Israel-Palestine war: Britain's epidemic of unchallenged anti-Palestinian racism

Peter Oborne, Imran Mulla
10 October 2023 

The UK risks importing the bloodshed from Gaza if its supposedly mainstream thinkers continue to recklessly deploy venomous and inflammatory anti-Muslim bigotry

Pro-Palestinian supporters march near the Israeli embassy in London on 9 October, 2023 (Reuters)

British Home Secretary Suella Braverman weighed into the Gaza conflict on Sunday by issuing a public warning that there “must be zero tolerance for antisemitism or the glorification of terrorism on the streets of Britain”.

She was right to do so. Even the most fervent supporters of the Palestinian cause must recognise that it is one of the duties of a British home secretary to prevent violence and hatred erupting on British streets - and never more so than when war breaks out in the Middle East, with the passions it engenders on all sides.

More than ever, at times like this there is a need for decency, level-headed thinking and civility.

Unfortunately, the home secretary’s intervention has so far been one-sided.

Over the last 48 hours, Britain has experienced an epidemic of almost unchallenged anti-Palestinian racism and anti-Muslim bigotry - and Braverman has been inexcusably silent.

What is more, this bigotry has been perpetrated by people in a position of responsibility.
'Islamic bloodlust'

Take the editor of the British newspaper Jewish News, Richard Ferrer. He wrote in the Daily Express on Sunday that Hamas’s military attack on Israel was “plain and simply historic Islamic bloodlust, passed down through the generations from birth”.

This rhetoric is venomous, and arguably a form of blood libel. After a backlash, the word “Islamic” was changed to “Islamist”.

The editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Jake Wallis Simons, said on the same day that “much of Muslim culture is in the grip of a death cult that sacralised bloodshed. Not all, but many Muslims are brainwashed by it”. After a backlash, he deleted the tweet. Note he left it up for over a day.

These inflammatory remarks risk importing the bloodshed in Gaza into Britain itself.

Moreover, such talk of “Islamic bloodlust” and a Muslim “death cult” is not just dangerous - it’s historically false. It’s worth remembering that when the Jews were driven out of Christian Spain in 1492, many found safety in the Islamic world, above all the Ottoman Empire.

The Jewish historian Avi Shlaim, emeritus professor of international relations at Oxford University, exploded this false narrative in his recent book Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew, stressing the “old tradition of religious tolerance and long history of relative harmony between the different sections of society” in his native Iraq.

As Shlaim pointed out: “It took Europe much longer than the Arab world to accept the Jews as equal co-citizens.”

Outright bigotry

It is hard to exaggerate how solemn this moment is in the history of the modern Middle East. It is the most frightening since the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.

At such times, there is a special responsibility on those in a position of influence to respond calmly and to avoid inflammatory language.

However, others have joined in. The former editor of the Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie, has tried to weaponise the tragic events of the last few days with the comment: “Vote Starmer get Islam” - framing British Muslims as an existential enemy.

Imagine the reaction if MacKenzie had warned that voting for Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives meant that you “get Hinduism”. This would be immediately called out as outright bigotry.

Douglas Murray, a prominent right-wing commentator who writes regularly for the Spectator and the Sun, tweeted a photo of two men in New York holding a sign saying “Jews for a free Palestine”. He described them as “the stupidest people in NY today. Jews for mass suicide”.

“British Jews braced for hate crimes as pro-Palestinian groups celebrate,” read one headline in the Times on Sunday, explicitly connecting pro-Palestinian groups to antisemitic attacks.

It is becoming acceptable in much of British discourse to imply that the Palestinian flag itself - which is not the Hamas flag - is somehow murderous, terroristic and antisemitic

Antisemitism is foul, but it is offensive and dangerous to imply that any expression of Palestinian identity or support for Palestinian self-determination - a legitimate struggle under international law - is considered morally wrong and even terroristic.

It is becoming acceptable in much of British discourse to imply that the Palestinian flag itself - which is not the Hamas flag - is somehow murderous, terroristic and antisemitic.

This means there is no way for Palestinians to express their identity without being smeared as terrorists.

Support for Palestinian freedom and self-determination is viewed as "barbaric". Even a hint of solidarity with Palestinians is treated as support for brutality.

And it’s not just journalists.

War crimes

James Orr, a professor of philosophy and religion at Cambridge University, captioned a video of a crowd in Manchester waving Palestinian flags and signs saying “Freedom for Palestine” and asked: “Have Britain's streets witnessed anything more morally abhorrent than this?”

Some would say they have. And one wonders how Palestinian students at Cambridge might feel about Orr’s attitude.

Israel-Palestine war: How Gaza turned the tables on its gaoler

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Cambridge academic Charlotte Proudman tweeted a video of a car emblazoned with a Palestine flag honking next to a motorbike flying the same flag and captioned it: “Celebrating the murders and kidnapping of Israelis is quite possibly the most heinous act of public hate I have seen on the streets of London.”

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ordered the Israeli flag to be projected onto 10 Downing Street, while promising “unequivocal support” for Israel.

Yet recent history teaches us that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza. Nearly 1,500 Palestinian civilians were killed in 2014 in Operation Protective Edge. In 2018, more than 200 Palestinians in Gaza were shot dead by Israeli snipers, and 36,000 injured during the peaceful Great March of Return protests.

On Monday, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, ordered a full siege of the Gaza Strip, including a ban on the admission of food, electricity and fuel. This smacks of collective punishment for Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, which would be a war crime under international law.

Yet, when given the opportunity to condemn this on television, Britain’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly would not do so.

Paradoxically enough, some of the Israeli press is much more balanced than the British coverage. Haaretz, Israel’s leading liberal newspaper, published an editorial on Sunday declaring Hamas’s attack to be “the clear responsibility of one person: Benjamin Netanyahu”.

It accused Netanyahu of failing “to identify the dangers he was consciously leading Israel into when establishing a government of annexation and dispossession, when appointing Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir to key positions, while embracing a foreign policy that openly ignored the existence and rights of Palestinians”.

Sunak’s decision to give a blanket endorsement to whatever Netanyahu’s Israel might do in the days and nights to come is not simply a betrayal of the Palestinians - it’s reckless and irresponsible.

