Nothing is sacred for Israel

A hospital, a 12th-century church, mosques, children, women, bakeries, water, food, animals – nothing and nobody is sacred for the Israeli occupying forces as they pound Gaza for what is now the 15th day of their current assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza. On Tuesday the 17th of October, a lethal Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza left between 400 and 500 people dead. On October 20, an Israeli air attack killed and injured displaced Gazans sheltering at the compound of the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City. In the scheme of brutality that is the Israeli occupation, these are but numbers – and the numbers over the years have been appalling: many more mosques and homes have been razed to the ground, many more children have been killed by Israel. But this may just be the most brutal assault on Gaza in recent years, the cruelty open for all to see and Israel’s usual spin doctoring not quite working for it as well as it has over the past decades, with ‘war crimes’ and ‘genocide’ becoming familiar terms for Israeli actions. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem has condemned the strike near the church, saying it “a war crime that cannot be ignored”.

Unfortunately, ignoring is what the West does best when it comes to Israel. US President Joe Biden has stuck to his original position of siding with Israel amidst the ongoing genocidal tactics of the Zionist state. No one really expected much different from a president who is seen as a long-time ally of Israel. Biden has now said that he will be asking Congress for money to support Israel and Ukraine, equating Hamas and Putin in a strange crossover that only the American president can come up with. Some have termed this ‘political theatre’ by a president looking to secure another term in office, but the thinking may be that being a ‘war-time’ president may help bolster Biden’s fortunes in the next election. While on his visit to Tel Aviv, Biden had managed to secure Israel’s agreement to allow aid into Gaza – that too on the condition that aid be sent only to civilians in the south of Gaza. The aid, however, is yet to materialize. The UN has said that the first aid delivery into Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt should happen in the next few days, but Egypt is yet to repair the roads on the Rafah border that were destroyed by Israeli air strikes. Loaded trucks with humanitarian aid stand ready to enter Gaza, whose people are currently without water, food, medical supplies and anything resembling a hint of even war-time normalcy.

With Western hypocrisy at its height, and a UN seemingly –and unsurprisingly – crippled to do anything, the death toll in Gaza since the start of Israel’s offensive now stands above 4000. As Gazans try to just survive the daily bombardment by Israel and the daily gaslighting by the West, the people of the West Bank are also facing Israel’s wrath. According to reports, at least 76 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupying forces in the occupied West Bank in the past 14 days. Nearly a thousand have been arrested from both the West Bank and Jerusalem – not counting those already serving as political prisoners in Israeli jails. These Palestinians include children under the age of 18. What is perhaps even worse is how the Palestinian Authority – seen by many Palestinians as soft on the occupying forces – has behaved, resorting to breaking up protests with force. The only light at the end of this very dark tunnel is how people across the world have reacted – solidarity, protests, social media campaigns and clear and open support to the people of Palestine without conditions. Governments across the Western world have assumed dictatorial policies when dealing with protesters but protest after protest goes on as world powers cheer on a genocide underway.