Storm over historian article on Israel 's war against Hamas

 An Israeli professor who resides in the US has kicked off a storm by writing an article that asks Israel to stop 'weaponising the holocaust' in its conflict with Palestinians. Segal argued, as many including the UN Secretary General have, that we should not be mindful of the background to the Hamas attack on Israel, which is no way to overlook the atrocities that happened. Simply to portray Palestinians or Hamas as barbaric or as animals is not helpful:

The context of the Hamas attack on Israelis, however, is completely different from the context of the attack on Jews during the Holocaust. And without the historical context of Israeli settler colonialism since the 1948 Nakba, we cannot explain how we got here, nor imagine different futures; Biden offered us, instead, the decontextualized image of “pure, unadulterated evil.”

Segal also underlined the issue of accountability in such cases:

The history of the Holocaust also points to the importance of accountability, even as post-Holocaust accountability remained limited. In the case of Israel’s assault on Gaza, accountability needs to begin from what is very clear: incitement to genocide, which is punishable under article 3 of the UN genocide convention, even when genocide does not follow. While the debate about genocide in Israel’s current assault on Gaza will undoubtedly continue for years, perhaps also in international courts, Israeli war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law are beyond dispute.

Understandably, Israeli officials and several Jewish groups have reacted fiercely to Segal's comments.  

The important thing to note, however, is that Segal is an Israeli. There are many voices like him in Israel itself, people who do not hesitate to criticise the policies of the present government. One of the magnificent forums for the expression of dissent is the newspaper, Haaretz, that hosts the famous dissenter, Gideon Levy. It is fair to say that dissent and the tolerance of dissent in Israel is greater than in most other countries and that is an aspect of Israel that is worthy of admiration. As long as such dissent thrives, there is reason for hope.