[🇧🇩] Israel and Hamas war in Gaza-----Can Bangladesh be a peace broker?

Saif · Apr 2, 2024

With the UNSC ceasefire, Israel is exposed and isolated

However, US did make it clear why Washington did not vote in favour of the affirmative resolution—because it does not provide for “condemnation of Hamas.”

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With the UNSC ceasefire, Israel is exposed and isolated

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield raises her hand to abstain during a Security Council vote, paving the path for the first successful resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza, at the UN Headquarters in New York on March 25, 2024. PHOTO: REUTERS

After months of relentless slaughter of Palestinians—in the worst genocide we have seen in recent history—the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution was issued demanding an immediate ceasefire without linking this to any other matter, such as the release of Israeli detainees. This resolution, which bears the number 2728, is a positive development on the US position in particular, as they prevented the issuance of a ceasefire resolution from the UNSC since the beginning of the war in Gaza using the veto. Today, the US position has changed, as it abstained from voting and spoke openly about the resolution being consistent with that of the Biden administration. They did make it clear why Washington did not vote in favour of the affirmative resolution—because it does not provide for "condemnation of Hamas." Despite some gaps in the resolution, such as providing for a ceasefire in Ramadan, it marks the beginning of a serious shift in the international position.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was angered by Washington's abstention, which shows that he is aware of the dimensions of this international shift against him. He described the US decision to abstain as "a retreat in the position of the United States," affecting military operations and influencing efforts to release the detainees, according to Netanyahu's office, which led to the decision not to send senior Israeli delegation to Washington, DC to discuss the subject of ground operation in Rafah, which would have been at the request of President Biden.

Netanyahu's stance and reaction to the US administration surprised many and was met with a lot of criticism in both Israel and the US. Some Israeli opposition leaders have accused Netanyahu of damaging the strategic relationship for personal reasons. Senior figures in the US also spoke with the Hebrew website Walla News that Netanyahu chose to create a crisis with the US for domestic political reasons. His reactions are indeed strange, especially with an ally that has provided voluminous support. Even after the resolution, the Biden administration is reportedly set to greenlight an $18 billion sale of F-15 fighter jets to Israel.

With each day that this war drags on, Israel also loses its own international status and increasingly becomes isolated. There will come a time when Netanyahu's intelligence may betray him and he will find himself to be the biggest loser on a personal level—and that will be irreversible, causing a major defeat for Israel on the international stage.

But if we return to the decision, what angers Netanyahu and many Israelis is not that this resolution will be applied immediately; the US said itself that the resolution is not binding—unlike the majority of countries that consider Security Council resolutions binding and enforceable. Regardless, the resolution has opened the door to very negative changes in Israel's position in the international scene. If Israel ignores the resolution, the UNSC will return to meeting again and adopt more burdensome and more severe resolutions that may turn into a snowball. The resolution underpins Israel's international isolation and encourages many countries to take sanctions against Israel by stopping the supply of weapons and ammunition and reviewing forms of cooperation. This will undoubtedly create great international pressure on Israel, which has come on the opposite side of the international community and is now being seen as a rogue state.

The Israeli government also believes that the resolution will encourage Hamas to harden its positions and not make concessions in the negotiations. If it will receive a ceasefire free of charge, this means increasing the terms of negotiation or insisting on the demands it makes, especially ending the war, withdrawal of the Israeli military, and also facilitating the return of the displaced to their homes, and specifically, the release of thousands of prisoners and detainees. Netanyahu's position to not send the head of the National Security Council and the minister of strategic affairs to Washington, DC to discuss completion of the war means that Netanyahu does not want to coordinate with the US on the issue of Rafah and the stalled negotiations on the exchange of hostages and prisoners. This should be alarming for the Biden administration. Netanyahu's undiplomatic stance should have consequences and possibly US sanctions.

But on the other side of possibilities, Netanyahu may benefit from the escalation of the crisis with Washington and even from international pressure by marketing himself as the custodian of Israel's interests, the only one who is able to withstand international pressure, including those coming from allies and friends. However, the clash with the US administration will create a rift in the ruling coalition, where Benny Gantz, a member of the War Council and the head of the "official camp," rejects this policy. The cracks within the Israeli society will intensify the opposition and demands to overthrow his government and go to new elections urgently.

Another problem with the geo-strategic dimensions is the deepening of the rift and disagreement between the Israeli government and Jews in the US, who see Netanyahu as a threat to the idea of the "Jewish-Democratic" state, and view the alliance with the US as one of the pillars of Israel's survival, resilience, strength, and military and economic superiority.

Netanyahu can manoeuvre as an expert in crisis management, but what Israel is going through carries existential risks as it loses its war in Gaza: this large volume of killing innocents, extermination and destruction, raising the ceiling of its cruel goals, and the sheer inability to achieve them by means of war. They say Hamas is destroyed in northern Gaza, but won't let food enter the area. Israel's talking points are talking points to justify a genocide. With each day that this war drags on, Israel also loses its own international status and increasingly becomes isolated. There will come a time when Netanyahu's intelligence may betray him and he will find himself to be the biggest loser on a personal level—and that will be irreversible, causing a major defeat for Israel on the international stage. The state will lose that false aura woven by the Zionist and Western propaganda that portrays Israel as an oasis of democracy, Western norms and values. This process has already begun among international public opinion. The genocidal war in Gaza has exposed, irrevocably, Israel and its falsity.

