Palestinians facing bombardments in greater intensity than all of the previous wars combined

While the Palestinians were facing bombardment in greater intensity than all the previous wars combined and forced to flee their homes in humiliation, the Lebanese Shia cleric and the secretary-general of Hezbolla (Arabic: “Party of God”), Hassan Nasrallah, on behalf of the Resistance Axis (miḥwar al-muqāwamah), the anti-Israeli and anti-Western political and military coalition led by the Iranian government, armed himself with a stream of repetitive rhetoric about “achievements” amounting to a missile here and a drone there in the face of Israeli tanks roaming freely in central and northern Gaza.

The Palestinians are caught in an unimaginable spiral of destruction and terror, because of its pathological disregard for the imbalance of power vis a vis Israel and a failure to do the bare minimum to equip the Palestinian arena to bear the costs of war.

Since October 7 no Israeli political or diplomatic horizons have arisen despite this success on the ground thus far. Instead, what came out in the news, that the secret forces and IDF knew about what Hamas was going to do, made it more difficult for Netanyahu to become elected again next time.

The resolutions of the Arab-Islamic Summit, held on Saturday, November 11, 2023, in Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, chaired by Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Israeli stance, and the discourse of the Resistance Axis create a complex situation picture that leaves some serious impasses.

Already before the summit started, it was widely criticised for the substandard outcomes it would get and for repeating the same speeches and statements as previous summits. The trial to tackle the ongoing crisis in Gaza and its neighbouring regions was a good initiative, and we can understand that the summit condemned

“Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, war crimes and barbaric and inhumane massacres by the occupation government”.

On 18 October 2023 at the General Secretariat headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, they had an Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference to address the aggression against Gaza and its worsening humanitarian situation. They wanted to stop the endangering of civilian lives and regional stability.

Iran urged Muslim countries to impose sanctions on Israel following an attack on a hospital in Gaza, but  OPEC, more considered about financial losses, announced that it had no immediate plans to take action in response to Iran’s call.

Several countries, including many of Israel’s Western allies, such as the United States and several European countries, condemned the attacks by Hamas. But lots of people from different nations also saw that the revenge action of Israel was totally out of proportion.

The Arab-Islamic Summit has presented a clear and coherent political initiative. However, it lacks the force needed to impose a realistic and practical path for ending the conflict. On the other hand, the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu has shown nothing but brute force and inhumanity against weak people (women and children). It also lacks the political flexibility or pragmatic imagination needed to build common grounds, firstly with the Palestinians and secondly with the Arab states, upon which an end to this continuous series of crises could be built.

It is sad to see how the post-October 7 language used by several Israelis, but also many Americans, created an atmosphere necessary for the savage Israeli response which followed.

According to The Defense for Children International (DCI) – Palestine, a Palestinian child is killed every 15 minutes, and, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, over 70% of all of Gaza’s casualties are women and children.

For the Israeli government, none of these facts matter. In the mind of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, often perceived as a “moderate,” the

“rhetoric about civilians not (being) involved (is) absolutely not true.”

They are legitimate targets, simply because they

“could’ve risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime,”

he said, referring to Hamas.

We can agree that not so many people should have allowed Hamas to rule Gaza, but should have voted differently. However, it is true that, often, a population prefers its egging. Sometimes the newly elected rulers cheated and tricked the population, as well as bribed them with food and promises of work and a better income. Thus, Gazans have become victims of great deceivers.

It is outrageous how the Israeli government is now lumping all those Gazans together and viewing them as animals or worse.

Since Israel’s top political authorities have already declared that all Palestinians are collectively responsible for the October 7 events, this means that all Palestinians are, per Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s assessment,

“human animals,”

deserving no mercy.

It is outrageous to note how certain voices in the United States of America go along with this and do not want to see how the Israeli government continuously violates the law of war and human rights.

