Israel, Guatemala, and Gaza

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November 6, 2023


** From ‘Never Again’ to ‘Once Again’
Israel, the Guatemalan genocides, and ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate bombing of Gaza
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Medical Aid for Palestinians (@MedicalAidPal ([link removed]) ) reported today ([link removed]) :
* 10,000 Palestinians killed, including 4,000+ children.
* More than 1.5 million people displaced from their homes

Older reports state:
* 23,516 people injured, including over 7,700 children.
* 2,100 reports of missing people, including 1,200 children still under the rubble ([link removed]) .
* 16 hospitals and 32 primary care centers out of service due to damage or lack of fuel. ([link removed])
* Over 690,400 sheltering in 149 United Nations (@UNRWA) facilities ([link removed])

Ofrenda for Palestine at Mexico City march and rally for Palestine

Since the October 7 attack by the Hamas militant group, targeting and killing over 1200 Israeli citizens, capturing over 200 more, Israel’s ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate bombing of civilians has been live-streamed 24/7 on social media, independent media, and mainstream media (in non-western countries) around the world.

Israel’s military atrocities in Gaza go on and on. The unconditional military and economic, political, and ideological (propaganda) support from the U.S., E.U. and Canada to Israel go on and on.

From Gaza to Guatemala

The intensity of indiscriminate killing in Gaza since October 7 is reminiscent of the worst years (1978-1983) of genocidal massacres in Guatemala, only this time with live streaming.

These are not, obviously, the only cases of indiscriminate mass killings of unarmed civilians in the history of our global human community, atrocities that in recent generations often end with cries of “Never Again (Nunca Mas)”. The Holocaust and extermination of some 6 million Jews comes starkly to mind.

Yet, what happened in Guatemala during the worst years of indiscriminate slaughter of Mayan boys and girls, women and men, infants and elderly, has depressingly similar aspects with what is happening today in Gaza..

Complicity of U.S.-led “international community”

The U.S.-led “international community” was/is deeply involved in both cases.

In Israel today, the E.U. and Canada are playing a ‘front seat’ role, beside the U.S., providing unconditional military and economic, political and ideological (propaganda) support to Israel.

During the 1980s in Guatemala, Canada and most western European power houses played a ‘back seat’, quietly complicit role to the U.S., though the British Military -under Prime Minister Thatcher- played a direct support role.

During the worst years of genocides, the U.S. also relied on proxy allies - Israel, the Chilean regime of General Pinochet, the Argentine regime of ‘the Generals’ – to provide military and counter-insurgency training, weapons and military hardware to the Guatemalan forces.

Israel-Guatemala connection

Watching the ethnic cleansing and indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza, the extensive role Israel played in support of Guatemala’s regimes during the worst years of atrocities and genocides it is not lost on Guatemalans, and people across Latin America.

“The Israel-Guatemala connection shows that not only did Israel allegedly commit war crimes against the Palestinians, but also facilitated other states like Guatemala in carrying out crimes against humanity.”

“This thirty-six year war was a particularly brutal episode in Guatemala’s troubled postcolonial history and still leaves deep wounds, particularly on the collective psyche of the country’s Mayan population. Israel’s support of Guatemala government forces during this time is an example of Zionist foreign policy at its most calculated.”

(See articles listed below)

Military Strategy: “To kill the fish, drain the sea”

In Guatemala and Palestine, the aggressor regimes employed/employ the military strategy referred to as “to kill the fish, drain the sea.”

In Guatemala, the military regimes committed genocides in four poor, rural, Mayan regions of the country, killing all civilians they came across, arguing that the Mayan peoples were ‘one and the same’ as the small armed guerilla movement, invariably labeled as “communists”, “marxists” and/or “terrorists”.

In Israel, a number of military and government officials, media outlets and public persona have said “there are no innocent civilians in Gaza”, that Palestinians in Gaza are ‘one and the same’ as the Hamas militant group, as Israel continues with indiscriminate bombing and an ethnic cleansing campaign aimed at violently removing over 2 million Palestinians from Gaza.

The media

Mainstream media in the U.S., E.U., and Canada are playing a similar role today in Israel/Palestine as they did during the 1970s and 80s, regularly parroting U.S. government explanations that support for and interventions with brutal military regimes across Latin America were carried out in the context of fighting “the cold war” to stop the feared ‘domino effect’ expansion of communism around the world.

Today, the mainstream media - even as the Palestinian death count tops 10,000 - parrots U.S., E.U. and Canadian government policy statements that Israel is fighting “a war of self-defense”.

Thus here we are. ‘Never again’ is ‘once again’.