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His Excellency Youssef SY Ramadan is the ambassador of Palestine to Bangladesh.

Saif · Apr 3, 2024

Israeli offensive caused damage of $18.5bn: WB

The World Bank says the Israel-Hamas war has caused damage of around $18.5 billion to Gaza’s critical infrastructure, according to a new report published Tuesday.

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GAZA'S CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Israeli offensive caused damage of $18.5bn: WB

Ambulances carrying the bodies of staff members of the US-based aid group World Central Kitchen, arrive at the Rafah crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, two days after a convoy of the NGO was hit in an Israeli strike. Israel's armed forces chief Herzi Halevi called the attack a "grave mistake", which he blamed on night-time "misidentification". Photo: AFP

The World Bank says the Israel-Hamas war has caused damage of around $18.5 billion to Gaza's critical infrastructure, according to a new report published Tuesday.

This is equivalent to 97 percent of the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022, the World Bank said in its interim damage assessment, which covers the period between the onset of the conflict on October 7 and the end of January.

The report, produced with the United Nations and the European Union, found structural damage affected "every sector of the economy," with more than 70 percent of the estimated costs due to the destruction of housing.

Israel's military has killed at least 32,975 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The Israeli military's heavy aerial bombardment in the aftermath of the attack, and its ongoing ground operations inside Gaza, have reduced many areas of the territory to rubble, creating an estimated 26 million tons of debris.

An estimated 84pc of Gaza's health facilities have been damaged or destroyed: report

"For several sectors, the rate of damage appears to be leveling off as few assets remain intact," the Bank said.

Beyond the structural damage, the report also found that more than half of Gaza's population were on the brink of famine, with the whole population "experiencing acute food insecurity and malnutrition."

An estimated 84 percent of Gaza's health facilities have been damaged or destroyed, while three quarters of the population have been displaced by the fighting, leaving more than a million people without homes.

The report, created using remote data collection sources, found that Gaza's water and sanitation system had "nearly collapsed," and was delivering less than 5 percent of its pre-war output.

100 percent of Gaza's children were out of school due to the collapse of the education system, while 92 percent of its primary roads were either destroyed or damaged, according to the World Bank.

The report called for "an increase in humanitarian assistance, food aid and food production; the provision of shelter and rapid, cost-effective, and scalable housing solutions for displaced people; and the resumption of essential services."

Saif · Apr 5, 2024

Israel announces opening of aid routes into Gaza

The move comes hours after the United States warned of a sharp shift in its policy over the Gaza war

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Israel announces opening of aid routes into Gaza

The move comes hours after the United States warned of a sharp shift in its policy over the Gaza war

Photo: AFP People wave Palestinian flags as they protest in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing war between Israel and the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip, outside an event attended by the US vice president on April 4, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Israel announced on Friday that it would allow "temporary" aid deliveries into famine-threatened northern Gaza, hours after the United States warned of a sharp shift in its policy over the Gaza war.

In a tense, 30-minute phone call on Thursday, US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that US policy on Israel was dependent on the protection of civilians and aid workers in Gaza, the first hint of possible conditions to Washington's military support.

Just hours later, in the middle of the night in Jerusalem, Israel announced it would open more aid routes into blockaded Gaza.

Israel's war cabinet authorised "temporary" aid deliveries via the Ashdod Port and the Erez land crossing, as well as increased deliveries from neighbouring Jordan at the Kerem Shalom crossing, Netanyahu's office said.

The White House quickly welcomed the moves -- calling them "at the president's request" -- and saying they "must now be fully and rapidly implemented".

Israel has come under mounting international pressure over the toll inflicted by its six-month war on Hamas, and drawn increasingly tough rebuke from main backer Washington.

Since the October 7 attacks that launched the war, Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 33,037 people, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, and sparked warnings about catastrophic hunger.

Palestinians in northern Gaza have had to survive on an average of just 245 calories per day -- less than a can of beans -- since January, according to Oxfam.

Charities have repeatedly accused Israel of throttling aid and targeting convoys, with the dangerous work of trying to stem a famine underscored this week by an Israeli strike that killed seven humanitarian workers distributing food in Gaza.

"The strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable," Biden told Netanyahu, according to a White House readout of their call.

Biden also "made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action" to improve the humanitarian situation.

Longtime Israel supporter Biden is facing growing pressure in an election year over his response to the Gaza war -- with allies pressing him to make the billions of dollars in military aid Washington sends dependent on Netanyahu listening to calls for restraint.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby acknowledged Biden's "growing frustration" with Netanyahu, but reiterated that US support for Israel's security was "ironclad".

'Concern' over Rafah plan

Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas, including in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, while pledging to move more than one million civilians in the city out of harm's way first.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said the deadly strike on the World Central Kitchen staff had "reinforced the expressed concern over a potential Israeli military operation in Rafah, specifically focusing on the need to ensure the evacuation of Palestinian civilians and the flow of humanitarian aid".

In a call to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant, Austin also "discussed the threat posed by Iran and its proxy activities", according to the Israeli army.

Israel was blamed for an air strike on Monday on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed in a social media message posted in Hebrew that "with God's help we will make the Zionists repent of their crime of aggression against the Iranian consulate in Damascus".