Several Americans have even come to believe that the Hamas attack was an attack on their country. One person who spread such news was U.S. presidential hopeful Nikki Haley who told Fox News on October 10 that the Hamas attack was not just on Israel but

“is an attack on America.”

It was then that she made her sinister declaration while looking directly at the camera,

“Netanyahu, finish them, finish them… finish them!”

As with numerous members of the Republican Party, she sees certain groups of people excluded and strongly dislikes anything to do with Islam, which she believes should be banned at all costs. Strangely enough, Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina and the second governor of Indian descent, who should know how native people in the country where she also could come to live as immigrant Sikh parents from Amritsar, Punjab, India, were almost exterminated by the invading settlers, the same way as we can see Russians and Americans coming to live in Israel and just take away the country of residents.

The same for the other Republican American politician, a lawyer (who should see the atrocities and illegalities taking place), serving as the senior United States senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham who rallied American conservative and religious supporters, declaring on October 11, also on Fox News,

“We are in a religious war here… Do whatever the hell you have to do… Level the place.”

The US president did not wish to antagonise anyone and chose to make comparisons with the disaster that befell his nation on 9/11.

According to Secretary of State Antony Blinken civilians should not be used in any way as the targets of military operations. He said:

They are not the target of Israel’s operations. We did discuss ways to address the humanitarian needs and people living in Gaza, to protect them from harm, while Israel conducts its legitimate security operations to defend itself from terrorism and to try to ensure that this never happens again.”

Blinken remarked that some U.S. aid had already been delivered and that more military aid was on its way. He said the administration would work with Congress to meet Israel’s additional needs and that bipartisan support for Israel was “overwhelming.”

It is known that in Gaza nobody, be they Palestinian, Israeli, Belgian, Dutch or from another country was safe. Israeli forces shot and killed everyone in at least one of the border communities, Palestinians as well as Israelis.

To avoid such embarrassing — for the Israelis and their allies — testimonies getting a wider audience, the US has prevented the two American citizens who were released by the Palestinian resistance groups from speaking to the press.

The Israeli authorities were not so quick off the mark with elderly Israeli woman Yocheved Livschitz, also released by the Palestinians, who told the media how she had been treated “very nicely” by the hostage-takers.

“When we arrived in Gaza, they initially told us that they believed in the Quran and would not harm us. They said they would treat us like they treated those around them. We were under strict guard,”

she told journalists.

“Paramedics and a doctor came and ensured the availability of our regular medication. They were very interested in our health. We had an attached doctor who would come every two or three days to check on us. They were very responsible and made sure to bring the medications. If there were no identical medications, they provided equivalent ones.”

On our Belgian TV channels, we could also see how the hostage takers treated the hostages kindly and how the hostages said goodbye to their captors in an amicable manner. But of course, hostage syndrome could have a lot to do with that.

From their outward condition, they seem to have lacked nothing.

Livschitz added that the Palestinians were very kind and made sure that the hostages ate well.

“We ate the same food as them. We were treated well, and they paid attention to every detail. They had women with us who understood feminine hygiene and made sure we had everything… They prepared everything we needed, including shampoo and body conditioner.”

She blamed the Israeli occupation authorities for the misery of the residents of the Jewish communities near Gaza.

“The inefficiency of the army and the intelligence services harmed us greatly. We were a scapegoat for the government.”

These remarks prompted Israeli extremists to heckle her and push her to cut short her speech to the press. But when a reporter asked why she shook hands with the Hamas fighters when they released her, Livschitz replied:

“Because they treated us very nicely.”

In the end, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued her an official order banning her from speaking to the press again in order to stop the sentiment shifting from pro- to anti-Israel around the world.

The outside world has to know that the opposition leader and former journalist Yair Lapid was less subtle. He called on journalists to lie, because

“truth harms the Israeli narrative,”

and

“an objective media serves Hamas.”

Ordinary citizens and believers should be careful not to fall into the trap of ruthless politicians who want to pull the story to their side and violate the truth without hesitation.