end the apartheid state.

It’s end the occupation.

It’s Free Palestine.