The views expressed in this article belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Peter Oborne won best commentary/blogging in both 2022 and 2017, and was also named freelancer of the year in 2016 at the Drum Online Media Awards for articles he wrote for Middle East Eye. He was also named as British Press Awards Columnist of the Year in 2013. He resigned as chief political columnist of the Daily Telegraph in 2015. His latest book is The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam, published in May by Simon & Schuster. His previous books include The Triumph of the Political Class, The Rise of Political Lying, Why the West is Wrong about Nuclear Iran and The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism.

Imran Mulla has written for The Critic, Conservative Home, Athwart, Panoramic the Magazine and Traversing Tradition among others.

Israel-Palestine war: How US Democrats are fuelling a brutal Israeli revenge on Gaza

Mitchell Plitnick
11 October 2023 

Liberal US politicians' widespread and context-free use of the word 'unprovoked' to describe the attacks from Gaza will only embolden Israel to deploy excessive force against Palestinians

People hold up signs and flags to show their support for Palestinians at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee on 10 October 2023 (Reuters)

The large-scale and surprise attacks on Israel by Palestinian fighters from Gaza on Saturday prompted swift reactions in Washington.

Those responses were virtually uniform in condemning the attacks, which left hundreds of Israelis dead. Yet they were frequently - and incorrectly - labelled “unprovoked”, while affirming Israel’s “right to self-defence”. It was a unified sentiment that spanned the political spectrum.

“Today’s terrorist violence against Israel is a reminder of the evil that motivates Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and their patrons in Tehran,” Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, said in his own statement: “I am appalled at the viciousness of the attack on innocent Israeli civilians.”

For many, the theme that this was an attack motivated by “evil” or viciousness and devoid of any context was prominent.

The Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, said he was “shocked by the barbaric images we are seeing of Hamas’ violence and by reports Hamas is taking innocent Israeli citizens hostage”.

Meanwhile, Democratic representative Jared Moskowitz, asked where innocent Palestinians in Gaza should go when Israel attacks, before callously responding: “That’s something Hamas should have thought of.”
No call for restraint

Rare indeed was any congressional leader expressing concern over the innocent Palestinian lives that were about to be lost in Israel’s response to the Palestinian fighters’ attack.

Democrat Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian woman serving in Congress, said, “I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day,” while identifying the ongoing occupation and apartheid as the root cause of the death and destruction.

Similarly, Democrat Cori Bush said: "I strongly condemn the targeting of civilians and I urge an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation to prevent further loss of life.” Calling for a just peace for everyone in the region, Bush noted that “violations of human rights do not justify more violations of human rights, and a military response will only exacerbate the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis alike".

The West's hypocrisy towards Gaza's breakout is stomach-turning

Read More »

Both women were roundly condemned, most notably by members of their own party, for these statements showing concern for Palestinian lives.

Beyond the declarations of support from members of Congress, President Joe Biden took the first of what is likely to be many steps to support Israel in its declared intention to decimate Gaza. There was no call for restraint or to protect civilian lives, not even when Israel announced that it would cut off all food, water, electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip, a clear act of collective punishment that is certain to lead to many civilian deaths.

Instead, the president immediately threatened any country that might consider helping the Palestinians, saying: “This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The world is watching.”

The implication was clear, and yet if it was not enough, the US announced it was moving an aircraft carrier as well as a guided missile cruiser and four guided missile destroyers into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to support Israel. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also announced that supplies of munitions would be sent to Israel as well, clearly anticipating so large an Israeli operation that it needed even more munitions than it already had.

The administration is somewhat limited in what it can do because the ability to secure any additional funding for Israel is in question due to the absence of a speaker of the House of Representatives, an unprecedented situation that puts all US government funding into unknown territory. Congress must approve all government expenditures, and without a speaker, it is unclear whether the House of Representatives can enact new legislation, which this would require.

Biden, however, does have the full authority over the use of the US military, short of declaring war. And he has made it clear he will do all he can to support Israel’s actions.
Widespread liberal support

There would seem to be little hope of any restraint on Israel from Washington, given the views expressed even by many of the more liberal members of the Democratic Party.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke for most of his party in his statement. “I strongly condemn the violent and ghastly attack by the terrorist organisation Hamas on the Jewish people and the State of Israel," it read.

"The loss of life in Israel as a result of the violent, calculated and unprovoked attack by Hamas is heartbreaking… Congress must stand with Israel until the invasion by Hamas has been crushed and security in southern Israel and throughout the country has been permanently restored.”

Calling it (Palestinian fighters' assault) 'unprovoked' completely removes it from the context of the long-term dispossession of the Palestinian people

That statement is a virtual free pass for massive Israeli action. But note Jeffries’ description of the attack as “unprovoked”. This has been a common talking point, and it is a crucial one.

That the attack by Palestinian fighters was illegal because of the widespread and intentional targeting of civilians, and that it was shocking is undeniable.

But calling it “unprovoked” completely removes it from the context of the long-term dispossession of the Palestinian people and the 16-year siege of Gaza. It erases the conditions of apartheid, which have been growing considerably worse under the current, extremist Israeli government.

And, even in the short term, it ignores Israel’s escalations in Jenin and other Palestinian towns; the increasing impunity it has granted to Jewish settlers as they launched violent attacks on Palestinians; and the most recent incidents of Israel allowing settlers to assert their presence at Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem.

None of that justifies the assaults on civilians this weekend. Attacks on military and security targets, which have gotten much less coverage but were a significant part of the Palestinian fighters' action, are, indeed, legitimate parts of the right to resist a belligerent military occupation.

But, while calling it “unprovoked” also does not change the legality of any subsequent Israeli actions, it does change the public perception of the actions of both the Palestinian fighters and Israel. It increases public outrage and inevitably increases tolerance for excessive force.

'Unprovoked'

Jeffries’ position as a Democratic leader casts a light on the statements of other Democrats, even if they do not use the term “unprovoked”. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, recognised as one of the voices in Congress most critical of Israel, said on X: “I absolutely condemn the horrifying attack on Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. There is no justification for this violence, and innocent people on both sides will suffer hugely because of it.”

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted a very similar statement. Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar, one of the few Muslims in Congress and a prominent critic of Israel, condemned “the horrific acts we are seeing unfold today in Israel against children, women, the elderly and the unarmed people who are being slaughtered and taken hostage by Hamas… We need to call for de-escalation and a ceasefire.”

US Representative Ilhan Omar speaks during a press conference in Washington, DC with family members of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, on 18 May 2023 (AFP)

Other prominent Democratic members of Congress, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Ayanna Pressley, made similar statements condemning the action.

