ISRAEL’S Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored Palestinian demands for freedom and dignity. His idea of peace is normalising relations with Arab countries without engaging the Palestinians.

Israel told 1.1 million people to leave northern Gaza, including Gaza City, and relocate to the south. At the same time, Israel denied ceasefire in southern Gaza to allow foreigners out and humanitarian aid to be brought in.

But bombing continued. Israel is preparing a ground invasion.

Israel’s response to the conflict by repeating the same action and expecting different results is akin to “Einstein Insanity”. The regime’s aggression is largely met by indifference in the international community, especially the West.

US President Joe Biden is in Israel to make clear Israel has the right to defend itself and will reaffirm solidarity with Israel.

According to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, Israel does not have the right to defend itself within the occupied Palestinian territory to respond to military attacks in these territories.

US should be held to account for its active role in the current conflict.

How could there be peace then?

All along, the peace process has been moribund and Israel has continued with expansion, increasing military might and entrenching its hold over Palestine.

Over the last 10 months, Israel provoked instability without any enduring international consequences and expect non-resistance. There was also a record-breaking number for approval of settlements.

To add salt to the wound, at the recent UN General Assembly, Netanyahu showed a map of “the New Middle East” without Palestine.

I cannot comprehend, at the same time, four Arab countries made normalisation deals with the regime.

Some say Israelis don’t wake up in the morning thinking about the conflict but surely many will share the trauma and helplessness at Gaza.

Where is the humanity behind the security walls?

Let us not forget, Israel claims that it facilitated the existence of Hamas to provide opposition to Palestine Liberation Organisation and keep them busy fighting among themselves.

On October 17, the UN Security Council (UNSC) rejected a Russian resolution that condemned violence and terrorism against civilians because Hamas was not mentioned in the resolution. It was a technical issue and the humanitarian issue, conveniently disregarded – legal concerns precede humanitarian and moral considerations.

Whatever happened to the UN’s Charter to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and to maintain international peace and security?

The US, in rejecting, said: “Hamas’ actions have led to the dire humanitarian crisis facing the people of Gaza.”

The Amnesty International 2022 report, in its concluding observations, commented the US on several issues such as hate crimes, racial discrimination, gun violence, excessive use of force by police, money politics, wealth polarisation and violence against women.

Human rights legislation and justice have seen an extreme retrogression, further undermining the basic rights and freedoms of the American people.

Interestingly, the American Declaration of Independence was the first civic document that met a modern definition of human rights.

A day after the UNSC rejected the Russian resolution, al-Ahli Baptist Hospital was bombed.

The Israel Defense Forces quickly “categorically” denied the attack, blaming a “failed rocket launch” by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. For the records, the Israeli army has targeted schools and hospitals before.

The United Kingdom, which created this mess starting in 1917, is now saying it will work with its close allies to find out what happened at al-Ahli Baptist Hospital and to protect innocent civilians in Gaza and made it clear that it stands behind Israel.

Where is the impartiality in finding a just solution?

At the recent UN General Assembly, Netanyahu said he had long sought to make peace with the Palestinians but must not give them a veto over new peace treaties with Arab states.

Meanwhile, about a million Israelis have visited the United Arab Emirates in the past three years but Palestinians are being held at the biggest open-air prison in the world.

Peace for Netanyahu is stopping nuclear ambitions of Middle Eastern states excluding the regime.

For peace to be realised, there must be engagements in good faith and we should not call the other side “human animals”. Peace, dignity and equality will never take place if the regime acts as if it is the leader, annexing other people’s land and dictating terms to others.

True, thousands of years ago, Prophet Moses presented the children of Israel with a timeless and universal choice of a blessing and a curse. I am not very sure about the choice the regime took that made the Middle East an unstable region backed by Western powers.

What say you… – October 19, 2023.

* Saleh Mohammed reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.