Monday, October 07, 2024

What We’ve Learnt?

 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.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/7/live-hezbollah-rockets-hit-israels-haifa-wounding-10-blasts-rock-beirut

 


 The attack on Israel and the subsequent retaliation against the Gaza strip have been, what you might call a pivatol moment.

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

 


 Look at it this way, UN Inspectors have been kicked out of places before. UN Peacekeepers have been made to look redundant as in the case of the 1994 massacre in Rwanda. However, when has a small nation, that claims to be the only “civilized place” in its neighborhood actually had declared the UN Secretary General “Person Non Grata.”

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:

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-10-06/ty-article/.premium/israel-is-conveying-that-its-going-off-the-deep-end-a-recipe-for-another-disaster/00000192-61ea-da6d-afda-7dfbd1430000

 


 The only way that Israel will achieve any form of security is by working with her neighbours to secure peace:

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-10-02/ty-article-opinion/.premium/jordans-foreign-minister-told-israelis-and-inconvenient-truth/00000192-4dc3-d2cc-a5d7-edff907e0000

 


 As the conflict grows, one can only pray that sane voices will find a way to get heard and some form of de-escalation takes place.

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Maira Gall