End U.S., E.U., Canadian Complicity Now

It is reprehensible and criminal that the U.S., E.U. and Canada are supporting, enabling and ‘legitimizing’ Israel’s indiscriminate assault, let alone some unconditional support for Israel going back to 1948. This is not just an “Israel/Palestine” issue. This is very much a U.S., E.U., Canadian issue.

Ceasefire now

The most basic level of human decency demands a:
* Full, comprehensive ceasefire now.
* Full, comprehensive humanitarian and medical relief now for Palestinians across Gaza and West Bank, provided by institutions and entities trusted by the Palestinians.
* The release of all hostages and political prisoners now.

Comprehensive negotiations, for as long as it takes

Stop the carnage now. Then, once full and comprehensive humanitarian and medical relief is being provided to all the victims and displaced people of Gaza, begin again the difficult process of negotiations. There needs to be truth, justice, and reparations for what is happening right now, beginning with the Hamas attack on October 7, and the ensuing Israeli ethnic cleansing military assault on Gaza.

Begin again the difficult process of negotiations for political and legal solutions (including justice and reparations) that address the historical root causes of the ‘Israel-Palestine’ question, going back to the creation of Israel as a State in 1948 and forced expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands.

The U.S. (E.U., Canada) cannot “broker a peace”

Peaceful, negotiated solutions are the only humane path forward, no matter how hard they are, how long they take.

They are the only way out of the immediate crisis situation of ethnic-cleansing bombing and forced removal of over 2 million Palestinians. They are the only way to prevent this same violence, death and suffering, and immeasurable pain and hatred to rear their head again in the future.

However, the so-called “international community” must not leave it to the U.S. to “broker a peace”, as the U.S. has pretended to do in the past. The U.S., along with the E.U. and Canada, are not neutral parties, but rather directly implicated as partners of Israel in this 75 years-and-counting conflict.

Accountability in U.S., E.U., and Canada

And it is, yet again, incumbent on citizens of the U.S., E.U. and Canada to demand political and legal accountability for the complicit roles our governments and militaries play in illegal wars, interventions and atrocities in countries across the globe, including today in Israel/Palestine, going back to the creation of the State of Israel.

Diversify your media sources

Rights Action urges everyone to diversify their news sources, and suggests including daily news coverage provided by Al Jazeera news ([link removed]) and Democracy Now (www.democracynow.org).

These are not the only other sources, but they provide good and broad media reporting, a necessary antidote to the oftentimes harmful reporting coming almost uniformly from the mainstream media in the U.S., E.U., and Canada.

Take action / Get informed
* Medical Aid for Paletinians: [link removed] ; @MedicalAidPal ([link removed])
* Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East: [link removed] ; @CJPME ([link removed])
* Jewish Voices for Peace (U.S.): [link removed] ; @jvplive ([link removed])
* Independent Jewish Voices (Canada): [link removed] ; @indjewishvoices ([link removed])
* Democracy Now: [link removed] ; @democracynow ([link removed])
* Al Jazeera English: [link removed] ; @AJEnglish ([link removed])
* BDS Movement: [link removed]
* CAIR California Resource Guide: [link removed]
* Palestine Solidarity Campaign: [link removed]

Grahame Russell
Director, Rights Action

Camila Rich
Communications, Rights Action

Israeli and Guatemala

Here, a small list of articles documenting the Israeli role in Guatemala, as a proxy State of the U.S., during the worst years of State terrorism and genocides. This is neither a comprehensive list nor ‘the best list’.

Israel and Guatemala: Arms, Advice and Counterinsurgency
By Cheryl Rubenberg, Middle East Research and Information Project, May/June 1986
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Israeli Foreign Policy in Central America
By Cheryl A. Rubenberg, Third World Quarterly, July 1986
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Israeli Connection - Not just Guns for Guatemala
By George Black, NACLA, September 25, 2007
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Linked Arms. Guatemala and Israel have historically shared a warm, if sometimes dark, relationship—and it is one that is bearing new fruit today
By Irin Carmon, February 21, 2012
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Israel's close relationship with Guatemala has roots in country's civil war
By Rosa De Ferrari, January 8, 2018
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Israel’s role in the Guatemalan genocide
Middle East Monitor, October 5, 2015
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Israel’s Proxy War in Guatemala
By Gabriel Schivone, April 23, 2013
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Israel’s role in war crimes committed during the Guatemalan civil war
TRT World, 2020
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Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)

To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights, justice and democracy defense struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: Box 82858, RPO Cabbagetown Toronto, ON, M5A 3Y2

Credit-Card Donations: [link removed]
Direct deposits, write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Donations of securities, write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

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