The Israeli military said that after a "situational assessment, it was decided to increase manpower and draft reserve soldiers".
It also said "leave will be temporarily paused for all combat units".

Netanyahu faces intense domestic pressure from the families of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, and from a resurgent anti-government protest movement.

War cabinet member Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival of Netanyahu, has demanded that a snap election be held in September, a call rejected by the premier's right-wing Likud party.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war began with Hamas's Hamas attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Palestinian militants also took more than 250 hostages on October 7, and 130 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the army says are dead.

Amid the heightened tensions, Israeli security services said they had foiled a plot to kill the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who heads the Jewish Power party, and to strike other targets.

'Food for our families'

In Gaza, relentless Israeli bombardment has reduced much of the territory to rubble, collapsed the hospital system and forced 2.4 million Palestinians to endure dire shortages of food, water, fuel and other basic supplies.

In Gaza City, Palestinians slept overnight near an aid delivery spot, hoping to receive a bag of flour.

"We sleep on the streets, in the cold, on the sand, enduring hardship to secure food for our families, especially our young children," one man told AFP. "I don't know what else to do or how our lives have come to this."

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has accused Israel of systematically destroying Gaza's healthcare system, describing scenes of carnage beyond the abilities of any hospital.

The medical charity said children were turning up at hospitals with gunshot wounds from drones, while many patients were crushed under rubble then suffering severe burns.

"No healthcare system in the world can cope with the volume and type of injuries, and the medical conditions, that we're seeing on a daily basis," said Amber Alayyan, MSF deputy programme manager for the Middle East.

Lulldapull · Apr 6, 2024

Gents, the IDF is using AI to kill Palestinians on an industrial scale. I wonder how this ‘Lavender’ functions? Is it using facial recognition? Is it using behavioral data? How is AI determining who to kill?

Saif · Apr 8, 2024

Gaza ceasefire talks make 'significant progress': Egyptian media

Talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have made "significant progress", Egyptian outlet Al-Qahera reported Monday

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Gaza ceasefire talks make 'significant progress': Egyptian media

A person holds a handful of spent bullet casings above a bigger pile in Khan Yunis on April 7, 2024 after Israel pulled its ground forces out of the southern Gaza Strip, six months into the devastating war sparked by the October 7 attacks. Israel pulled all its troops out of southern Gaza on April 7, including from the city of Khan Yunis, the military and Israeli media said, after months of fierce fighting with Hamas militants left the area devastated. Photo: AFP

Talks in Cairo aimed at brokering a truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have made "significant progress", Egyptian outlet Al-Qahera reported Monday.

The state-linked outlet reported "significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement", citing a high-ranking Egyptian source.

Egypt, Qatar and key Israeli ally the United States have mediated previous rounds of negotiations, but a workable agreement to end the six-month war has remained elusive.

Al-Qahera reported that Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return "within two days to finalise the terms of the agreement".

US and Israeli delegations were due to leave the Egyptian capital "in the next few hours" and consultations were expected to continue over the next 48 hours, the outlet added.
Hamas's unprecedented attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, Israeli figures show.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants also took more than 250 Israeli and foreign hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 33,175 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel has faced growing global opposition to the war, with the outcry intensifying following an Israeli drone strike that killed seven aid workers -- most of them Westerners -- for the US-based food charity World Central Kitchen on April 1.

Saif · Apr 8, 2024

How the unjustifiable war in Gaza is justified

Propaganda in the media is a prevalent practice during war.

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How the unjustifiable war in Gaza is justified
Debunking propaganda in the Western media

People outside The New York Times building, New York, protesting against the newspaper's coverage of Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza, on December 11, 2023. FILE PHOTO: AFP

"Ramadan is the best time to kill them. They're weak and tired," said Almog Cohen, a member of the Israeli Knesset, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Rafah and massacre the Palestinian people. This critical statement, which shows the extent of dehumanisation, has been conspicuously absent from Western media coverage. Due to the extensive control exerted by the Zionist lobbies within the Western media, they lean towards omitting information regarding the Israelis' inhumane school of thought, and engage in corroding the image of Palestinians. This critical statement is among the numerous pieces of information withheld by Western media outlets from their wider audience. Yet, it is essential to recognise that the concealment of such news contributes to the propagation of propaganda, influencing public opinion in a misleading manner.

Disinformation, dehumanisation of victims, and protecting the perpetrators are all important processes that are used in the construction of narratives in mainstream media publications. Especially during times of war, propaganda in the media is a prevalent practice. By using the Western media as their megaphone and pawn to repeat their words, carry out their directions, and most importantly, engage in defamation, intimidation, and the embellishment of falsehoods, Western politicians have legitimised bias, as the truth.

The persistent association of Hamas with ISIS is a part of a deliberate attempt by the Western media to depict all Palestinians as "terrorists." This narrative makes it easier for people to sympathise with Israel, and desensitises them towards Palestinians.
— Nada Yousef Ramadan

The first type of propaganda in the genocide in Palestine is disinformation. Images of affected newborns in Gaza were released by The Times of London with the title, "Israel releases pictures of mutilated babies," to allege proof of the October 7, Hamas attacks. The Western media, far from fact-checking, parroted the Israeli propaganda, claiming the possession and verification of harrowing images of "babies" murdered by Hamas. The Times mentioned in their article, that they refuse to publish images of Israeli infants with mutilations because they were "too graphic." Later on, an investigation by Haaretz, found that no babies were beheaded during the October 7, Hamas attacks.

