On the twelfth day of Israel’s offensive against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian crisis has reached extremely serious levels in terms of intensity and the number of human beings involved. Palestinian casualties under the incessant Israeli bombardment (with accusations of even using white phosphorus shells [1]) have risen to frightening proportions: around 4200 dead and 12000 wounded (data from 18 October), sharply increasing [2]. Of these, hundreds (including patients, medical staff and refugees seeking shelter) died in the terrible bombing of the Al-Ahli Baptist hospital (the responsibility for the bombing has yet to be ascertained).
The violent Israeli attack is a reaction to the heinous attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th, which left 1400 dead in Israel. As much as these acts against civilians are to be unconditionally condemned, it is unthinkable not to contextualize them in the complex Middle Eastern situation. The State of Palestine, recognized by 130 countries and by the UN (as a non-member state), has in fact been largely occupied by Israel for decades. In particular, the Gaza Strip, a 360 square kilometer patch of land where more than 2 million people live (half of them children [3]), has been subject to a land, air and naval blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007.
A 60 km barrier (the ‘Iron Wall’) separates Gaza from Israel and has made it the largest ‘open-air prison’ in the world [4]. And not only open-air: 4 out of 10 Palestinian men will spend part of their lives in an Israeli prison [26]. This has made Gaza one of the poorest regions in the world today (80% of the population survives on humanitarian aid [5]) and one of the most densely populated on the planet. Politicians, journalists, and analysts who fail to report these facts and refuse to acknowledge the historical and geopolitical dimension of the events in Israel and Gaza, limiting themselves to talking about terrorist attacks and acts of self-defense without due contextualization, cannot but be pointed at as biased.
The ongoing attack by Israel is thus targeting a population already at the human limit of endurance (as explained in detail by Al Jazeera [6]). With unacceptable brutality, Israel is carrying out a ruthless revenge without distinction, going so far as to claim, through the words of its defense minister, that they are fighting against “human animals” [24]. And it is not ‘only’ the bombings that are striking, but a series of actions that impact on the survival and quality of life of all civilians (half of whom, we repeat again, are children): Israel has imposed a total siege by cutting off drinking water, food and medicine supplies, electricity and fuel [7]. They have also ordered the inhabitants of northern Gaza to abandon their homes, leaving already one million displaced [8].
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner General for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) stated that “an unprecedented catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes.” [9]. If not stopped now, this unconditional hatred by Israel towards the Palestinian population may lead to outright genocide, to ethnic cleansing. The world cannot once again stand idly by and watch. The international community should intervene immediately and without hesitation to bring an end to this massacre. If an immediate end to the conflict seems unrealistic, it is at the very least necessary to immediately impose a ceasefire, to allow humanitarian corridors to get civilians to safety, to feed them, to care for them, to give them hope and dignity.
But how does the powerful West stand instead? Blinded by their own alliances and economic and power agreements, the governments of the so-called ‘free countries’, great exporters of democracy (always and only through war), have from the outset ensured that Israel is making use of its right to self-defense. One wonders, however, where self-defense ends and indiscriminate slaughter begins. The US and its staunch allies (France, Germany, Italy and the UK) immediately took sides by issuing a joint document stating: “Our countries will support Israel in its efforts to defend itself and its people against such atrocities. We further emphasize that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. […] Over the coming days, we will remain united and coordinated, together as allies, and as common friends of Israel, to ensure Israel is able to defend itself.” [10]. Now, any rational person would also agree with this, but the fact is that the word ‘Israel’ should be equally substitutable for the word ‘Palestine’ and, for that matter, for any other group of human beings.
