The deliberate killing of civilians and the seizure of civilian hostages are war crimes. Hamas’s atrocity should be condemned unequivocally. It was a pogrom. Such methods will not liberate the Palestinian people.
But one war crime doesn’t justify another. The people of Gaza are being collectively punished by the Israeli regime. The siege of Gaza is nothing less than an attempt to starve the population.
Is there any moral difference between the slaughter of civilians by Hamas in their own homes, with automatic rifles and the slaughter of civilians in their own homes by the IDF with bombs and rockets? There is none. They are both barbaric. Neither are justifiable.
The real aim of the Israeli government was disclosed by Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely. She made the chilling comparison with the current situation and the bombing of Dresden, which was, she said, “necessary to defeat the Nazis”. At least 25,000 were killed, probably more. The logic is clear. If it is necessary to kill huge numbers of civilians to “destroy Hamas” then so be it. The head of the IDF described Palestinians as “human animals” and “we will act accordingly”.
Hotovely, is opposed to Jews marrying non-Jews and believes in Greater Israel. From the river to the sea, all of it is “our land” according to her. In one TV interview, as the people of Gaza were running out of food and water, being starved by her government, she said “there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.
The Netanyahu government’s agenda is ethnic cleansing . We already see it in the West Bank where IDF soldiers support settlers in organising pogroms against the Arabs in what are, we should not forget, occupied territories.
Unless the siege of Gaza ends we could have a situation where tens of thousands of people die. There is a potential health catastrophe unless water and food is restored. They will have starvation and disease visited upon them. You cannot have a ‘humanitarian corridor’ while the bombing continues.
All those who think that support for Israel means they should support an invasion of Gaza by the IDF, ought to listen to some of the traumatised Israelis who have lost friends and family in Hamas’s atrocity. Their message is that they don’t want revenge. More killing will only generate more killing still.
As for the hostages, who should be released, an invasion may well seal their fate. The economy Minister has said that “the first priority” is to “wipe out Hamas”. An invasion will most likely make Gaza City uninhabitable and create a new generation of refugees. An ultra-nationalist, racist government, with fascists in its ranks, cannot fight “a just war against Hamas”. It’s collective punishment of the Palestinians is a war crime.
At the time of writing 60 MPs have called for a ceasefire, as a necessary step to stop countless civilians dying. What about the rest of them? There can be no military solution to the conflict. It will simply deepen the well of hatred on both sides.
Published in the Swindon Advertiser letters page on October 27th, 2023.
Martin Wicks 