october 18, 2024
Israel and Colonialism
Colonialism was ideally justified as a civilizing mission of the superior European civilization (Kipling called it the "white man's burden"), often linked to Christian missions, but in practice, it involved appropriating local wealth and exploiting the local population's low-cost labor. Israel has no intention of civilizing the Arabs (absolutely not), and converting them to Judaism would be considered a sacrilege. As for labor, Israel no longer trusts the Arabs and relies instead on Filipinos and other Asians (many of whom were killed on October 7th, even though they were not involved). So, there's nothing reminiscent of 19th-century colonialism, but settlers in the sense of farmers (the famous kibbutzim) and later, everything that comes with industrialization.