Yet while they also called for renewed efforts at resolving the ongoing crisis or for a ceasefire, even their statements did not specifically call for Israel to restrain itself and avoid harming Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The overarching statements of the more prominent Democrats such as Jeffries, Schumer and others mean that even the more moderate calls for a ceasefire will not only be blunted, but will fuel the perception that Palestinian fighters’ action happened in a vacuum and was “unprovoked”, thus increasing support for what is shaping up to be an unprecedentedly brutal action in Gaza by Israel.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Mitchell Plitnick, a political analyst and writer, is the president of ReThinking Foreign Policy. He is the author, with Marc Lamont Hill, of Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics. Mitchell’s previous positions include vice president at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Director of the US Office of B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and Co-Director of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Israel-Palestine war: Mass slaughter in Gaza lays bare the depth of western racism

Hanine Hassan
12 October 2023 

Support for the brutal, indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza finds its roots in the historical context of western settler-colonialism

A Palestinian girl reacts in the aftermath of a strike amid the conflict with Israel in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 12 October, 2023 (Reuters)

In a stunning turn of events, Palestinian fighters on the weekend launched a devastating offensive against their Israeli occupier, moving through around 80 breaches in the fence surrounding Gaza and targeting more than 20 settlements, towns and villages.

They hit Israeli army bases, killed hundreds of people, and brought dozens of hostages back to Gaza. The developments left western mainstream media and self-proclaimed “Middle East experts” in a state of bewilderment and astonishment.

For years, many western analysts and politicians have dedicated their careers to the complex “Palestinian-Israeli conflict”, bestowing upon us one Orientalist narrative after another, while failing to accurately frame the realities of settler-colonialism.

Today, in the face of the latest developments, they find themselves flabbergasted, struggling to discern the trajectory of events and the potential outcomes. This sudden uncertainty underscores the limitations of the western perspective when it comes to understanding the aspirations of a people subjected to oppression.

The struggle for freedom and liberation appears to be an elusive notion that remains beyond the scope of mainstream western comprehension. And yet, this is a straightforward and simple matter.

The Palestinian fighters' attacks over the weekend have shown remarkable advancements in their combat prowess, intelligence capabilities and strategic coordination. All of this culminated in their ability to thwart one of the region’s strongest armies, which is backed by the US, the world’s most powerful military force.

This was accomplished despite decades of Israeli occupation and a 16-year siege on Gaza, highlighting the power of resistance. And in the days that followed, the true face of western fascism has emerged.

Facade shattered

In an instant, the unprecedented assault by Palestinian fighters against Israel shattered the facade of years of western advocacy for human rights, democracy and a moral high ground in the Middle East. Seemingly overnight, western governments coalesced in support of mass violence against Palestinian civilians, with some even enthusiastically endorsing it.

For decades, western governments have remained silent over footage of bodies of Palestinian children killed at the hands of the Israeli army. Today, they appear to have decided that all Palestinians and their children deserve genocide because Palestinians chose to fight back.

One fundamental question lies at the heart of all this: When will the West stop weaponising and unleashing its racism against the Arab world?

Frantz Fanon’s perspective on decolonisation highlights the complex issue of some combatants committing crimes in the course of anti-colonial resistance.

Fanon, a vigorous supporter of Algeria’s war of independence from France, did not justify such actions, but rather contextualised them against the backdrop of colonialism, psychological factors and the inherent power imbalances at play.

Europeans are well aware of the concept of resistance, having celebrated their own resistance movements in World War II and other historical conflicts. Those who fought such battles are commemorated as heroes in European history books.

There is thus no reason why western politicians, journalists and analysts cannot grasp, let alone empathise with, the Palestinian pursuit of freedom.

Dehumanising the 'Other'

One fundamental question lies at the heart of all this: when will the West stop weaponising and unleashing its racism against the Arab world?

The brutal, indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza, supported by western powers, finds its roots in the historical context of western settler-colonialism. It was not until 2020 that the French handed over to Algiers 24 skulls of Algerian resistance fighters, which had been stored in a Paris museum.

Just a week ago, the Dutch government restored the honour of Curacao’s resistance hero, Tula, more than two centuries after he led a slave revolt and was publicly executed. Earlier this year, the king of the Netherlands apologised for his country’s role in the brutally exploitative slave trade; of course, this is little more than a footnote, as none of the country’s cruel colonial history is reflected in school books.

In 2022, Belgium’s King Philippe reaffirmed his deep regrets over the exploitation, racism and violence that occurred during his country’s colonisation of the Congo, but stopped short of apologising. During Belgian colonial rule, Congolese hands were “systematically amputated” when enslaved Africans failed to meet quotas for extracting rubber; the hands were then preserved so they could be counted and documented.

And until 1990, Britain, France and the US were the toughest defenders of South Africa’s apartheid regime, successfully watering down any proposals from the international community to end the institutionalised system of racial segregation. These are the same countries that today fully support, diplomatically and militarily, the Israeli apartheid regime.

As Edward Said told us, the term “Orient” was created by the West, and the concept of the West itself revolves around the notion of the “Other”. Mobilisations of fear, hatred, disgust, pride and arrogance - much pertaining to Islam and Arabs on one side, and “we” westerners on the other - aim to cover up the deeply ingrained racism within the cultural fabric of settler-colonial societies, as exemplified by Israel.

Furthermore, Europe’s unequivocal backing of the Israeli apartheid regime serves as a reminder that the continent itself has yet to fully address its own racial biases towards colonised peoples.

This has been laid bare over the past several days as western journalists, politicians, academics and analysts have openly expressed their racist, settler-colonial mentality by systemically dehumanising Palestinian victims and glorifying colonial violence against innocent civilians in Gaza.

Israeli flags have been hoisted in western capitals; the US has sent its Ford carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean; and rounds of financial and military assistance have been flying off the counter. Israel is the last settler colony in Asia and Africa, and its survival is crucial to the American and European crusade against the “hordes” of non-European “barbarians” who insist on resisting colonial rule.

While Israel has shed Palestinian blood since its inception, western audiences and governments have been immune to it. The mass slaughter underway in Gaza reflects the underlying racism prevalent in western societies - hatred from which Palestinians want to break free.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.


