Is Israel completely wrong, not at all wrong, a little bit wrong?
Is Hamas completely wrong, not wrong at all, a little wrong?
We could discuss this until the next ice age.
Facts
Two fundamental aspects remain hidden in this tragedy.
The first is the extraordinary hypocrisy of the Arab regimes.
The second reason is the outrage of many Westerners about variable geometry.
In 1948, Ben Gurion announced the birth of Israel. Seven Arab armies immediately attacked the young state.
Out of solidarity with the Palestinians, out of anti-Semitism, to prevent American influence, to rally their own people around their respective regimes, etc.
Israel wins, and from then on, although the fate of the Palestinians is once again under attack by several of these countries, their priority is no longer – in fact, never was – the case.
The more years pass, the more the only concern of these authoritarian regimes will be their own survival and retention of power.
Gradually, several will normalize their relations with the United States and Israel, sometimes even signing trade and political agreements.
The billions received will hardly reach the miserable population. They are used to consolidate their oppressive apparatuses in order to stay in power.
“Solidarity” with the Palestinians is ritually invoked, like a cassette tape, but little more.
Some like to point out that Israel receives billions from the United States. TRUE.
The Arab petromonarchies prefer to spend billions buying football clubs in Europe or building luxurious cities in the desert.
The Palestinians? From time to time we send them a few boxes of food, books or medicine.
We call on Europe without batting an eyelid to take in all these migrants fleeing the Middle East, but we hardly call on Arab regimes to welcome their Palestinian “brothers”.
Today, when a Palestinian falls under an Israeli bullet, we are moved. For good reason.
But if Palestinians fall under Arab bullets or kill each other, where is the outrage of good souls in the West?
Where was the outrage when the Syrian butcher Assad cut off water, electricity and food supplies to the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp for two years?
Where was the outrage when the Lebanese army, angered by the Islamists’ destabilization of its territory, razed the Palestinian refugee camp Nahr al-Bared to the ground in 2007?
No or almost no outrage, including in 2005, when the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas killed each other to gain power after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza?
Zero outrage also at the proven fact that the leader of Hamas lives comfortably in Qatar and, like other leaders of the movement, has become a millionaire by imposing a 20% tax on all goods entering Gaza?
- Listen to Richard Martineau’s column on QUB radio :
Betrayed
Israel certainly has its faults. But Israel, the sole responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians?
No, it’s much more complicated. These people are also betrayed and manipulated by their own leaders and the regimes in the region that claim to be united.
