Erwan Davoux served as a project manager at the Presidency of the Republic and has advised numerous right-wing political figures internationally.
In Gaza, «100 %» of the population is facing «severe food insecurity», according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and half the population – 1.1 million people – are suffering from famine. Should this threat materialise, it would place Netanyahu far ahead of Stalin or Pol Pot, in relative terms of victims, in the deliberate organisation of a famine and its consequences.
Indeed, the combined Soviet famines caused by collectivisation in 1931-1933 in Russia, Kazakhstan, the North Caucasus and Ukraine (the Holodomor) resulted in the deaths of approximately 7 to 8 million people. Ukraine was by far the worst affected, with 4 to 6 million deaths out of a population of just over 30 million.
As for Pol Pot, he «only» killed 20% of the Cambodian population (a little under 2 million) through famine, but not exclusively; executions and torture, excessive forced labour, and untreated illness all played their full part.
Admittedly, in absolute terms, the number of victims attributable to Stalin and Pol Pot is much higher. Above all, these are real figures and not projections of what could happen in Gaza if the status quo persists. But Netanyahu is making do with what he has, and one must grant him a certain efficiency since he could succeed in achieving his objective in a few weeks, whereas his predecessors took years. 100% of the population at risk, with 50% already facing famine, is unprecedented in history. The decisive step in this inhumane plan was the smoke screen over UNRWA. To date, nothing has been proven.
The worst part is that this massive and deliberate famine (since we are only referring to «artificial famines», those created by a leader and not those resulting from natural disasters or regimes incapable of feeding their population) is known to everyone, unlike the two mentioned previously and therefore actively or passively supported by the major powers or the 'West», which thereby disowns its founding values and identity.
This is not the first time that revisionist or religious Zionism has been in power. This was also the case with Menahem Begin (1977-1983) then Yitzhak Shamir (1986-1992) both, with a extensive terrorist record and authenticated, have led the State of Israel. These two men, like Netanyahu, originate from Eastern Europe and do not share a long common past with the Arabs. In their ideology, the Arab is the enemy by nature, whom it is appropriate to fight or massacre should the absurd idea of resisting occur to them.
Nevertheless, there are striking differences in context. Menahem Begin put the long-term interest of his country before his ideology and signed peace with Egypt. He transformed himself into a statesman. It was under Shamir that the first Intifada broke out . Yet Israel still had a strong Labour Party (which was moreover part of the government), and a democratic two-party political system. Furthermore, the Palestinians themselves had a leader in the person of Yasser Arafat. Now, the Labour Party has disappeared and the Palestinians no longer have a leader.
With Netanyahu, we are seeing revisionist/religious Zionism running Israel uninhibited, without any resisting force or check and balance. It will be for historians to describe what is no longer a simple ideology but a repressive political practice which establishes a hierarchy between human beings according to an ethnic group and henceforth, also, a religion.
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