It is not complicated. It is not far away.
The West, spearheaded by Biden, has clearly chosen its side
- Israel. The side is not peace or development or de-escalation. It is Israel
for reasons of foreign policy and domestic politics, not for reasons of international
law or justice or security. This is politics. Why did we look to Biden or
Ursula von der Leyen and expect justice or law?
The case for justice and international law is not
complicated.
- Is collective punishment allowable
by a state?
- Is cutting off water to a population
allowable?
- Giving 1 million people 24 hours to
move in forced displacement - allowed?
- Bombing of the same population as it
is fleeing - ok for the global community?
- Cutting off electricity to an entire
population, including hospitals - not a war crime?
اضافة اعلانThis is not recent. This conflict did not begin with Hamas’
attack on October 7, and it did not begin with Israel’s targeting of the
Baptist hospital on October 17. The isolation and collective punishment of Gaza
has been going on for decades. Decades.
If you want to make it complicated you can. Please, hold a
roundtable or a seminar on the nuance and intricacies of various agreements,
handshakes, violent attacks, uprisings, armed groups, or manifestos. You might
make some valid points. But how do you answer the questions above?
It’s not complicated.
Israel claimed they targeted the Baptist hospital, because
it was a Hamas center. Later it said that Hamas hit it themselves, (or,
according to Biden, ‘the other team’). Israel is creating confusion around the
hospital, not clarity, and its allies - the US specifically - are playing
along. Later from the New York Times or Washington Post, we may read of
an investigation, later with a quiet admission of guilt and ‘lessons learned’.
We know this theater piece well.
We have heard from the US about fake news,
disinformation, and malign actors, yet the president of the US gave
misinformation from his podium - saying he saw the babies beheaded by Hamas. Or
did he make a mistake? If he did, we can forgive you - if you answer the
questions above.
One last question - if you answered the questions above,
are your answers the same for all people? Or are some populations not afforded
the same international law?
I
am asking as one of the ‘Human Beasts’ that have been mentioned by Israel.
Katrina Sammour was first published on Full Spectrum Jordan, a weekly newsletter on SubStack.
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