The media engaged in "pre-attack legitimacy," purposely broadcasting content with the intention of either convincing their audience that a certain act of assault ought to take place or assisting viewers in comprehending that an attack is on the horizon. Everything started as soon as the events of October 7th occurred, when an official US statement quickly described the Hamas attacks as an "unprovoked terrorist attack." The "unprovoked" component reverberated through the media, and was repeatedly used by politicians. Both of these combined serve to convince the audience that Hamas carried out a heinous terrorist attack, with no underlying reason other than sheer ruthlessness and inhumanity.

This "pre-attack" rhetoric prepares the audience to view the Israeli attacks in response as acts of "self-defense." In reality, the international community has been ignoring the citizens of Gaza for many years—the fact that they live in an open-air prison—and the decades-long misery that the Palestinians have been living through. Establishing pre-attack legitimacy, the second component of propaganda is essentially the process of justifying the overt and unjustifiable Israeli aggression, in a twisted way of making the attacks "acceptable" to the general public. Take for example, BBC which released information alleging that hospitals were being utilised as Hamas tunnels, the day before a hospital in Gaza was bombed.

The third phase of propaganda served to dehumanise the victims. The Western media has, for the most part, focused on the victimhood of Israelis, while entirely ignoring the Palestinian side. The bias was crystal clear, as commonly liberal magazines pursued large-scale reporting of the victims of the October 7 attacks, in abundance, while ignoring the Palestinians, who were also being killed in a genocidal campaign. Stories spotlighting the families of October 7 hostages by Hamas received unilateral attention compared to all the families whose lives were also shattered by Israel's grueling response.

In the first few months of war, it was evidently clear that this was going to be disastrous for the civilian population in Gaza; the Israeli government had cut off the Gaza Strip, which prevented the delivery of fuel, food, and water as well as the supply of electrical power. Israeli fighter jets began their bombardment of the besieged region; whole neighborhoods were soon reduced to rubble. For months, none of these received the attention of Western media outlets. On the other hand, false information—including accounts of Israeli civilians being burned and decapitated, women being raped—were spread by top politicians in the West, including the president of the US.

It would not be too far-fetched to question whether the objective of the Western media has been to liken Hamas to well-known terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The persistent association of Hamas with ISIS is a part of a deliberate attempt to depict all Palestinians as "terrorists." This narrative makes it easier for people to sympathise with Israel, and desensitises them towards Palestinians. As a result, the global society as a whole has been more bent to assume that Israel is the victim, which in return normalises the mass murder of Palestinians. Despite the historic pace with which Palestinians have been murdered, the conflict of Israel-Palestine is somehow still up for debate, due to the normalisation of genocide itself.

Protecting the perpetrators, the fourth stage of the propaganda can be witnessed in the Western media's coverage of Israeli and Palestinian lives lost in the conflict. Israelis are described as "killed," while Palestinians are said to have "died." Take for example, a headline in The New York Times: "How Gaza Civilians Have Fared After Israel Has Asked Them to Flee." The article itself, published on March 19, 2024, delved into how nearly 2 million Palestinians are facing "forced starvation" as a direct consequence of the Israeli government's actions. It is, therefore, diluted at best and dishonest at worst, to suggest that people in Gaza are "faring." The phrase, Israel "asked" them to "flee," almost criminally underplays the ground reality. It seems as though the Israeli Army are nicely asking Palestinians to evacuate, when the reality is that they are killing them wherever they themselves are telling them to go. The language itself reeks of preconceived bias and reveals the hidden propaganda that is ensconced in the Western media's coverage of the genocide.

On the other hand, due to the proliferation of social media, many users in Gaza have become "self-proclaimed journalists." In an effort to counter the false narratives and demonstrate the real horrors, Gazans have made this effort by utilising their social media accounts to broadcast real-time images, videos, first-hand accounts of those who have been injured, and stories of families who are dealing with terrible losses. Motaz Azaiza, Plestia Alaqad, Bisan Owda, and Saleh Al Jafarawi are just a few of the names that will live on in this historic moment for public service journalism.

At the end of the day, the Western media will never properly refer to what's happening as a genocide; rather, they still believe it all started on October 7, 2023. But in fact, there have been massacres in Gaza in 2021, 2018-2019, 2014, 2012, 2008-2009, the battle of the Jenin refugee camp in 2002, the massacre at the Ibrahimi mosque in 1994, the slaughter at the Al-Aqsa mosque in 1992, the massacre at Sabra and Shatila in 1982, and a lengthy list of previous assaults going back to 1948.

Despite the Western media's inclination towards aligning with Israel, countries such as Bangladesh who have shown their constant support for Palestine serve as a source of inspiration for Palestinians, bolstering their resilience and fostering optimism over the eventual liberation of Palestine. The Palestinians will forever be commemorated as the individuals who have consistently reminded the global community of their presence and unwavering determination to oppose oppression by colonialism. Palestinians will be remembered as individuals who were previously prohibited from flying their flags, which caused them to substitute watermelons instead, partly due to their remarkable resemblance to the flag. Palestinians will continue to be symbolised as the "Al-Badawi" olive tree—which is situated in Bethlehem, Palestine—which means "The Great One," and is believed to be 5,000 years old. No matter what happens, Palestinians will resist; they will remain in Gaza because Israelis are aiming to wipe out a people whose strength against oppression is as deeply ingrained as the roots of the Al-Badawi olive tree.

