During his meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the war which the occupation army is waging against the Hamas in Gaza is a “war of the civilized world” and that of the “progressive and humanitarian forces” against “evil forces” which want to “thwart peace efforts in the Middle East.”
The words, which Netanyahu had also used a few days ago, received echoes within the “civilized world,” whose senior leaders and officials visited Israel to declare solidarity, led by, of course, US President Joe Biden, whose administration, after the Hamas military operation on October 7 moved two aircraft carriers and warships and mobilized 2,000 soldiers in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Biden administration linked this large military buildup to deterring Iran and Hezbollah from participating in the ongoing war. Britain supported the move by announcing the sending of two warships and aircraft to the eastern Mediterranean. Germany also announced its readiness to support Israel militarily.
America went beyond the issue of deterring Iran and “Hezbollah” and “preventing the expansion of the war” to interfering, in practice, in the ongoing war against the Palestinians in Gaza (and the West Bank) by providing equipment and ammunition that began to arrive in Israel, including weapons specifically designated to target the Palestinians and resistance fighters in Gaza.
The positions of Western politicians, particularly in America, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, have gone beyond “affinity” with the Israeli position, to threatening the principles of democracy, freedom of expression, and international laws. Western countries treated Israel as a “sacred cow.”
[Editorial Al-Quds Al-Arabi]
The world is truly in a real moral dilemma, the likes of which it has never experienced since the history of the World Wars-I & II, and the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Moreover, after the Baptist Hospital crime, it will not be easy in the future to talk about human rights, children’s rights, and combating violence against women.
Children tremble and die in the most horrific ways. What happened will have implications beyond geographical boundaries and time. It will always be condemned by all, because the world which accepts the killing of children, civilians, and women is a world which has lost everything.
The massacre which happened in Gaza to displace the Palestinians is a serious blow to all the efforts made for human rights, childhood, and women. Therefore, the destruction is greater than what we see.
There is a real problem: How will the world look into the eyes of its children? What is the benefit of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and its protocols? Is it possible to speak with confidence and with your head held high about children’s rights after the scenes of abuse against Palestinian children?
Israel has put the world in a bottleneck and pushed it back. It has written a page darker than any previous dark era in the history of humanity.
The historic moment has come to find final solutions to an issue which has been the source of many crises and a psychological and political tension which is continuously growing.
[Dr. Amal Musa in Asharq Al-Awsat]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque
