IN 1187 Sultan Salalahudin Ayubi regained control of Jerusalem from Crusader armies in the Battle of Hattin.
He ensured safety of Jerusalem’s inhabitants, irrespective of their faith. This was in sharp contrast to Crusaders massacre, when they captured the city in 1099. All three monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam prohibit use of force and murder of unarmed citizens in pursuit of expansionism, yet religion has been weaponized, to inflict genocide and collective punishments of citizens under occupation. We are witnessing a live televised genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank, with a declared objective of ethnic-cleansing the land and occupying it, in pursuit of Greater Israel plan, based on their version of history and extremist beliefs. All these killings are being justified, by followers of Prophet Jesus Christ, who preached peace and submission before Almighty Allah. Similar was the belief of Prophet Moses (PBUH).
A live genocide is being committed with help of civilized West. All that we hear are muted calls for restraint, whilst simultaneously supplying lethal weapons to Zionist extremist regime in Israel. Blood of innocent children, women and the elderly is being spilled, in what is a one-sided massacre by a nuclear armed Israel’s IDF, equipped with latest lethal weapons, an airforce having latest jet fighters and stealth bombers, an iron-dome etc., against few armed resistance fighters, equipped with homemade pipe rockets, hand held machine guns etc. Nobody can justify 7thOctober attack by Hammas. Islam forbids such attacks. It is time that Muslim majority countries must reflect, and understand, that it is essential for their survival to sink their petty differences and face ground realities. This needless acrimony between two leading sects, namely Ahle Sunni and Fiqh Jafria, must cease. They have enough commonalities to unite and coexist, (i) belief in Almighty Allah; (ii) Holy Quran and (iii) finality of the holy Prophet (PBUH).
Israel’s extremist hardliners have openly declared their plans to seize territories in the Gulf and Middle East, including holy sites in Saudi Arabia and beyond. Famous Indian human rights activist Arundhati Roy speaking to Mehdi Hassan has elaborated about similarities between Zionist Isreal and Extremist Hindu Supremacist led India, in their plans for Greater Israel and Greater Bharat. Within Hinduism the Brahmins, based solely on accident of birth, consider themselves as superior to lower cast Hindus, irrespective of intellectual capabilities of Dalits and their qualifications. Muslims living in occupied IOK are living in an apartheid system, and so are Muslim citizens of India living in other parts of that country. Arundhati has talked about live streamed genocide that is going on in Gaza and the intense hatred of both Isreal and Hindu Nationalist led India, against Muslims living within territories under their control, with no remorse or respect for human rights. She states both Israel and India claim to be democracies, yet the law applies differently to Muslims living in territories under their legitimate or illegitimate control. Hindu Nationalism and Zionism, promotes an apartheid system. Both have created distorted versions of history, to legitimize their brutalities, and have a shared belief of being chosen race. The Zionist consider themselves as “Chosen Race” and similarly Brahmins within Hindu faith, consider themselves as chosen race. Gandhi Jee believed that all humans are equal and advocated non-violence. This belief system of superiority over other humans is based solely on accident of birth, and has nothing to do with teaching of either Prophet Moses PBUH or the Hindu belief in Vedas.
The recent attack by Israel on Qatar’s sovereignty was bound to occur, sooner or later. It should serve to wake Muslim majority states in Gulf and Middle East, that the only lethal threat they face is from Israel. Nathanyahu’s Finance Minister Yoel Smotrich has openly called for Gaza being ethnically cleansed of all Palestinians, and opposed their existence. He and others, including Netanyahu have justified collective killing of all Palestinians whom he considers to be “human animals” and justifies annexation of all territories. In 2019 he advocated restoration of Torah Justice System and annexation of all occupied territories. In 2023 he froze tax collected from Palestinians and stopped its transfer to PA. He has openly stated that “no such thing as a Palestinian people” exist. He believes in total annihilation of Palestainaians by misquoting the Torah “Thou shall blot out the remembrance of AMLEK from under the heaven”.
Famous Egyptian writer Fahmi Howeydi, in his book stresses upon Muslim majority states to understand and learn lessons from what happened between 1992 -1996 in Bosnia, in the heart of Europe. It will explain the brutal ongoing genocide in Gaza. Over 300,000 Muslims were massacred by Serbs while Europe hesitated for almost 4 years. Over 60,000 Muslim women were raped and 1.5Million were forcibly displaced in planned ethnic cleansing. The Serbs destroyed 800 mosques, some of them built in 16century. While all this happened, the Muslim world watched and continued to live normally. As they say” What Goes Around, Comes around”. This visceral hatred of Muslims has now come to our doorsteps. Qatar, a country, housing one of the biggest American bases in the region and close ally of USA and other European nations was attacked by IDF fighter aircrafts. Their fault was that they were hosting a meeting of Hamas political wing, in what was a US plan for negotiations to bring about a ceasefire. This attack could not have occurred without detection of US radars based in Qatar. Time is running out. We cannot continue to live in a “Fool’s Paradise” and close our eyes; or as the idiom goes “Bury one’s head in the sand”. The writing is on the wall and the unpleasant reality stares us in the face. Israel and India are both predators.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Lahore.
