It’s the anniversary of the October 7 on Israel. At the time of writing, the Israeli military has been commemorating the event by pounding Lebanon back into the stone age.
Firstly, the event has shown us how polarized the
world is. In this discussion, one is expected to be on one side or the other.
This argument is summed up by Medhi Hasan in a debate with former Israeli
government spokesperson Elyon Levy as “Nothing Justifies October 7 but October
7 justifies everything.”
Unfortunately for the extremist in the argument, this
isn’t the way things work. In the case of this, its clear that both sides
committed a wrong and the question is not one of right or wrong but the lesser
of two evils. If you were to point to a “bright-spot” in this entire situation,
it would be the fact that International Organisations get it. One only has to
look at the fact that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
(ICC), Mr. Karim Khan issued arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and Israeli
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant. October
7 was a crime and so was the response.
Another bright spot lies in the fact that the “Global
South” is getting its voice heard and not simply taking dictation from the “Global
North.” Take the very obvious example of South Africa’s case against Israel for
“Genocide” in the “International Court of Justice” (ICJ) and the subsequent findings
by the ICJ is a very clear sign that the Global South is trying to get its
voice heard and using the International Rules based order to get its voice
heard.
Then, there’s the fact that with notable exceptions,
the entire world has voted to recognize the right of Palestinians to have a state.
However, as Mr. Faisal J Abbas, Editor in Chief of
Arab News (as a matter of disclosure, I have contributed articles to Arab
News), of Saudi Arabia observes, the United Nations has been exposed as being
quite hopeless. The entire world votes one way but as long as the nations that
count, namely the United States and its Western Allies, votes differently, who
really cares what the rest of the world thinks?
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2574183
Say what you like about Bibi, but he’s been a genius
at playing up the groups that count in Western Capitals. If you look at the way
American politicians on both sides of the isle were cheering him on in ways
that they wouldn’t cheer each other on, any neutral observer can’t help but get
the idea that Bibi runs actually runs America rather than Joe Bidden, Donald
Trump or Kamala Harris.
What makes this blind support for Israel particularly
sad is the fact that the nations rushing to sell arms to Israel are the nations
that present themselves as champions of all that’s great. Human rights, rule of
law and the subsequent prosperity that things brought about, were championed
for years by the US and Europe. If you look at recent events, its these
countries that drive much of what makes the world great. Yet, the blind support
for Israel’s actions have gotten the rest of the world to question – “Are the
good guys really good.”
Most importantly, a large portion of Jewish people both
in and out of Israel are aware that this war is pointless and unwinnable. They
know that no matter how many bombs are dropped on Gaza and Lebanon, the likes
of Hamas and Hezbollah are not going anywhere:
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