Israel has the right to respond to an attack on its citizens and state but the scale and proportion of that response matters. Similarly, Palestine has the right to resist occupation but again, how that resistance is expressed also matters.
In some respects, we in the West have been a bad ally to Israel for not holding it to greater account prior to Hamas’ brutal and shocking attack on October 7. Israel’s method of dealing with the claims and actions of Palestinian nationalists and ultra-nationalists has been to enforce an apartheid style occupation of Palestinian territories, thereby creating the asymmetrical conditions that terrorism often thrives in. The West tacitly supported the transformation of Gaza into what amounts to an open air prison. Under these conditions, Palestinians living in Gaza were largely unable to obtain gainful employment and were mostly nourished and sustained via a thin and perilous system of international aid delivered by trucks through checkpoints. Furthermore, although not happy with the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, our political leaders in the West have over the years, mostly turned a blind eye to it.
Had the West demonstrated to Israel that we as its allies supported a true two state solution, perhaps Israel might not have so readily enacted the collective punishment of the Palestinian people as being a suitable response to the October 7 Hamas attack. Israel’s fear of possible sanctions, the potential denial of military aid and the threat of diplomatic isolation might have restrained its hand in those understandably furious moments in the aftermath of October 7 had it known that it would have been sanctioned by its allies if its response contravened international law. But Israel knew no such actions from its allies were in the wings, it knew it could respond with something akin to genocidal intent if it so wished. When you enforce and subject people to apartheid style conditions for a long duration of time, it’s easier to dehumanise them and from there, the road to potential genocide by your nation state as a response to the inevitable resistance those oppressed will express and enact is possibly paved. In this respect by not urging restraint through the levers of diplomacy and military aid and more actively and forcibly discouraging Israel from seeking to aspire to build a Greater Israel from Palestinian lands, the West has been a poor friend to Israel and an even poorer advocate for the values of equality and common humanity in relation to Palestine.
As I have been watching the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza over the past month I have asked myself what does the West stand for if we actively, through the provision of military aid and diplomatic support, allow Israel to undertake a total war response against the people of Gaza that has undertones of genocide? Who are we as nation states if we help to uphold an apartheid style state? If we remove being proponents of equality and justice and thus having a shared and worthy common humanity from our narratives as nation states, what are we other than the conduits for neo-liberal capitalism?
The scale and extent of the ongoing Pro-Palestine and Ceasefire marches across much of the West indicate that many Western citizens feel similarly disturbed by what has been happening in Gaza. I would argue that many citizens in the West want more from their political leaders on this issue. If we in the West do not stand up for those who are unarmed and unable to stand for themselves in the face of overwhelming military might, particularly if the targeted group is religiously, culturally or ethnically diverse from those who are targeting them and living on land coveted by their aggressors, what do the values of our democratic nation states actually mean? From an ideological and philosophical perspective, what are we in this situation? If the West not only stands aside but actively facilitates through the provision of military aid, the possible genocidal intent of an ally for what purpose do our nation states exist other than as the expression of and enforcement of imperialistic, neo-liberal capitalism? Is this what we want to be, who we want to be? What morality can we stand on hereafter?
In its ardent support of Israel’s response to the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, our political leadership has allowed its citizens to glance at the realpolitik that often governs our international system. While acknowledging the reality of international politics and relations, for many of us, our political leaders have nonetheless failed on this issue. The question isn’t Israel’s right to defend itself, it of course has that right, as all sovereign nation states do but its total war response on the civilians of Palestine has been disproportionate and most likely in breach of international law.
As the bombing of Gaza continues as does the ongoing deprivation of food, fuel, medicine, water and electricity to the Palestinians living in Gaza, what gives me hope is watching citizens in the West engage in peaceful mass protest. For decades now neo-liberal capitalism and their political advocates have sought to turn citizens into consumers and it’s been uplifting to witness citizens fire back up on this issue. We impact our nation states. Don’t let neo-liberal capitalism cynically disavowal you of this. While neo-liberal capitalism has sought to make politics and being political an anti-social concept there actually is nothing wrong with reading up on issues and trying to understand something or better yet, trying to analyse it from differing perspectives. We are moving, with alarm speed and rapidness, towards very complex and challenging times. The need to understand our world better has never been greater. In times of increasing peril, the values we espouse as nation states also matter because they will in part determine who and what we will be in the future and what sort of civilisation we will build to try to ensure our survival as a species. Gaza is a horrific line in the sand for us as an international community and where we stand in relation to it does matter. For our common humanity, it does matter.