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Nada Yousef Ramadan is pursuing International Relations at the American University in the Emirates, UAE.

Saif · Apr 8, 2024

From victimhood to apartheid statehood

THE tapestry of Jewish myths and history spans over two millennia. The Jewish saga of ‘diaspora’ to ‘aliyah’, of migrations and...

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From victimhood to apartheid statehood
Aminul Sarwar | Published: 00:00, Apr 08,2024

— Euronews

THE tapestry of Jewish myths and history spans over two millennia. The Jewish saga of 'diaspora' to 'aliyah', of migrations and pogroms, of persecution and the Holocaust is woven with elements of both myths and history. The tale is intertwined with the humanitarian cries of millions of Jews in the past, but the present is rather marred by an ironic role reversal of the same people through their own doings against the Arabs of Palestine. The story always begins with the myths of the 'chosen ones' — an utterly regressive and supremacist conjecture in the purview of the modern value system — finding the promised land, an enduring diaspora, and sufferings that embody a textbook case of resilience. Yet, the end to date horrifically looks to have gone wrong as we contemplate the modern history of Israel and Palestine. From the Babylonian exile to the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish people endured displacement and persecution and forged a collective identity rooted in survival. On one hand, we have the biblical accounts, from Abraham's journey to Moses leading the Israelites, setting a spiritual backdrop to a historical drama of triumphs and tribulations; on the other hand, we see a repressive statehood with brutal military power, persecution, and a genocidal regime hell-bent on uprooting and annihilating the legitimate resistance of the people whose homes were taken away.

Centuries of diaspora tested Jewish adaptability, leading to intellectual and cultural contributions during the Islamic Golden Age and challenges in mediaeval Europe's ghettos. The 19th-century rise of Zionism, seeking a Jewish homeland, embodied the longing for a promised land rooted in religious conviction and historical yearning. Facing perpetual prejudice due to socio-cultural and economic practices like usury or the flawed onus of blood libel, along with cultural mistrust in the general population because of their closely bonded, introverted community lifestyle, Jewish people sought political agency. This culminated in the vision of a Jewish state during the nationalistic waves of late 19th-century Europe.

The Dreyfus Affair in late 19th-century France marked the immediate nucleus of Zionism, as Theodor Herzl's vision for a national homeland emerged in response to anti-Semitism. The establishment of Israel in 1948 was a transformative moment, shifting from victimhood to statehood. However, this journey unveiled a paradox: the persecuted becoming powerful. Herzl's vision responded to centuries of anti-Semitism, but the implementation of Zionism faced challenges reconciling diverse cultural backgrounds. The historical rise of Zionism underpinned a supremacist ideology, resonating in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Holocaust cast a dark shadow, leading to global acknowledgment of the need for a Jewish homeland. The State of Israel's establishment in 1948 reflected the transition from victims of genocide to architects of statehood. As the Jewish people shifted from victims to state builders, the complexity of historical circumstances shaped the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Post-World War II dynamics witnessed Western support for Zionism, contributing to the displacement of Palestinian communities. The power dynamics tilted towards Israel, challenging a just and lasting resolution.

The historical narrative unravels a crisis where the persecuted became state architects, facing the dilemma between managing power and security. The call for coexistence becomes intricate as power dynamics shift. While the well-equipped Jewish population with Western education and knowledge enjoyed Western sympathy due to their racial and cultural affinity with Western people, contemporary Arabs in Palestine lacked political agency within the existing state system, facing a shortage of knowledge and representation during the interbellum years. As a result, a Western-dominated world order, burdened by the collective guilt of the Holocaust, made decisions that shamefully disregarded the political, social rights, and dignity of Palestinian Arabs. Since the inception of the conflict during the mass immigration of Jewish people to Palestine, communal riots, tensions, the Naqba, and subsequent Arab-Israel wars, it has consistently manifested as a one-sided struggle between Palestinian Arabs and the Jewish State of Israel.

Jewish people formulated the basis of Zionism on the premise that they are a community that has been persecuted throughout history because of their identity and minority status. There is no denying the fact that Jewish people had been living in ghettos across many European kingdoms and were often subjected to harassment, antipathy, and social and economic boycotts by the mainstream population due to anti-Semitic outlooks. But, as we have seen, if not premeditated, Zionism's legacy has ultimately bred a supremacist ideology, transforming statehood pursuit into an apartheid regime. It needs no elaboration, as a look into the history of modern Israel makes it pretty evident. The once-persecuted Jewish community held political power, resulting in unforeseen role reversals with far-reaching consequences. The paradox of Jewish statehood calls for reckoning with the unintended consequences of Zionism. It urges us to navigate the complexities of identity, power, and historical burdens with nuance and understanding. The pursuit of justice and humanism must prevail over entrenched prejudices, fostering a world where the rights of all are recognized and respected.