Despite the fact that the total siege imposed on Gaza by Israel has been denounced by the United Nations as a violation of international law [11] and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has finally broken its silence by announcing that there will be legal processes to determine whether war crimes have been committed [25], Joe Biden travelled to Israel to show his support, showing himself in a public embrace with the ultraconservative Benjamin Netanyahu [12]. What the most hopeful (deluded?) had believed to be a US intervention to calm tempers, deflated into a timid series of father-figure advice, clichés that one would then tend to ignore: “don’t let this anger consume you”, “choices are never easy”, “there is always a price to pay”, etc. He even launched himself into the radical statement: “even the loss of Palestinian lives matters.” [13]. And indeed he announced US economic support (i.e., usually a loan) for Gaza and the West Bank and an agreement with Egyptian President el-Sisi to let 20 trucks with humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing (there are hundreds of them parked waiting to enter Gaza). At the same time, however, he reiterated that military aid to Israel will be increased, having already deployed two aircraft carriers in front of the coast as a deterrent to defend Israel. Furthermore, in the total absence of concrete evidence, he took the word of Israel had no involvement in the recent hospital explosion. This unqualified military support from the US has received criticism at home, leading the director of congressional and public affairs for the state department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Josh Paul, to resign stating that “rushing” to provide arms to Israel was “shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse.” [14].
Meanwhile, the UN is pushing for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East to alleviate what the Secretary General, António Guterrez, has called “the epic human suffering” we are witnessing [15]. But the most effective UN initiative was to present (initially by Russia, then rejected, and finally re-proposed by Brazil) a resolution to the UN Security Council aimed at imposing “’humanitarian pauses’ to deliver lifesaving aid to millions in Gaza” [16]. During the vote on October 18th, 12 of the 15 member states voted in favor, while the UK and the Russian Federation abstained. But the US incredibly voted against, which, as the US is one of the five permanent members (besides China, France, the UK and Russia), automatically leads to a veto. The motion for the humanitarian ceasefire was deliberately rejected by the US, on the grounds that “Israel has the inherent possibility of self-defense.” [16]. This is a shameful, unjustifiable and above all devoid of humanity. The United States is, coining a neologism that seems appropriate for the occasion, an ‘inhumanitarian’ country and should be treated as such.
On the same day, at home, the US authorities were not much better. In Washington, part of the Jewish community had taken to the streets at the demonstration called by the pacifist and anti-Zionist Jewish associations ‘Jewish for peace’ and ‘If not now’. At the event, which was conducted in a completely non-violent manner, banners with slogans such as ‘Jews now say cease-fire’ and chants and prayers for Gaza were chanted for peace. The police intervened by violently dispersing the crowd and arresting 500 people, including 20 rabbis [17]: Hands tied behind their backs with zip ties, led to police trucks as dangerous criminals [18].
This violent intervention joins the many reported in all Western countries where we are witnessing repression against those who try to express solidarity with the terrible humanitarian crisis in Palestine. Germany has banned or violently rejected many demonstrations [19], while France has imposed a systematic ban on all demonstrations for peace and freedom in Gaza [20]. By the way, an imposition later declared illegal by its own Council of State [21]. While the British Home Secretary stated that displaying Palestinian flags would “may not be legitimate” because it “might glorify an act of terrorism.” [22].
But perhaps the most despicable act that should really arouse the indignation of those who still manage to think and act without being empty shells who uncritically accept everything they are told to believe and do, was the cancellation of the prize that Palestinian writer Adania Shibli was supposed to receive at the Frankfurt book fair [23]. The prize-winning book, ‘A Minor Detail’, tells the true story of a Bedouin woman raped and murdered by Israeli soldiers in 1949. As we sadly noted when the invasion of Ukraine prevented the teaching of Russian classics such as Dostoevsky, no one is safe from propaganda and factionalism.
In short, the examples are many and varied, but all lead in the same direction: The West finds itself in the uncomfortable situation of having to support its ally and give substance to its slogans even at the cost of sacrificing freedom of expression, intellectual recognition and, unfortunately, ultimately humanity. This is not only a failure of Western politics, whose advocated values are increasingly proving to be a great marketing operation, but of the journalism that acts as its ambassador, as well as of the intellectuals who have ceased to be the critical voice that should bring a light of reason back into this darkness.
[1] https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/12/israel-white-phosphorus-used-gaza-lebanon
[4] https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/14/gaza-israels-open-air-prison-15
[6] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/16/gazas-dire-humanitarian-crisis-explained
[12] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67148622
[16] https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142507
[18] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/world/middleeast/protest-israel-hamas-ceasefire-congress.html
[22] https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/israel-palestine-flag-suella-braverman-b2427411.html
[26] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/8/why-are-so-many-palestinian-prisoners-in-israeli-jails
