In a world where governments cloak their intentions and preferences to commit a genocide or mass expulsions, Israel stands out with its surprising transparency that defies all conventional political strategies. Israel has no desire to hide its genocidal intent and its key public office holders are openly most brazenly asking for massacre by blaming all Palestinians for the attack carried out by Hamas on 7 Oct. For instance, Isaac Herzog, Israeli President said “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible (for Oct 7 attacks)”. Similarly, Avi Ditcher the sitting Agriculture Minister of Israel has this to say “We are now actually rolling out the Gaza Nakba”.
It’s not that these politicians, significant members of civil society and top army professionals don’t understand the potential consequences and impacts of their statements, they just don’t care. And why should they? The most powerful country and its allies have unconditional support for these bloodhounds. They are committing genocide knowing fully enough that there will be no serious repercussions to their actions. Seems like being a Zionist has its own perks and privileges especially when the President of the US himself is a self proclaimed Zionist.
Therefore, it is hardly a shocking revelation when the political and military might of Israel are vowing to erase Gaza from the face of the earth and they are doing it. Right now almost 90 percent of Gaza has been obliterated and around 1.2 million people are forced to take shelter in UN designated areas. In more than hundred days of the onslaught of Israel on Gaza there are 23,000 Palestinians dead out of which 9000 are children. And yet most of the western democracies have chosen to be nothing but silent spectators. While most of the civil societies are appalled by the horrors of Israeli invasion, the ruling elite and western media seem completely unfazed. They are like video-game NPCs that are programmed to the baseless rhetoric ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’. Against whom one might ask. Against women, children and men whose only fault is that they are Palestinians and therefore can be sacrificed for Greater Israel.
There are numerous videos of Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers on Tiktok raiding houses, rummaging through women undergarments, singing and cooking extravaganza meals inside the homes of either dead or forcibly exiled Palestinians. The Israeli soldiers chanting death to all Palestinians and the lack of any meaningful reprehension by the Israeli authorities are more than enough to complicit Israel for intended genocide. All of this makes Israel a terrorist state and IDF one of the most well fed and well armed terrorist organizations.
Israel has indiscriminately bombed schools, residential buildings, mosques and churches. One should question how all of this will eradicate Hamas if Israel really intends to do that? Is this a proportionate response to the aftermath of the Oct 7 attack? Moreover, where were the IDF and other security forces when Hamas launched its attack? However, I believe we should start by asking why Oct 7 has happened in the first place?
For the last five decades Israel has been committing acts of terror against Palestinains. Forced displacements, unlawful detentions, discriminatory behaviors and systematic abuses are the daily occurrences in Gaza. Palestinians have been under repression for the last 50 years and one can argue that Hamas and other armed resistance groups are the direct result of atrocities being carried out by Israel. Gaza is being referred to as the world’s largest open air concentration camp where 2.3 million people have been living in dire conditions prior to the Israel attack on Oct 8.
Palestinians have no access to clean water, electricity and sanitation according to the UN.
Furthermore, Israel has been paving the way for illegal settlements in the West Bank by deliberately turning a blind eye.
Nothing is worse than living like a stranger and powerless in your own land. It pains my heart to say that Palestinians are like sheep waiting helplessly for their turn to get slaughtered. Benjamin Netanyahu is quoting Biblical verses to justify Amalek. Israeli prominent political figures are calling for genocide but US and its allies are adamant that there are still not enough evidence that suggests that Israel is breaching and violating international law. Nothing is safe, not even the sanctity of the dead as the IDF has seen bulldozing the graveyard. What a wonder world.
—The writer is an Engineer, based in Rawalpindi.
views expressed are writer’s own.
