In the National Interest

The short respite (if it can be called that) the people of Gaza enjoyed from the continuous aerial bombardment by Israeli forces ended on Friday. In the immediate 24 hours after the temporary truce ended, over 100 civilians in Gaza have been killed by Israel, whose forces have now gone back to their inhuman “business as usual” of heavy air bombardments, with very large weapons, including

2,000-pound bombs that can flatten buildings.

Media reports have quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the goals of Israel’s current military campaign are the release of the hostages, elimination of Hamas and ensuring that Gaza never again constituted a threat to the residents of Israel.

However, the ferocity with which Israel is pursuing its onslaught on Gaza raises questions as to whether in fact it is indifferent to the fate of the hostages and is more intent on destroying Gaza’s inhabitants and its infrastructure. By its indiscriminate bombings the Israeli forces have put at risk the lives of these hostages with one report prior to last week’s truce claiming that 60 of the hostages had died as a result of Israeli bombings.

If Israel genuinely cared for the safety of its hostages it would have been more prudent to follow targeted ground operations which would have caused less risk to those hostages as well as civilians rather than resort to indiscriminate aerial bombardment.

In fact media reports indicate that the Biden administration has in recent days been pushing Israel to carry out a more surgical campaign in the next phase of the war thus limiting the number of civilian deaths and the wholesale destruction which was a feature of the Israeli attacks in October and November.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had met with Netanyahu and sought to shape the expected next phase of Israeli attacks on Hamas, hoping to limit civilian casualties, protect facilities such as hospitals and power plants, and ensure the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The United States and its Western allies by nurturing and pampering Israel have created a Frankenstein monster over whom they have little or no control.

Today the United States has been reduced to virtually pleading with Israel to reduce its tempo in its military campaign against Hamas but to little avail. As the United States and Israel’s western allies rushed to Tel Aviv soon after the October 7 attacks in a show of support for Prime Minister Netanyahu they may not have quite realized that they were only emboldening Israel to continuing its aggression without regard to world opinion.

Today it is very apparent that Israel has no qualms about ignoring any suggestions from even its own backers like the United States and will obstinately do what it wants irrespective of any calls
for moderation by its own supporters who are clearly embarrassed by the wanton destruction that has been seen in Gaza over the past several weeks.

The brutal and cruel campaign by Israel has been brought home to the world through the Television screens and social media in a manner never before seen. It has stirred the conscience of the
world and opened the eyes of even the erstwhile supporters of the Zionist state.

As stated in this column on October 29, 2023 “on a more optimistic note it is very apparent that the tide of public opinion is changing with the world coming around to the need to do justice to the long suffering people of Palestine. When one collates the views expressed in the discussions going on in various forums, it is very evident that the Palestinian question is being understood more and more with new insights being reflected by political leaders, thinkers and humanists.

It is also becoming increasingly clear that there is a clear disconnect between the governments of western nations and the people of those countries when it comes to understanding the Palestinian question”

The United Nations has stated that up to 1.8 million people in Gaza, or about 80% of the population, have been displaced. More than 60,000 buildings have been damaged or destroyed according to satellite analysis.. A senior U.N. official said that the latest estimates indicate that up to 60% of buildings in the north of Gaza have been destroyed. 

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, has reiterated that hospitals and schools — where many Palestinians are sheltering — are protected under international humanitarian law but Israel has not spared any such safe spaces.

Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres stated last week that dozens of schools and hospitals have been damaged in the fighting. Some 218 people sheltering in U.N.-run schools have been killed while other reports indicate that over 15,000 civilians have been killed.

Previously Guterres had stated that it was important to recognize that the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation, he said.

Israel has claimed that its attacks on Gaza have been carried out in furtherance of the right to defend itself but increasingly experts have pointed out that Israel by virtue of its siege of Gaza is an occupying force. According to these experts any occupying nation (in this case Israel) therefore does not have the right of self defence. But even if it did have such a right of self defence in respect of the attacks on Israel on October 7th such a right cannot by any stretch of imagination extend to killing 15,000 civilians including more than 5,000 children and women by indiscriminate aerial bombardment.

Experts are accusing Israel of war crimes and genocide but whether they will be called to account at any time will have to be determined by an independent investigation which will take time.

However until and unless the Palestinian question is resolved in a fair and unjust manner, it is inevitable that the region will remain unstable with violence breaking out from time to time.

In such a context it is disappointing to see the Sri Lankan authorities promoting the migration for work of Sri Lankans to Israel particularly at a time when the region is embroiled in a brutal war. The majority of those who will be sent for work will be the
poor and vulnerable whose families will have to face the consequences if anything untoward were to happen to them.

When these concerns were raised a Minister claimed that these workers would only be sent to places where their safety was assured. How this can be done is a moot question when the authorities in those areas themselves will probably not be able to ensure the safety of such workers. 

(javidyusuf@gmail.com)