Hanine Hassan is a fellow at the Palestine Land Studies Center at the American University of Beirut. She tweets @Hanine09

Israel-Palestine war: The blood of Gaza is on the West’s hands as much as Israel’s

Jonathan Cook
11 October 2023

Israel is on the rampage again and Gaza’s population is facing a quiet, slow path to erasure. The ones funding and enabling it are the US and its European allies

Palestinian medics treat children wounded by the Israeli bombing on Gaza at Shifa Hospital, on 9 October 2023 (Reuters)

The bloodiest hand in the current slaughter of Palestinians and Israelis belongs not to Hamas or the Netanyahu government, but to the West.

Yes, Palestinian fighters carried out a brutal attack at the weekend on Israeli settlements on the edge of the Gaza Strip. But this attack did not emerge from nowhere, or without warning. It was not “unprovoked”, as Israel would like us to believe.

In fact, western capitals know exactly how much the Palestinians of Gaza have been provoked, because those same governments have been complicit for decades in supporting Israel as it has ethnically cleansed Palestinians from their homeland and imprisoned the remnants of the population in ghettoes across their homeland.

For the past 16 years, western backing for Israel has not wavered, even as Israel has turned the coastal enclave of Gaza from the world’s largest open-air prison into a gruesome torture chamber, where Palestinians are experimented on.

Their food and power have been rationed, essentials of life denied to them, their access to drinkable water slowly removed, and their hospitals prevented from receiving medical supplies and equipment.

The problem is not ignorance. Western governments have been informed in real-time of the crimes Israel is committing: in confidential cables from their own embassy officials, and in endless reports from human rights groups documenting Israel’s apartheid rule over Palestinians.

And yet western politicians have time and again done nothing to intervene, done nothing to exert meaningful pressure. Worse, they have rewarded Israel with endless military, financial and diplomatic support.
‘Human animals’

The West is no less responsible now as Israel steps up its barbaric treatment of Gaza. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant decided this week to deepen the siege on Gaza by stopping all food and power - a crime against humanity.

He has referred to the enclave’s caged Palestinian population - men, women and children - as “human animals”.

Dehumanisation, as history has proved time and again, is the prelude to ever-greater outrages and horrors.

How has the West responded?

Israel-Palestine war: Why the West is rallying around the last settler colony

Read More »

President Joe Biden has declared - approvingly - that a “long war” is ahead between Israel and Hamas. Washington seems to relish long wars, which always prove a boon to its arms industries and a distraction from domestic troubles.

A US aircraft carrier is on its way. Officials are already preparing to send missiles and bombs that will be used once again to kill Palestinian civilians from the air, as well as ammunition for Israel’s troops to strafe Palestinian communities during the coming ground invasion.

And, of course, there will be plenty of extra funding for Israel - money that can never be found when it is needed by the most vulnerable US citizens.

Those funds will be on top of the nearly $4bn Washington currently sends each year to an Israeli government of self-declared fascists and ethnic supremacists whose express aim is to annex the last remaining fragments of Palestinian territory - as soon as they can get the green light from Washington.

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak does not want to be outdone, as Israel inflicts collective punishment on Gaza’s Palestinians and begins to slaughter them every bit as indiscriminately as Hamas did Israeli partygoers at the weekend.

A giant, illuminated Israeli flag was emblazoned on the facade of the best-known home in Britain: 10 Downing Street, Sunak’s official residence. The prime minister has offered “military assistance” and “intelligence”, presumably to help Israel bomb Gaza’s caged population.

Suffer in silence

The truth is that this moment of catastrophe could never have been reached without western powers indulging, subsidising and providing diplomatic cover for Israel’s brutality towards the Palestinian people, decade after decade.

Without such unstinting support, and without a complicit western media refashioning the land thefts by settlers and the oppression by soldiers as some kind of “humanitarian crisis”, Israel could never have gotten away with its crimes.

It would have been forced to reach a proper accommodation with the Palestinians - not the bogus Oslo accords that were intended only to ensnare the “good” Palestinian leadership into colluding in their own people’s subjugation.

Israel would also have been forced to genuinely normalise with its Arab neighbours, not browbeat them into accepting a Pax Americana in the Middle East.

Instead, Israel has been free to pursue a policy of relentless escalation, sold by the western media as “calm” or “quiet” - until Palestinians try to hit back at their tormentors.

Only then is the term “escalation” used. It is always Palestinians “escalating tensions”. The permanent state of oppression inflicted by Israel can then be safely acknowledged and relabelled as “retaliation”.

Palestinians are expected to suffer in silence. Because when they make a noise, it risks reminding western publics of how bogus, how self-serving western leaders’ appeals to the “rules-based order” truly are.

‘Back to the Stone Age’

Where does this endless indulgence from the West ultimately lead?

Already, Israel is emboldened to make much more explicit its policy towards Gaza’s two million inhabitants. There is a word for that policy, one we are not supposed to use to avoid causing offence to those implementing it, as well as those who quietly support its implementation.

Whether by design or outcome, Israel’s starving of civilians, leaving them with no power, depriving them of clean water, and preventing hospitals from treating the sick and wounded - from treating those Israel has bombed - is a genocidal policy.

The West's hypocrisy towards Gaza's breakout is stomach-turning

Read More »

Western governments know this too. Because Israeli leaders have made no secret of what they are doing.

Fifteen years ago, shortly after Israel instituted its stifling siege on Gaza by land, sea and air, the then deputy defence minister, Matan Vilnai, averred that Israel was ready to carry out a “Shoah” - the Hebrew word for Holocaust - on Gaza. If the Palestinians were to avoid this fate, he said, they must keep quiet at their internment.

Six years later, Ayelet Shaked, who would soon be appointed a senior Israeli minister, declared all Palestinians in Gaza to be “the enemy”, and included “its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure”.

She called on Israel to kill the mothers of Palestinian fighters resisting the occupation so they could not give birth to more “little snakes” - Palestinian children.

During the 2019 general election, Benny Gantz, then leader of the opposition and soon-to-be defence minister, campaigned with a video celebrating his time as head of the Israeli military, when “parts of Gaza were sent back to the Stone Age”.

In 2016, another general, Yair Golan, who at the time was the Israeli military’s second in command, described developments in Israel as echoing the period in Germany leading up to the Holocaust.

When asked to comment on Golan’s remark during an interview this year, retired general Amiram Levin agreed that Israel was becoming more like Nazi Germany. “It hurts, it’s not nice, but that’s the reality.”

