At the microphone of Sonia Mabrouk, Michel Onfray, philosopher and author of “The Fetish and the Merchandise” at Bouquins Editions, discusses the implications of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the international level and delivers his analysis on Palestinian politics.
Guest of the Great Europe 1-CNews interview, philosopher and essayist Michel Onfray denounced Palestinian political leaders: “The Palestinians are betrayed and deceived by their government,” he declared. He also makes a distinction between the Palestinians and Hamas: “I think we should hear more from the Palestinians who are against Hamas.”
He recalls that since 2005 Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip “with European money”. “For 20 years, I have made it known that Arafat recovered a lot of money and his widow inherited the money that Europe gave,” judges Michel Onfray.
He believes that the Palestinian cause can be instrumentalized by anti -Semites: “The species of Palestine with a capital P has become an opportunity for the entire planet to crystallize anti -Semitism”.
“Conflict of civilization”
According to the philosopher, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict activates a form of “war of civilization”. “It’s a war of civilization with Jews and Muslims.” He draws a parallel between the situation in Israel and Palestine: “We have exactly the same thing in Armenia with Christians and Muslims. It’s a conflict of civilizations, it’s a war of religion and they told me ‘but no not at all, it’s nationalism’. People who told me that 20 years ago are starting to say to me ‘Ah yes, it’s a conflict of civilization'”.
He takes up the thesis of Samuel Huttington, professor of political science and author of the controversial “The Clash of Civilizations”: “What will it take for people to understand that he was right when he described the clash of civilizations (…). It explains just what is needed.”