In tracing the Jewish Israeli journey from victimhood to apartheid statehood, a fabric woven with historical resilience, political aspirations, and obvious consequences unfolds. The Jewish people's narrative, etched with tales of survival, diaspora, and the establishment of the State of Israel, reflects a transformative evolution. From the challenges of historical persecution to the complexities of managing power and security, the journey has been paradoxical.

Zionism, born out of the need for a Jewish homeland in response to anti-Semitism, apparently inadvertently sowed the seeds of ethno-religious supremacy, leading to the unintended legacy of an apartheid regime. The role reversals, where the once-persecuted gained political power, have profound consequences, shaping the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

History calls for a reckoning with the unintended consequences of Zionism, urging bold reflections on identity, power, and historical burdens. The pursuit of justice and humanism must prevail over entrenched prejudices, fostering a world where the rights of all are recognised.

Moving forward, the world must ensure the engagement of the belligerent parties in open dialogue, acknowledging the multifaceted layers and dimensions of the conflict. A commitment to understanding historical transitions and fostering empathy is crucial. Collective efforts to bridge divides and dispel prejudices can pave the way for a just and lasting resolution. The only solution on the horizon is the 'two-state solution,' recognising the existence, security, and respect for the lives and dignity of the Palestinian Arabs and the Israeli Jews.

Aminul Sarwar, a retired army official, is a banker.

Saif · Apr 9, 2024

West’s hypocrisy in international politics, laws

IN NOVEMBER 2023, a month into the Gaza genocide, columnist Nesrin Malik remarked in her article in the Guardian, ‘The war in Gaza has been...

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West's hypocrisy in international politics, laws
by Humayun Kabir | Published: 00:00, Apr 07,2024

— Web

IN NOVEMBER 2023, a month into the Gaza genocide, columnist Nesrin Malik remarked in her article in the Guardian, 'The war in Gaza has been an intense lesson in western hypocrisy. It won't be forgotten.' She thought, people have seen too much that will stay with them too long. Trust in the international community will never be the same. Well, she made the point all right, but history tells us differently. The hypocrisy she has alluded to has been there all these decades of conflicts, enabling the crisis to prolong until the occupiers' intent on annihilating the Arab population from Palestine has been achieved. Gaza is a burning proof that human rights are not universal and international law is arbitrarily applied.

In the past six months of massacre (we refrain from calling it a war as it never was one) of the Palestinian population meted out by the killing machines of Israel's extreme right government, personally led by Netanyahu, one thing that has become exposed is the hypocrisy being displayed by the western powers, led by the USA, as well as that by the Arab Muslim countries in the region. To be clear, for many years, Arab governments have been accustomed to the western model of rhetoric on human rights while looking to the other way for economic gain while the regional crisis intensifies. These Arab authoritarian rulers have a single mission: to remain in power endlessly. And for western politicians, maintaining certain domestic economic outcomes has proven to be more important than making sound foreign policy decisions based on values and the common human good across boundaries. What the world conscience fails to understand is the fact that the western power, mainly led by the US, continuously adopts a policy of 'strategic ambiguity.' For example, this policy is best exemplified by its China-Taiwan policy, which offers two equally opposite messages. This approach means that the US could either stand with Taiwan if it engaged in a war with mainland China or apply realpolitik and let Taiwan confront China on its own. Such ambiguity and double standards have resulted in growing distrust in the rest of the world towards the United States.

Today, the most striking misperception about western political imperatives is believing that Arab rulers, such as General Sissi of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan, are aligned with their policies. With such duplicity and ambiguity of policies, the US and western nations have been heavily engaged in virtually every single political dialogue in the region, beginning with the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict and ending with all the military engagements in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. To be on record, they have no significant achievements to show except for the Egypt-Israel Camp David Accord, which is now half a century old. In the current Biden administration, the twice-held international dialogue on democracy is an example of US duplicity and hypocrisy in international politics. They cannot explain their policy for the transition to democracy when it comes to sanctions against Iran. Sanctioning Iran will never transform it into a democracy; on the contrary, it will expand support for extremism and increase the economic burden on its citizens, who are likely to naturally escalate their dislike for western hypocrisy.

Accusations of western hypocrisy in its foreign policy have sounded more convincing in recent years. The same leaders who bang on about Russin's war crimes in Ukraine have been more circumspect about Israel's massacre and destruction of Gaza. So, the question today is: how concerned should policymakers in Washington, London, Brussels, Tokyo, and elsewhere be about the geo-political hedging of the global south?

As for the hypocrisy charge, let us be honest, it sticks for a reason. One can rationally excuse the Global South for being cynical when statesmen who reportedly cite the 'rules-based order' suddenly go quiet if Israeli actions become a topic of debate and concern. In the six-month-long massacre and genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza and now extended to the West Bank, supported with ammunition generously supplied by the USA, UK, Canada, France, and Italy in Gaza, any conscientious person cannot help but be curious about trying to dissect the hypocritical role being played by the Western nations and the Arab neighbours of Palestine, notably Egypt and Jordan. Saudi Arabia, Syria, and other Muslim nations around.