Blood of Gaza

Western leaders watched through all this: as Palestinian civilians - half the enclave’s population are children - were kept hungry, were denied drinkable water, were refused electricity, were denied proper medical care, and were repeatedly subjected to horrifying bombardments.

From one side of its mouth, the West pretended to agonise about the legal niceties of “proportionality”. From the other side of its mouth, it cheered Israel on. It spoke of “unbreakable bonds”, of “unquestionable rights”, of “self-defence”.

Western politicians and media expect the Palestinians of Gaza to stay in their torture chamber, bite their lips and suffer in silence so consciences in the West are not disturbed

It echoed figures like Gallant. The Palestinians weren’t humans with agency. They weren’t people striving for their freedom and dignity.

They weren’t a people resisting their occupation and dispossession, as they were fully entitled to do under international law - a right the world celebrates when it comes to Ukrainians.

No, they were either the victims or the supporters of their “terrorist” leaders. As such, they were treated by the West as though they had forfeited any right to be heard, to be valued, to be treated as human.

Western politicians and media expect the Palestinians of Gaza to stay in their torture chamber, bite their lips and suffer in silence so consciences in the West are not disturbed.

It has to be said. Gaza’s population is facing a quiet, slow path to erasure. And the ones funding it, the ones enabling it, are the US and its European allies. Their hands are the ones drenched in the blood of Gaza.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Jonathan Cook is the author of three books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His website and blog can be found at www.jonathan-cook.net

Israel-Palestine war: For the West's press, context is sacrosanct - except when it comes to Palestinians

Mohamad Elmasry
13 October 2023

Media framing of this conflict in the West is all too familiar - Israel is at war, its violence retaliatory and legitimate, with Palestinian violence barbaric and senseless

A member of the Palestinian security forces carries a child wounded by Israeli air strikes into Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, on 11 October 2023 (AFP)

Years ago, I carried out an examination of approximately two years’ worth of New York Times and Chicago Tribune coverage of Israeli and Palestinian killings and deaths.

What I found was unsurprising to anyone familiar with the academic literature, which shows remarkable uniformity.

The newspapers covered Israeli deaths more frequently and prominently than Palestinian deaths, despite there being far more Palestinian deaths during the nearly two-year study period.

The papers were also much more likely to source Israelis, regardless of whether Palestinians, Israelis, or both Palestinians and Israelis had been reported killed on a specific day.

Importantly, both news outlets were highly likely to provide an explicit rationale for Israeli violence, frame Palestinian violence as terrorism, and ignore the larger sociopolitical context that drives the conflict.

Reportage of casualties associated with the most recent outbreak of violence, which began with a surprise attack on Israel by Hamas on 7 October, seems to be following the same script.

Events are still unfolding, and it will be weeks, perhaps months, before scholars are able to examine western news reportage empirically and systematically.

Anecdotal evidence - based on preliminary analyses of articles retrieved in archive databases - suggests that little has changed since I carried out my study on the Times and Tribune.

Context is crucial

Mainstream western news organisations - including The New York Times, CNN, The Guardian, BBC, USA Today and many others - have privileged Israeli perspectives; highlighted Israeli casualties and humanity at the expense of Palestinian casualties and humanity; disregarded Palestinian voices and grievances; and overlooked the broader context of the conflict.

Most obvious, perhaps, is that reports have framed Israeli violence as a retaliatory act of war and all Palestinian violence, including violence directed at the Israeli military, as terrorism.

Several news reports have compared the 7 October Hamas attacks to al-Qaeda’s 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, with numerous outlets using the “Israel’s 9/11” descriptor in headlines.

The implications of this kind of framing are clear: Israel is at war, its violence is retaliatory and legitimate, and Palestinian violence is barbaric and senseless.

The avoidance of context is particularly crucial. A person who exclusively follows mainstream western news might be tempted to conclude that Palestinians are predisposed to violence, that they wake up and decide to kill.

I, like many journalism and media instructors, have often taught students, both Arab and American, the importance of context to the writing of any news story and especially of stories involving layered histories and events.

Without context, I’ve explained, vital meaning can be lost.

Journalistic social responsibility

Interestingly, in delivering lessons about context, I’ve relied almost exclusively on western journalism manuals and scholarly writings. Indeed, the western news tradition deserves credit for ushering in the notion of journalistic social responsibility, which emphasises the absolute necessity of context for understanding.

Given its centrality to the western journalistic tradition, it is peculiar that context is almost completely ignored in mainstream western coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, a point which has been made repeatedly over decades by media scholars. Northwestern University’s Marda Dunsky once argued that the lack of context in US coverage of the conflict represented a type of “bias implicit in the absent”.

Reportage since 7 October has again ignored vital background and context.

For starters, mainstream western reports have made infrequent mention of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, with almost no mention of the fact that the occupation is illegal under international law.

In one database, which houses many hundreds of mainstream western news reports published since 7 October, the occupation was scantily mentioned, and I identified just three references to its illegality.

Also, western coverage has largely sidestepped the daily brutality that the occupation inflicts on Palestinian lives and communities, as well as the grim realities associated with life in Gaza. The strip has been under illegal blockade since 2006, and residents have almost no access to clean drinking water. It has been repeatedly described by Human Rights Watch and other rights groups as the world’s largest "open-air prison".

Recent western news reports have also ignored the inhumane treatment of Palestinian captives, including more than 1,000 Palestinians held without charge in administrative detention.

B’Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights group, has described the treatment of Palestinian detainees as “torture", noting that their treatment is “cruel, inhuman and degrading” and a “blatant violation of international law”.
Subtly legitimising attacks

Even essential context from the past few months has been largely disregarded by most western reporting about ongoing events, despite its direct link to the recent outbreak of violence.

Ignored by western news outlets have been repeated, recent incursions into the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli settlers; the recent crime of Israelis spitting at Palestinian Christian worshippers in occupied East Jerusalem; likely war crimes in the West Bank; illegal Israeli settlement expansion on Palestinian land; Israel’s ongoing programme of illegal demolition of Palestinian homes; a spate of terrorist attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian villages; and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s erasure of Palestine on a new Middle East map presented last month at the United Nations.

That Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing and apartheid against Palestinians is not even a controversial point. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem have each documented the evidence, as have numerous scholars and analysts.

Mainstream western news coverage has generally avoided these key terms, however.

More than anything, perhaps, Palestinian humanity has been downplayed by mainstream western news media.

