Israel is not above criticism and there shouldn’t be any accusations of being antisemitic when examining the recent actions of Isreal in Gaza. Of course nobody is disputing that Israel has a right to defend itself from the appalling atrocities that we witnessed on 7th October 23. However there has to be a limit placed on the amount of aggression used in retaliation. It’s clear that Israel has over stepped the mark and gone too far. Israel’s actions in Gazza border on genocide and far exceed what could be described as reasonable force. Israel’s actions are targeting a civilian population and are indiscriminate. They have concentrated their aggression against a civilian population and targeted the infrastructure like hospitals that a civilian population needs to provide to survive. Isreali’s have withheld aid and basic necessities such as water and electricity which impact the civilian population heavily and it’s abilities to remain healthy.
The incursions into Gaza by the IDF seem to have been the opportunity that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, seems to have been waiting for for years. He seems to relishing this new highly aggressive Isreal. In many ways it seems to be a plan fulfilled as an opportunity to invade and control Gaza and to suppress the Palestinian people there. Under Netanyahu’s direction the people of Isreal have been swept along in a maddening and unrestrained tirade against the civilian population of Gaza. So many rules of warfare have been broken by Israeli’s targeting a largely civilian population. All this has been done with the support of American and British regimes who have not done enough to curb the excesses of Isreal. So far there has been little real opposition and concern raised. Sanctions would be an opportunity to really do something to curb the excesses of Isreal. Even opposition parties like the Labour Party have colluded with the bad situation that has been developing: more concerned with the stigma of being considered to be seen as antisemitic than to even offer any criticism of Israel’s actions. It is not antisemitic to call out actions that border on genocide and which are focused on a largely civilian population.
Also Israel’s action are not guaranteed to bring peace to the region. Rather It’s actions have largely been counterproductive and are likely to lead to increased animosity towards Isreal in the future. Isreal’s actions have been ill considered so far in an attempt to rid Gazza of Hamas. Indescriminate bombing of a civilian population has caused a heavy price in largely civilian casualties being caught up in the action. Most of Gazza is now inhospitable and there appears to be no safe corridors availble to allow civilians to escape to any longer. Indescriminate bombing of civilian areas because they believe that there may be some Hamas fighters in that area is causing disproprtionate death tolls amongst the civilian population without any guarantees that Hamas fighters are actually being eliminated. Israel’s actions so far appear to have largely been a matter of guesswork. Hamas extremists may indeed be hidden amongst the civilian population but this is not a good excuse to target the innocent civilians and make them pay this heavy price for flushing out a few of Israel’s enemies. It may become evident after Isreal finishes it’s objectives to destroy Hamas that it has not been able to fulfill it’s objectives. So what then? Does Isreal intent to occupy and administer Gazza? Is that reasonable or even acceptable ? Can Isreal sucessfully occupy Gazza and suppress and rule over it’s population to ensure that Hamas cannot be in control again? What would an Isreali occupation look like and would that be enough to guarantee peace in the area? Looking back in time and also to recent situations in the occupied West Bank there has been tensions and accusations of land-grabbing against Isreali settlers so could we ultimately find the same situations developing in an occupied Gazza in the future?
This article is dedicated to the memory of ‘Hind Rajab, aged 6’ who became a casualty of the IDF actions in Gazza between the 5/2/24 and 10/2/24.
