Every war-mongering leader has the blood of innocent people on his hands. Every person who remains silent or supports the war-mongering leader becomes a partner in killing innocent people. Every ambidextrous politician who achieves his power by pandering to the nationalist, religious, and animalistic passions of innocent people is a criminal. Every war brings with it huge profit for an evil-rich small class and destruction for a big, poor, and helpless class. Every war kills hope of peace and brotherhood in the world. Tragic events in Gaza are manifesting all these hard realities and moral failures, for which all the world must share some blame.
In the aftermath of Hamas’s attacks, Israel has already killed around 5,700 innocent civilians, including around 2000 children. According to the Save the Children charity, one child in Gaza was being killed every 15 minutes. The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimates a daily death toll of 200 children and infants. Thousands of people, including 3,250 children, have been injured. “Israel’s bombardment and unlawful total blockade of Gaza mean that countless wounded and sick children, among many other civilians, will die for want of medical care,” said Human Rights Watch.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced; many homes, hospitals and mosques have been destroyed. Electricity, water, healthcare, and food supplies have been cut, and more than 2.3 million people have been sieged.
Chief of UN relief agency UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, has categorically declared that the Middle East is on the ‘edge of an abyss’ as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas. Talking to the BBC, Lazzarini said he fears “the world is now losing its humanity”.
Israel’s political leaders are publicly announcing that they will commit more atrocities against the civilians. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) declared, “the emphasis is on damage, not accuracy”. “Gaza will eventually turn into a city of tents,” said one IDF official, adding, “There will be no buildings.” Nir Barkat, Israel’s economy minister, told ABC News that hostages and civilian casualties will be secondary to destroying Hamas, “even if takes a year”. Israel is also dropping leaflets in parts of northern Gaza with the message that civilians who ignore evacuation orders may be considered “accomplices in a terrorist organisation”. Israel is now officially declaring that civilians, including women, elderly people, children and injured people, can be killed without any fear of international law. The 1949 Geneva Conventions clearly state that children must be protected and treated humanely. Israel is also a signatory to the conventions. Amnesty International has declared that Israeli forces are committing war crimes as they “have shown shocking disregard for civilian lives”.
Tragically, the international community has closed its eyes to this tragic slaughter of innocent people. “Not for the first time, the international community stands accused of complicity in a war crime, of a collective crime against humanity; it is watching it all unfold in Gaza, mostly from afar, and it is failing miserably to stop it. The 1995 Srebrenica massacre comes to mind, as does Rwanda in 1994”, writes Simon Tisdall, a prominent journalist.
It should be noted that Israel is involved in ethnic cleansing and military occupation of Palestinian land before the founding of Hamas. According to Amnesty International: “Israel imposes a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control.” According to B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: “The Israeli regime enacts in all the territory it controls an apartheid regime.”
Hamas’s attacks are a reaction against these Israeli policies. Through these attacks, Hamas has also achieved its target of breaking the rapprochement between Israel and the Arab world, especially Saudi Arabia.
The US’s role in the war has also been exposed by two facts. First, during the war, President Joe Biden visited Israel. Second, after rejecting a resolution calling for a ceasefire, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a “humanitarian pause” in the conflict. Moreover, Biden’s Middle East diplomacy has failed, with Jordan and Palestine canceling meetings with Biden and Amman calling off a four-way summit with Biden, Egyptian and Palestinian leaders. The concern is that, should Israel attack, Hezbollah in Lebanon may open a second front. Syria and Iraq are already in turmoil. There is every possibility that some Muslim countries may become involved in the conflict as a result of public pressure. The UN envoy for the Middle East has already told the Security Council that “the risk of an expansion of this conflict is very real and extremely dangerous”.
On the other hand, millions of people, including Jews, are demonstrating pro-Palestinian protests across the world, including in America, the UK, France and Iraq.
400 Jews and 25 rabbis were among the protestors who gathered to call for a ceasefire near the Capitol, according to Jewish Voice for Peace. Jay Saper told the Washington Post that “We are here to say. Not in our name. We are here as Jews – many descendants of survivors of genocide – to stop a genocide from unfolding in real time.”
A demonstration organised by Na’amod, a group of left-leaning Jews that works against Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the “crimes of apartheid,” drew several hundred participants in Parliament Square London. Na’amod said on X, “We will not let our grief be weaponised to justify genocide.”
War is not a solution to this bleeding problem. Alon-Lee Green, a national co-director of Standing Together, writes, “since 2005, there have been 16 major military operations launched by Israel against the civilian population in Gaza. None of them brought safety and security to Israelis or Palestinians. None laid the ground to any kind of peaceful settlement – rather, each only planted the seed for the next one. The only way to safeguard the lives and wellbeing of both peoples, to protect innocent civilians from harm, is through negotiations towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, based on UN resolutions, that will end the occupation and secure freedom, justice and independence for both peoples. I want this not only because I stand in solidarity with Palestinians. I want it for myself and my family – it is the real Israeli interest”.
The power of the people may compel nations like the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China to act now and actively contribute to putting an end to this war. Otherwise, the flames of conflict, which eventually will encompass the entire world, would consume the entire region.
The writer is a former staff member who lives in the UK and is a member of Lincoln’s Inn. He can be reached at faheem.dt@gmail.com.