Let us examine the use of the word 'international law', the supposed foundation of the current global order. Well, it is finally off, as can be seen in the Gaza Strip. A recent observation by Wesam Ahmad, a human rights advocate in Ramallah, says: 'As Palestinian cries for help from Gaza remain unanswered, the sinister truth is now undeniably out in the open; international justice, more often than not, is used as a tool to advance imperial interests and not justice.' This was well known a long time ago with the history of imperialism, from the European scramble for Africa to more recent US interventions in Latin America, and traced how that dark past has helped shape the way the world functions in this century. In our straightforward thinking, international law is the desirable mechanism that only reflects a noble concept, as it promotes peace and applies universal human rights, cooperation, and justice among nations. But when one 'scratches beneath the surface, a different narrative emerges, shaped by the ghosts of imperialism in the past.'

Last year, at the United Nations, world leaders took to the platform to highlight several issues and prompt collective action to address them. The key issue, once again, was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Not only were the Western states, especially NATO members, giving humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, but they have also been taking the opportunity to build a stronger narrative against Russia. Now, may we ask, what are these same NATO groups doing when it comes to protecting Palestine from the Israeli killings of civilians, women, and children? Any better example to cite of western hypocrisy? There are many such examples of communities that stand testimony to this hypocrisy. Take Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, or Kashmir, for example, whose citizens never know if they will live another day.

The reality is that the promoters of 'peace' are, all too often, the protectors of the warmongers, or are the warmongers themselves. Talking about hypocrisy, we have been witnessing that while Palestinians are being killed in thousands every day, including children, by the Israeli forces and illegal settlers, the US and Europe have no time to apply concepts of human rights and international law to Israeli authority and are allowed to act with impunity.

Even in the Arab media, western hypocrisy is well exposed. In an opinion piece in the Jordan Times, one columnist wrote that the Ukrainian crisis conveniently captures contemporary attention, creating a narrative of valiant struggle against external aggression. And the Palestinian narrative languishes in historical complexities, seemingly overlooked by a world that selectively chooses which historical injustices to champion. The global response to Ukrainian and Palestinian movements reveals a disturbing hypocrisy woven into the fabric of international relations. 'Historical dynamics, geopolitical alignments, and media narratives collectively expose a double standard that challenges the very essence of justice and self-determination' wrote columnist Al Shriedeh of The Jordan Times.

Let us examine the role of the Arab neighbours of Israel in addressing the crisis in Gaza. All 57 Arab and Muslim countries in the world, representing nearly 3 billion people of the faith, met in Riyadh in November 2023 under the umbrella of a joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit. While they warned the Israeli government and its backers, namely the US, 'of the real danger of the expansion of the war as a result of Israel's refusal to stop its aggression and of the inability of the Security Council to enforce international law to end this aggression', they avoided any decision on any concrete action against Israel as a collective force, despite Iran's pleading. Their only intent was to put pressure on the Biden administration to exert sufficient pressure on Israel to stop the war. The Saudis, together with their conservative allies like Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, and Bahrain, see an action-oriented position as a dangerous destabilisers for their own power base. As a result, the Islamic summit ended up being a talk show instead of a meaningful plan of action.

The United States has been engaging in this war by grossly violating its own laws that govern and regulate its policy to provide aid, including military aid, to foreign countries under certain well-defined conditions. I will now cite five major US laws that it violates in letter and spirit and, as transparently as can be conceived, as it applies to the current situation in Israeli aggression and violence, thus revealing the highest form of hypocrisy ever displayed in modern history of the century:

I. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961: The Act provides that no assistance is to be provided to a government that 'engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognised human rights, including torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges…or other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, and the security of the person…' Each word of this act has a direct bearing on the current massacre in Gaza and the West Bank.

II. Arms Export Control Act of 1976: The Act requires international governments receiving weapons from the US to use the armaments only for 'legitimate self-defence.' This act considers prohibiting the development of weapons of mass destruction or increasing the possibility of an outbreak or escalation of conflict. This is precisely what has resulted from the US's complicity in the war imposed by Israel, in the form of an escalation of conflict in Palestine.

III. The War Crimes Act of 1996. This act defines a war crime to include a 'grave breach of the Geneva Conventions, to which the US is a party. The law specifically refers to the text that highlights principles of the Convention as…' committed against persons or property protected by the Convention, such as willful killing, torture, or inhuman treatment, thus causing 'great suffering or serious injury to body or health.' As a complicit in Israel's mass killings, this Act has been grossly violated by the US government itself.

IV. The Leahy Law: This law prohibits most types of US foreign aid and Defence Department training programmes from going to foreign security, military, and police units credibly alleged to have committed human rights violations. As revealed in the case before the International Court of Justice, Israel is accused of the highest form of human rights violation. The UN Special Rapporteur has recently reported human rights violations by Israeli forces in no uncertain terms. US duplicity is beyond question.

V. Genocide Convention Implementation Act: This Act, passed in 1987, amends the US Federal Criminal Code to establish the criminal offence of genocide, namely, specified acts committed with specific intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Here, again, the US administration has shown a total disregard for its own policy involving measures against genocide.

I should bring to light the strong statements made at several media events in Germany by Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim over the current Gaza tragedy. He boldly asked that the world wake up and see the stark hypocrisy the western governments and the press have been practicing incessantly over the Palestinian crisis. He asked that this contradiction and hypocrisy in international politics be stopped.