Although mainstream outlets have produced reports on Israel’s bombings and the Palestinian casualties they have caused, these stories have tended to downplay the severity of the attacks by subtly legitimising them through a heavy reliance on Israeli sources and an overarching "Palestinian terrorism" frame.

More than anything, perhaps, Palestinian humanity has been downplayed by mainstream western news media

For example, a 10 October report published in USA Today used a headline - “Israeli bombing kills hundreds” - that highlighted Palestinian loss of life.

However, the first source cited in the report is the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), mentioned in the report’s second sentence.

The IDF-provided information highlighted the fact that “Hamas militants crashed through a barrier and launched an invasion that saw over 1,000 Israelis killed or kidnapped”.

The first mention of Palestinian casualties comes in the article’s fourth sentence and is sourced by an Israeli lieutenant colonel, who “said the bodies of 1,500 [Palestinian] militants were found around southern Israel”.

Overall, the report relied on four Israeli sources compared with just two Palestinian sources.

Palestinian dehumanisation

Also, consistent with past reporting associated with earlier waves of violence in the conflict, far more emphasis has been placed on Israeli mourning, sadness and fear than Palestinian. When the dust settles on the empirical analyses, there is almost no question that there will be more such images of Israelis than Palestinians, and this will be despite an inevitably far greater Palestinian death toll.

The CNN Instagram account, followed by nearly 20 million people, provides a useful illustration.

Between 7 October and 10 October, CNN’s Instagram ran a total of 23 posts about Israel-Palestine. Nearly all of them were Israel-centric and highlighted either Israeli self-defence, Israeli casualties or Palestinian violence, as the thumbnail headline texts make clear.

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Guiding headline thumbnail texts included: “Horrific scene at town in Israel”; “Hamas militants throw grenade at bomb shelter”; "Reporter takes cover at Israeli airport”; “Video appears to show Israeli woman taken hostage”; “Israeli mother of missing son sends message to Hamas”; “Gaza militants attack music festival, take hostages”; “Festival goer’s harrowing experience running from attack”; “Blinken: US verifying reports of Americans dead and missing in Israel”; “Man says video shows Hamas take his family”; “Rocket lodged in ceiling of Israeli apartment building”; “How Israel’s Iron Dome works”; “Netanyahu says the retaliation in Gaza is just the beginning”; “Iron dome intercepts missile attack”; “Families of missing Americans share last communications”; “Origins of Hamas and its connection to Iran”; and “CNN’s Clarissa Ward takes cover from nearby rockets”.

Only three of CNN’s 23 Instagram posts dealt with Israeli-perpetrated violence in Gaza: “Gaza towers collapse after explosion”; “New explosions seen over Gaza”; and “Israeli airstrike hits refugee camp in Gaza”.

CNN is not alone in delivering this sort of lopsided disparity. Nearly identical news scripts are being followed on mainstream western television networks, newspapers and social media accounts in the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere in the western world.

In the sort of best-case scenario western reports, news consumers are presented with a kind of misguided balance - they are given apparent suggestions that the violence in Israel-Palestine is essentially tit-for-tat.

If the context tells us anything, however, there is nothing tit-for-tat about this conflict.

There is an occupier and an occupied. There is an apartheid state, on the one hand, and a stateless people, on the other. There is an ethnic cleanser and a people being ethnically cleansed. There is a clear aggressor and a clear victim.

Here’s to hoping that mainstream western journalism someday gets it right. Palestinian humanity is depending on it.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Mohamad Elmasry is Professor of Media Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

Israel-Palestine war: The West can no longer ignore Gaza's humanity

Mohammad Abu Rumman
14 October 2023 

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced from their homes amid the merciless Israeli bombing campaign

A man reacts as he holds the wrapped body of a child about to be buried at a cemetery in Khan Younis, Gaza, on 11 October 2023, after a family was killed in an Israeli air strike (AFP)

Absent from the Israeli and US discourse today are any moral or humanitarian standards for dealing with the people of the besieged Gaza Strip.

As Israel's Netanyahu government declared members of the Palestinian resistance to be "human animals", many western governments gave Israel a green light to carry out brutal massacres and the war of extermination that is now underway.

The West has turned a blind eye to these humanitarian atrocities, which have included cutting off electricity and water to more than two million people.

This is a blatant affirmation that western governments do not see Palestinians as human beings, nor even as animals; they are viewed as something else, perhaps less, and this distinction extends even to children, women, the elderly and the ill.

The Israeli narrative has spread across the West with extreme ease, successfully demonising Hamas as an extension of the Islamic State. Israeli and US officials have drawn comparisons to 9/11, which have been enthusiastically picked up by the western media machine.

But true terrorism, in its most powerful form, has instead been evident in what the occupation army is doing to Palestinians, under cover of western support.

Another major humanitarian disaster is at hand, as the Israeli military strategy aims to create terror in the hearts of Gaza's people through large-scale, indiscriminate bombing. The assault aims to displace the majority of the population and eliminate Hamas's paramilitary wing, the Qassam Brigades.
Two options

The violent bombardment of Gaza has involved the levelling of entire neighbourhoods, with more than 1,800 people killed by Saturday morning and thousands more wounded so far. In Israel, the number of people killed following the Hamas incursion has surpassed 1,300.

Some people in Gaza have been trapped under the rubble, while others have been killed directly in Israeli air strikes. The Israeli army is trying to ensure resistance will be at its lowest when the ground invasion begins.

The residents of Gaza are now left with two options: the first is to remain at the mercy of Israel's killing, bombing and extermination, alongside their families and children, and passively watch death come. This would make the mission of Israeli troops on the ground more difficult, although the world should be under no illusions about the extent of Israeli brutality.

Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage for the latest on the Israel-Palestine war

The second option is for them to take refuge in any other place that will accept them, and try to save their families from this horrific and merciless slaughter.

In contrast to the Israeli perspective that sees the people of Gaza as "human animals", there is another perspective, by which Palestinians are viewed as extraordinary beings with exceptional resilience - people without fear, anxiety or panic over what is descending upon them from the skies. Neither is true.


In reality, there is no refuge or escape; the borders are all closed and Egypt has refused to be a part of Israel's depopulation strategy

And yet, many people view with detachment the unfolding events, observing coldly that the people of Gaza are culpable for what's to come because they are refusing to leave their homes.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have already been displaced in this war as their homes have been razed, and more are fleeing as Israel's ground invasion looms. Others are vowing to stay in their homes, defying an Israeli evacuation order across the north.

