Digital expert or pro-racist and pro-genocidal political propagandist?

In less than a month, and apparently in the midst of a pro-Zionist campaign, Diego Santos has written seven opinion columns in different media outlets, not only whitewashing Israel's image—even resorting to lies—but also ignorantly and racistly suggesting the same old rehash that the Palestinians are responsible for their tragedy, that Tel Aviv is not responsible for anything at all, and that criticizing Israel for its crimes is a bizarre form of anti-Semitism.

In his most recent column, titled "Living Under a Rain of Missiles," published in this prestigious newspaper, he not only reverses the order of roles in the Middle East but also continues to champion hatred and the violent, criminal, racist, and fundamentalist regime that governs Israel.

But let's take it one step at a time. The order of the roles is reversed, since the one living under a hail of missiles, bombs, gunfire, and murder is not Israel but Palestine. The columnist forgets or conceals the role assigned by the UN Security Council to Israel as an occupying power since 1967. He also forgets or conceals the ICJ document of July 19 of last year, which lists an endless list of aberrations and violations of international law—including apartheid—by Israel in its military occupation and colonization of Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. The columnist even overlooks the small detail that the Israeli government leadership is a fugitive from justice for committing war crimes.

Israel in the Middle East is not a victim but the cause of an effect. Decades of violations of international law, of assuming ethnic and moral supremacy, of attacking its neighbors at will, and of carrying out one of the bloodiest occupations in history—complete with ethnic cleansing—has provoked countless responses and retaliations that Zionism, and in this case the columnist, manipulate to sell the narrative that Israel is “only defending itself.”

Now, the second element is that the columnist defends the hatred, violence, racism, and fundamentalism of the Israeli government. The columnist has repeatedly stated that Colombia should follow in the footsteps of Zionism. Which steps? Attacking its neighbors, murdering children, destroying cities, stealing land, or violating international law?

Additionally, the columnist insists on comparing Israel to Colombia and rightly says, "We are not threatened by a missile falling in El Dorado or downtown Barranquilla." The explanation is simple, but not because of the arguments in favor of the genocidaire that the columnist presents. Colombia does comply with the law and does not attack its neighbors. If it did so in the Israeli way, we Colombians would be in serious danger of facing—fair, moreover—responses from those affected.

Finally, the columnist mentions that "we criticize Israel without having the slightest idea of ​​who they are and what their daily lives are like." He is completely wrong. It is their own soldiers who have shown us the face of Zionism, posing with the underwear of the Palestinian women they have murdered as backgrounds or filming themselves shooting with Palestinian women, among thousands of other aberrations. No one here is making anything up.

Enough with the vilification of Judaism and the blatant accusations of anti-Semitism against Israel's critics. This offends not only Judaism itself, but also the intelligence of this newspaper's readers. I hope the columnist will focus on his own business, talking about technology, and stop justifying the unjustifiable by whitewashing an unparalleled aggressor.

Embassy of Palestine in Colombia