Israel has deliberately chosen to weaponise the Holocaust issue in perpetuating its ethnic cleansing genocide in Gaza. And while the entire West slams Russia for killing civilians in Ukraine, it 'gives green light to Israel to do the same in Gaza.' As for the Arab neighbours, suffice it to say that in the past six months of the incessant killings by Israel, none of the neighbours — Egypt, Jordan, and even Bahrain or UAE — have suspended the trade and commerce relationship, and the direct transmission of power and gas by Egypt, which has enabled Israeli armament factories to remain alive, has not been suspended. This is the utmost form of hypocrisy by the so-called Muslim Ummah.

The mask is off. The Gaza crisis has exposed the hypocrisy of international law and politics to the world at large.

Humayun Kabir was a senior official of the United Nations.

Bilal9 · Apr 9, 2024

I don't believe driving away Jews entirely from the Middle East is a sane idea - nor is it achievable. There are liberal educated Jews too - the extremists are a loud minority. Will comment more after Iftar.

Saif · Apr 10, 2024

No barbarism without poetry

If our world is becoming full of poets and executioners, we need more judges and thinkers to counter the new tendency.

www.thedailystar.net

No barbarism without poetry

In an October 13, 2023 announcement soliciting submissions, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) invited potential contributors 'to embark on a poetic journey and reignite the great Israeli spirit' in response to the Hamas attack a week before, leading to a sadistic campaign of death and destruction in the occupied Palestinian territorries. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

When the basic pact that holds society together is crumbling—which appears to be happening worldwide—wild rumours and conspiracy theories proliferate. Even, or especially, when the message is obviously nonsensical, it can evoke deep-seated fears and prejudices.

A perfect example of this, which I have noted previously, occurred in late August 2023, when a priest known as "Father Anthony" ceremoniously doused holy water on a 26-foot-tall statue of Stalin in Russia's Pskov region. Though the church had suffered during the Stalin era, he explained, "Thanks to this we have lots of new Russian martyrs and confessors to whom we now pray and are helping us in our motherland's resurgence." This logic is just a step away from claiming that Jews should thank Hitler for creating the conditions that allowed for the state of Israel. If that sounds hyperbolic, or like a bad joke, consider that some Zionist extremists close to the Israeli government openly advocate exactly this position.

To understand the success of such perverted argumentation, we should first note that, in developed countries, unrest and revolts tend to explode when poverty has ebbed. The protests of the 1960s—from the soixante-huitards in France to the hippies and Yippies in the United States—unfolded during the golden age of the welfare state. When people are living well, they come to desire even more.

One must also account for the surplus enjoyment that social and moral perversion can bring. Consider the Islamic State's recent attack on Crocus City Hall in Moscow, in which 144 people were killed. What some call a terrorist attack, others call an act of armed resistance in response to the massive destruction wrought by the Russian military in Syria. But whatever the case, something notable happened after the attack: Russian security forces not only admitted to torturing the suspects whom they had arrested; they publicly displayed it.

"In a graphic video posted on Telegram," writes Julia Davis of the Center for European Policy Analysis, "one of the detained had his ear cut off and was then forced to eat it by one of his interrogators." No wonder some Israeli hardliners look to Russia as a model for dealing with arrested Hamas members.

Russian officials did it not just to deter potential future attackers, but also to give pleasure to fellow members of the tribe. "I never expected this from myself," writes Margarita Simonyan, a Russian propagandist who heads the state-owned media outlet RT, "but when I see how they are brought into the court crooked, and even this ear, I feel extremely satisfied." Nor is this phenomenon confined to Russia. In Tennessee, some lawmakers want to restore public hangings (from trees, no less) for those who receive the death penalty.

Where do such acts end? Why not just bring back the premodern practice of publicly torturing alleged criminals to death? More to the point, how can "normal" people be brought to the point where they would enjoy such sadistic spectacles?

The short answer is that it requires the unique power of some kind of mythic discourse, religion, or poetry. As the reluctant Nazi fellow-traveller Ernst Jünger explained, "Any power struggle is preceded by a verification of images and iconoclasm. This is why we need poets—they initiate the overthrow, even that of titans."

One finds poetry playing an important role in Israel. On March 26, Haaretz ran a story explaining "how Israel's army uses revenge poetry to boost morale." An anthology published by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) includes poems that "express a desire for vengeance and paint the combat in Gaza as a religious war." In an October 13 announcement soliciting submissions, the IDF invited potential contributors "to embark on a poetic journey and reignite the great Israeli spirit," so as to "raise the spirit in wartime."

Apparently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's references to Amalek (the Jews' biblical enemy in the Torah) after October 7 were not enough. They needed to be supplemented by modern verse. Or perhaps Netanyahu's biblical reference conveyed more than he wanted to say. After all, according to the Old Testament, when the wandering Jews reached the hills above the valley in Judea where the Amalekites lived, Jehovah appeared and ordered Joshua to kill them all, including their children and animals. If that is not "ethnic cleansing," the term has no meaning at all.

It is worth remembering that Germany was known as the land of Dichter und Denker (poets and thinkers), before its turn towards Richter und Henker (judges and executioners). But what if the two versions are more similar than they appear? If our world is gradually becoming a world of poets and executioners, we will need more judges and thinkers to counter the new tendency and regain our moral footing.

Slavoj Žižek, professor of philosophy at the European Graduate School, is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, and the author, most recently, of Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.