In reality, there is no refuge or escape; the borders are all closed and Egypt has refused to be a part of Israel's depopulation strategy.

Regardless, as Israel's barbaric onslaught intensifies, the numbers of those leaving their homes and neighbourhoods could be on track to spike significantly, and the future for the Palestinian population is becoming increasingly unclear.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Mohammad Abu Rumman is Associate professor of politics at the University of Jordan and an academic advisor at the Politics and Society institute.

Israel-Palestine war: Thousands gather in London to denounce Gaza bombardment

In face of warnings, large demonstration expresses solidarity with the Palestinians who are facing an eighth day of siege and air strikes

Thousand of protesters with placards and Palestinian flags take part in a "March For Palestine" in London on 14 October 2023 (MEE/Hossam Sarhan)

By Areeb Ullah in London
Published date: 14 October 2023 

Thousands of protesters poured onto the streets of central London on Saturday to demand that Israel halt its bombing campaign and siege of the Gaza Strip as it prepares for a possible ground invasion of the tiny Palestinian enclave.

Undeterred by warnings against waving the Palestinian flag, the protesters gathered outside the BBC's New Broadcasting House to denounce what they called "Israeli agression", as air strikes pounded the Gaza Strip for an eighth successive day.

Earlier on Saturday, the exterior of BBC studios in London was sprayed with red paint in protest against the channel's coverage of the conflict. Middle East Eye contacted the BBC for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.

At the rally - organised by Friends of Al-Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and other groups - pro-Palestinian protesters could be heard chanting "Israel is a terrorist state" and "free Palestine" as they moved from Regent Street, one of London's main shopping thoroughfares, towards Westminster.

More than 1,000 police were deployed ahead of the protest, with the Metropolitan police warning that anyone showing support for Hamas, a group proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK, or deviating from the protest route could face arrest.

Many of the protesters MEE spoke to wore masks to conceal their identity, while police could be seen questioning some wearing bandanas and saying that only surgical masks "would be acceptable".

Tracy Adams, a student at a London University, said she chose to cover her face as she's living in the UK on a student visa.

"I'm here because the UK is justifying and supporting war crimes, which could lead to the death of thousands," Adams told MEE.

Thousands of protesters gather in central London for the "March For Palestine" on 14 October 2023 (MEE/Hossam Sarhan)

Israel has been bombing the densely populated Gaza Strip since last Saturday, when Palestinian fighters launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 1,300 Israelis and taking scores more hostage.

The ensuing bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 2,215 Palestinians, with a large majority of them women and children.

Follow our live blog for all the latest on the Israel-Palestine war

On Thursday, the Israeli army ordered around 1.1 million Palestinians in north Gaza to head south and offered no guarantee of their return.

Palestinians have decried the bombing campaign as a "second Nakba", with many saying they would not leave their land.

The Nakba, or "catastrophe" as it is known in English, refers to the ethnic cleansing by Zionist militia of some 750,000 Palestinians from their lands and homes in historic Palestine to make way for the creation of Israel in 1948.

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Since issuing the order, many of the Palestinians who fled to the south have found no reprieve from Israel's bombardment, with warplanes striking a four-storey building on Saturday, killing and wounding several people.

Since 7 October, Israel has also declared a "complete siege" of the enclave, cutting off water, food and power supplies.

The London protest came as the UK government faces sustained criticism from anti-war groups for offering robust support for Israel, a position that has also faced a backlash from some former British diplomats.

"I find the British government's knee-jerk endorsement of everything that Israel does obscene and a departure from previous stances in which we have sought some fairness in these dreadful situations," Sir Richard Dalton, a former UK ambassador to Iran and Libya, told Times Radio.

A protester named Sanj told MEE that she attended Saturday's rally because she couldn't witness the UK government support what she called a "genocide" in Gaza.

"Neither the government nor the opposition has made any kind of firm stance against the atrocities that Israel's committing on Gaza," said Sanj.

"And it's so empowering for so many people coming out and saying they refuse to stand by."

Labour councillors resign

On Friday, two councillors resigned from the opposition Labour Party over Sir Keir Starmer's position on the conflict.

Shaista Aziz and Amar Latif, who both sit on Oxford City Council, said they left the party because the Labour leader was "seeming to condone the collective punishment against the people of Gaza".

Speaking to LBC earlier this week, Starmer said Israel "does have that right" to withhold power and water from Palestinian civilians, though "everything should be done within international law".

Starmer, however, did not elaborate on how collective-punishment methods, such as the withdrawal of water supplies to a large urban area, could be done within international law.

The use of starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited under customary international law.

In their resignation statement, the councillors said they "stand in solidarity with the people of Israel and Palestine and call for an end to violence and the humanitarian crisis".

UK
Tory MP claims Rishi Sunak ‘complicit in war crimes’ – due to support for Israel

Crispin Blunt and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians have warned Rishi Sunak he could soon face prosecution.

 by Tom Head
2023-10-14 
in Politics



A long-serving Conservative MP has warned Rishi Sunak and his Cabinet colleagues that they could be prosecuted for ‘aiding and abetting war crimes’, after the UK government pledged its support to Israel during the ongoing conflict with Palestine.
Rishi Sunak warned he could be prosecuted for Israel support

Crispin Blunt, who also serves as a Director for the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), has accused the PM of knowingly supporting Israel in allegedly ‘committing serious breaches of international criminal law’. The politician hasn’t held back in his summary:

“We put the UK Government on notice that we intend to bring legal proceedings against politicians… where there is evidence that they have aided, abetted or in any other way supported, encouraged or provided material assistance in the commission of a war crime.”

“Actions taken by Israel have already been reported as constituting serious breaches of international criminal law. Information the UK Government receives about Israel’s preparatory steps and imminent actions must be viewed in this context.”

“This also includes the UK’s knowledge of Israel’s actions which, despite already being assessed as severely harming civilians and constituting international crimes, continue and with each new step harm further civilians and constitute further war crimes.” | Crispin Blunt
Israel accused of ‘war crimes’ by Tory MP

After Hamas militants stormed into Israel and murdered civilians last weekend, all hell has broke loose on the contested land. A full-scale war has been declared by the Israeli government, and they have begun a campaign of aerial bombardment against the Palestinian state.

