MATALAM, North Cotabato (MindaNews / 19 October)—The human carnage in Palestine now is unprecedented. The 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars would pale in comparison with this one.
Every civilized nation agrees that Israel, or any country for that matter, deserves the right to defend itself when attacked. Whether the Hamas Group is Jihadist or Terrorist, attacking unarmed defenseless civilian is utterly un-Islamic. But defense and retaliation are governed by an unwritten law that every civilized nations of the world recognize and understand. This is the so-called proportionate response.
But by what Israel is doing, or has been doing, it has clearly transgressed the limits of defense and response. When Israel deliberately bombs and kills innocent, un-armed, and defenseless civilians—the aged, women and children—is it doing better than Hamas? Is it any different by what they call Hamas, a terrorist group?
Hamas is not all of Palestine. But when an entire population is attacked and deprived with food, water, medicine, and power, there is no greater terrorism than that. If Israel’s intention by doing this bombing spree is to bring down the Hamas group down to its knees, or make them surrender by employing those strategies, it is like killing the cats to make the dogs surrender.
The Israeli government told the People of Palestine to move down south near the Egyptian border, probably, to evade its bombing sprees and the impending ground assault. But even Southern Palestine was bombed, killing scores of victims. No part of Palestine now is safe, it seems.
You don’t have to be Muslim to fully understand this carnage, short of genocide, going on in Gaza or the whole of Palestine. The first non-Muslim countries to openly condemn the Israeli attacks on civilians and its deprivation of humanitarian aid and power are South Korea and Brazil. Scores of other countries have expressed calls for ceasefire and negotiation. Despite the fact that Israel is the main supplier of arms and war materials to Brazil, the latter is ready to break diplomatic ties with the former if only to express disgust and disapproval over how the Israeli government is handling the situation.
Everyone, it seems, is waiting to know, whether such transgressions by Israel are punishable. Every game has its rules. Even wars, as provided in international humanitarian law ratified by UN member countries during the Geneva Convention.
Now, the world, as always, is divided when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Unlike the war in Ukraine where polarity is between communism and democracy, it is not the case in the tiny Gaza strip. It was not between Muslims and Non-Muslims; it is not a religious war. It has always been about human rights. The rights of the Palestinian people to live devoid of fear and hunger. The rights of the Palestinian people to have a free country they can call their own.
And as always, the United States can never be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Almost instantly, the US sent its dreaded 7th Fleet in open support to Israel, one of its closest allies in the Middle East. One would wonder how the US speaks for democracy and human rights when it involves her enemies, and acts differently when it comes to close allies. No wonder, the US can show partiality in world issues because it has the same problem at home. The black Americans issue has not been perfected to this day.
What about the United Nations? Does the international community stand in support of the values they have declared to protect? Or are they just big words that vanish when push comes to shove?
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Maugan P. Mosaid holds a doctorate degree in rural development. He is a planning consultant and teaches Statistics and Methods of Research in the graduate school. He can be contacted at mauganmosaid6@gmail.com.)
