COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle
They “will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America”.
— Donald J Trump about the people of Gaza and their defenders.
“Western justifications for their barbarism is well-established — after all, genocide is a Western liberal value.”
— Professor Joseph Massad
New Zealand, Australia and the rest “are aiding a regime that is starving people, they are aiding a regime that is preventing children from having anaesthetics in an operating theatre.”
— Professor Mohammad Marandi
What is the response from our leaders to this genocidal menace to Palestine by Trump? What does it mean for us as people of the West?
What would it say about us if he made good on the threat and we did nothing? Below are some harsh assessments from the frontlines about us that we should pay careful attention to.
First, weigh Trump’s words in your mind. Israeli leaders were thrilled when Trump pledged that there would be “hell to pay” unless the 100 hostages held in the Gaza Strip were released ahead of his January 20 inauguration. There was no mention of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners and hostages, including children, held in captivity by Israel.
- READ MORE: Trump to worsen our plight: Palestinian, Lebanese victims of Israel’s wars
- Other Israel’s war on Gaza reports
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said the Israeli hostages had to be freed by the time he was sworn in or “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.”
Harder than the US genocide of native Americans? Harder than the unspeakable horrors of American slavery? Hit harder than the victims of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Harder than the three million civilians killed by the US terror bombing of North Korea?
Harder than the years of napalm, B52 bombers, mass rapes and other large-scale US war crimes that stole millions of lives in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos? Harder than the US death squads in Central America, Afghanistan and Iraq? Yes, it is a long and storied history.
Something worse than genocide?
And now Republican Trump threatens something worse than the genocide that Democrat America and Israel are already inflicting on the Palestinian people. Who else will be targeted is unclear.
When Trump tweeted those threats, not a single political leader in a Western country uttered a syllable of censure.
Ali Abunimah of electronic intifada asked a very pertinent question when interviewing Columbia University professor Joseph Massad this week, “Were you surprised by the scale of the atrocities Israel was willing to commit or by the seemingly limitless Western support?”
“I was surprised by the scale of the genocide but not by the Western support it has received,” Massad replied.
Then Ali Abunimah said something really interesting: “If I think about my own reaction, I was not surprised by what Israel was capable of but I must have naively thought there was a limit to what the West would tolerate. It turns out there is no limit to what they will tolerate.”
The words should strike our eardrums like thunder claps. They are, I believe,
both shocking and undeniable. Trump will simply force us to face the demon in the mirror.
Professor Massad: “Western justifications for their barbarism is well-established — after all, genocide is a Western liberal value. I believe Israel is sincere when it says it abides by Western liberal values: one of which is genocide, one of which is settler colonialism, one of which is racism and contempt for its racial inferiors.”
Arrest warrants ‘a huge moment’
Another voice of judgment on the conduct of our Western governments, our Western culture, is professor Mohammad Seyed Marandi of Tehran University: Marandi says the issuing of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant was a huge moment, especially
for anyone who took the time to read them.
According to the International Criminal Court they bear criminal responsibility for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.
“This is the sort of barbarism that Canada and New Zealand are supporting,” Marandi says. “They are aiding a regime that is starving people, they are aiding a regime that is preventing children from having anaesthetics in an operating theatre. That is the reality of New Zealand. That is the reality of Australia. That is the reality of Canada, Norway and Sweden.
“It’s why ‘Western values’, ‘Western civilisation’ all become meaningless in the eyes of the international community.”
Many Western governments supply weapons and bombs to support the genocide.
Others like New Zealand and Australia send troops to attack Yemen to relieve the Houthi blockade of Israel, share intelligence, including targeting data, welcome Israeli diplomats but refuse to recognize Palestine, provide political cover at the UN and elsewhere,
refuse to boycott, divest or inflict sanctions on Israel, train with their army and deny the truth of what is happening.
On November 22, New Zealand designated Hezbollah as a “terrorist entity”; this after the terror bombing of Lebanon by Israel that has killed over 3000 civilians, maimed tens of thousands and destroyed the homes of hundreds of thousands. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is confused as to who should be labelled terrorists.
The repudiation of the ICC warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant by Germany, France, the US and other Western governments was really just putting yet another bullet into the rotten carcass of Western credibility; the rest of the world knows international law was designed to go after Muslims, Africans and Slavs, not the white rulers of the West.
Immoral and disproportionate
The Pope said last month’s Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon have been immoral
and disproportionate and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war.
Amnesty International has just released a 300-page report stating that its research has found sufficient basis to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.
The UN’s report “Genocide as colonial erasure” documents the vastness of the inhumanity being meted out to the Palestinian people by our friends and allies.
When governments fail to clear the lowest bars of moral conduct, history demands that populations take action – that citizens don’t look away but step up and do everything it takes to force fundamental change, respect for human rights and international law. This is a time for activism not indifference or “tuning out”.
Professor Marandi lays down the gauntlet to citizens of the West, saying what in our hearts we know about our own governments:
“They will allow the extermination of the people of Gaza. And then if the Israelis go after the West Bank, they will allow for that to happen as well. Under no circumstances do I see the West blocking extermination,” Marandi says.
How will you personally respond?
I will give the last word to Aaron Bushnell, the young US serviceman who
self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington in February to protest at the US and Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza. His last words on this Earth, as the fire consumed him, were: “Free Palestine!”
Earlier that day, Aaron posted this on X as he set up the livestream:
“Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or Apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”
Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He hosts the public policy platform solidarity.co.nz