However, Israel’s reaction has – in some quarters – been labelled ‘excessive’. The levelling of housing blocks and ‘difficult’ evacuation orders have been picked apart by critics, including Mr. Blunt. The letter also compels Rishi Sunak and senior government figures to take the following steps:Issue a public statement condemning Israeli breaches of international law.

Ask each Government official that has encouraged war crimes in Gaza to rescind their statements in public.

Insist Israel complies unequivocally with international law.

Immediately act to safeguard civilians in Gaza.

Call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of life.

Calls for an immediate end to the siege to allow the secure the access of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Pro-Palestine group vows to take evidence to Scotland Yard

The conflict continues to rage on, with hundreds confirmed dead following a military operation in Gaza overnight. The ICJP has, at least, extended an olive branch to Rishi Sunak, and they are open to discussions with the Prime Minister.

However, should their offer be rebuffed, the group is prepared a long and arduous round of litigation

“ICJP will welcome any dialogue with the Prime Minister to help alert him to the legal peril his apparent unqualified support to the policy of the Government of Israel placed him and his fellow ministers, and we invite the earliest response from the Attorney General.”

“We have passed a copy of this letter to Scotland Yard’s War Crimes Unit who have requested evidence in relation to terrorism and war crimes in the region. We will continue to assist with gathering evidence in relation to the contents of this letter.” | ICJP

Israel-Palestine war: UK leaders are paving the way for ethnic cleansing in Gaza

Peter Oborne
12 October 2023 

Responses from Starmer, Sunak, Braverman and others are especially reckless because of the horrifying language already being used by senior Israelis

British Labour leader Keir Starmer is pictured in Liverpool, on 11 October 2023 (AFP)

In moments of crisis, it’s the job of a statesman to resolve problems, not inflame them. It’s their job to show wisdom, to ignore popular clamour, to remind all parties of their obligations under international law, to emphasise our common humanity, and to look for long-term solutions that avoid a return to past horrors.

Statesmanship has been utterly lacking in Britain ever since Hamas broke out of Gaza last week.

Let’s look at the shocking display from Labour leader Keir Starmer on LBC radio on Wednesday. He said that Israel had the “right to defend itself” against the Hamas attack. Then Starmer went a step further when asked about Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s grim announcement of a “complete siege” of Gaza, in which Gallant said: “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed” - adding for good measure that Israel was fighting “human animals”.

Asked whether cutting off water and electricity supplies was a proportionate response to the Hamas attacks, Starmer said: “I think that Israel does have that right. It is an ongoing situation, obviously everything should be done within international law.”

But Starmer of all people, with his distinguished legal background, must know that depriving a population of food, power and electricity amounts to collective punishment, which is illegal under international law.

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There’s a terrible risk here. These remarks from a man seen as the British prime minister-in-waiting have given a green light for future war crimes.
'Unequivocal' support

To be fair to Starmer, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been no better. After the Palestinian fighters attack, he went on television to express support for Israel. Then he went on to note that this support was “unequivocal”, which amounts to a blank cheque from Britain to Israel to conduct itself in any way it chooses over the terrifying weeks ahead.

We have seen humane and responsible talk from leaders of international organisations. In a statement on Tuesday, Martin Griffiths, under-secretary general at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said: “My message to all sides is unequivocal: The laws of war must be upheld. Those held captive must be treated humanely. Hostages must be released without delay.

Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage for all the latest on the Israel-Palestine war

"Throughout hostilities, civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected. Civilians must be allowed to leave for safer areas. And humanitarian relief and vital services and supplies to Gaza must not be blocked. The whole region is at a tipping point. The violence must stop.”

But from Sunak, we had no mention of human rights, let alone the type of call for proportionality that we heard from Irish leader Leo Varadkar, who warned that current solidarity could “fall apart” if Israel goes “too far in terms of its actions in Gaza”.

Meanwhile, British Home Secretary Suella Braverman is doing her best to inflame domestic tensions by suggesting that waving a Palestinian flag could become a criminal offence.
Apocalyptic talk

The responses from Starmer, Sunak, Braverman, and others are especially reckless because of the horrifying language already being used by senior Israelis.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel’s response will “change the Middle East”. Gallant said that Gaza “will never go back to what it was”. A former Israeli general said that Israel “must create an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in Gaza”, adding that the “ultimate tool” was damage to the water system.

This is apocalyptic talk. Israel's right to self-defence does not extend to the wiping out of entire neighbourhoods, medieval siege, random slaughter of children, or damaging water supplies. Yet western leaders are going along with all of this.

Israel-Palestine war: The blood of Gaza is on the West’s hands as much as Israel’s

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Some commentators have compared the Hamas assault to 9/11. To my mind, this makes little sense. But I am troubled by the memory of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s promise to former US President George W Bush to “be with you, whatever” in the wake of the destruction of the Twin Towers. In the end, that vow of loyalty led to the bloodshed and horror of the Iraq War and its awful aftermath.

Meanwhile, the bombing in Gaza continues. Some 300,000 people are already in the streets after the destruction of their homes, and the Israeli military has only just begun. The ground invasion could start at any moment. Who knows how many will die.

Some now speak of a second Nakba - only this time, even worse than the tragedy of 1948, with millions of Palestinians potentially being driven from their homes.

In a heartrending tweet on Wednesday, Palestinian playwright Samah Sabawi noted: “I told my family in #Gaza to get out when I heard reports the US is coordinating a plan to offer safe passage for civilians out of Gaza into Egypt. My aunty said ‘Do you guarantee we would be allowed to return?’ I couldn’t. I know ethnic cleansing when I see it. She refuses to leave. Death or eternal refugeehood. What would you choose?”

I pray that I am wrong, but I fear western leaders are now establishing the political foundation that would leave us complicit in massacres, indiscriminate bombing, and ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, inflammatory and reckless media reporting is establishing the emotional foundation. Never has the time for statesmanship been more needed.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.


Peter Oborne won best commentary/blogging in both 2022 and 2017, and was also named freelancer of the year in 2016 at the Drum Online Media Awards for articles he wrote for Middle East Eye. He was also named as British Press Awards Columnist of the Year in 2013. He resigned as chief political columnist of the Daily Telegraph in 2015. His latest book is The Fate of Abraham: Why the West is Wrong about Islam, published in May by Simon & Schuster. His previous books include The Triumph of the Political Class, The Rise of Political Lying, Why the West is Wrong about Nuclear Iran and The Assault on Truth: Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and the Emergence of a New Moral Barbarism.