So apparently we are to have peace in Gaza. A US congressman is even suggesting that Congress should award US President Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize unfairly denied him by the obviously “fake” Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Peace indeed. Anyway, I wasn’t keeping up with the news much because I was travelling in some remote foreign spots with some good friends I’ve known for years. We mostly left the cares of the world behind as we enjoyed the spectacular sights and sounds and smells.
But most evenings, as we nursed our tired muscles, we often talked about it over long and leisurely dinners.
While my friends are from various European countries, they all share one thing in common – vehement disapproval, bordering on hatred, of the Zionist regime in Israel for their ongoing genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza.
I was not surprised. Many European countries, including those of my friends, have unequivocally voiced their disapproval of the genocide. In fact, the majority of countries in the world, save for Israel itself and a few others, share similar sentiments.
What the polls show
A recent CNN survey showed that only 8% of Democrats in the US approve of Israel’s action in Gaza. That’s one in 12 people who approve, and 11 out of 12 disapprove. Read the numbers again.
Among younger Americans, a majority actually support Hamas over Israel, clearly an indicator of how sentiments have changed since Oct 7, 2023.
I’ve watched with horror as Gazan men and women, especially children, were bombed, shot, shelled or starved. I felt so helpless and angry.
I’ve boycotted many global products and services that I feel support the genocide. I’ll never return to these products and services. I’ve also cut off some friendships, and I’ll also never return to these too.
And I’m happy with that. I don’t care whether my actions achieve anything, but they mean a lot to me. After two years of genocide being livestreamed – albeit mostly by unofficial media – if people cannot see it for what it is, I can only conclude they choose not to see it.
And that’s a big red flag for me. I don’t feel I have to defend my position any more. The facts are clear. What’s being done by the overwhelmingly powerful Israelis against the Palestinians, backed unequivocally by the US and many other governments in the west, are crimes against humanity of the highest order.
That is clearly wrong. It must be stopped, and the perpetrators must be held to account.
It isn’t about religion
I don’t have any skin in the game. I don’t see this through religious lenses. After all, many Muslim nations in the region have chosen to turn a blind eye, for their own selfish reasons, to the killing of Palestinians.
Meanwhile, many Jews outside Israel have strongly condemned the killings. Many other non-Muslims all over the world who don’t care much for religion have also found the killings abhorrent. So, it’s not a simple issue of religion.
Certainly, many Muslims in Malaysia are opposed to it because of their knee-jerk reactions against anything Jewish. That is racism, at the very least. At the same time, there are also Malaysians who support it because of their own knee-jerk anti-Islam feelings. That certainly is racism too.
I don’t have much sympathy for racists of whatever type. I would have objected to a genocide regardless of whoever is committing it against whoever else. I would’ve been just as angry had it been “my people” committing it. This is not right, and if you think somehow it is or it can be, then there’s something terribly wrong with your moral compass.
Anyway, do we have peace in Gaza? We certainly have a lull in the fighting, although there are reports that killings by both sides are continuing. If history is any indicator, the lull will be interrupted by continued fighting, and many more will die.
Trump’s indifference
While Trump claims credit – as he is wont to do – for the ceasefire, he also has no plans for a long-term solution. He has publicly stated he has no opinion on the two-state solution, which many see as the only viable way forward for that tortured land.
Ah, the two-state solution. It is extremely distasteful to see countries such as the UK belatedly coming out in favour of the two-state solution when they see the tides of public opinion turning.
Meanwhile, they continue to send bombs and weapons to the Israelis, who have clearly said they do not accept the two-state solution, and that their goals are the total eviction, if not actual destruction, of the Palestinians in Gaza.
This is hypocrisy of the highest order. I wish I could say history will remember them for their hypocrisy, but I’m sure there’ll also be a time where everybody will come out and say they’ve been against the genocide from the beginning.
The young have turned
Meanwhile, I’m comforted by the fact that the majority of the world’s young people are growing up horrified by the genocide in Gaza, the way their parents and grandparents grew up horrified by the Holocaust, the genocide of the Jews of Europe by Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.
The Israelis have essentially lost the young, despite their powerful backers owning almost all the international mainstream media and pouring hundreds of millions into propaganda for Israel.
They have lost the moral superiority they held until recently. Most of the world’s citizens no longer care to answer the usual question “Does Israel have the right to exist” any more.
Some used to answer it by asking: “What about the events before Oct 7th?”. But even more are also saying: “What about what happened after Oct 7th? Israel’s right to exist doesn’t mean they can massacre innocent women and children.”
The Riviera plan
The latest ceasefire won’t solve the core problem of the Israelis and Palestinians. At best, it will delay the fighting, at worst it will be an opportunity for some of the worst humans on earth to carry out their nefarious plans to empty Gaza, and then the West Bank, of all Palestinians.
They will do this because they know a two-state solution doesn’t stand a chance if all the territories belong to Israel. Possession is, as they say, nine-tenths of the law. And that’s certainly the goal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his fellow war criminals.
And as has been openly announced and backed by some of the most unsavoury people on earth, there are plans to displace the Palestinians in Gaza so that the land can be claimed as war booty from which to profit – this so-called “Riviera” plan much championed by Trump, Tony Blair and their cohort.
Western nations, as represented by its most powerful nations, don’t even bother to pretend to care about peace or justice or international law – things they used to shrilly shout about when things didn’t go their way.
Western hypocrisy
Meanwhile, the young people of the west are turning away from their parents’ easy and casual anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia. They’re no longer accepting the lazy propaganda of those who for so long peddled the narrative that Israel is a friend and critical bastion of Western civilisation in the lawless Middle East.
People are beginning to see the existence of Israel as an unacceptable part of white settler colonialism. Many are tired of the brutality of the conflict and the hypocrisy of some of the western governments. Things will change, and in uncertain and even violent ways.
I don’t know what the future holds. I’m just glad the killings seem to have come to a rest. I hope smarter and kinder people than I will come up with a solution that will ensure lasting peace. But forgive me if I say I’m somewhat of a pessimist about this.
What I know is I will never forget the hypocrisy of the west as they watched – nay, encouraged and even enabled – the genocide of Gaza. I will never forgive them and those who support them regardless of whatever reasons they may profess.
That is my own moral clarity, forged after watching thousands of innocent people killed while the powers that used to claim moral superiority did nothing at best, and helped make it happen at worst.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.