59. India’s dilemma: when friends clash
Israel is a friend of India, but Palestine is also a friend. When your two friends are fighting, you're stuck between them. What should you say?
And we Indians are facing the same situation.
Seeing children cry for food and hospitals being bombed is horrifying. The dying people are our own, and the pilot who is dropping the bomb is also a friend.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, has placed us in a really terrible situation.
But we cannot blame him because when we see the October 7, 2023, images of Hamas attacking, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, another image immediately flashes in our mind – the April 22 deadly terrorist attack at Pahalgam targeting Hindu tourists, which resulted in 26 deaths, carried out by terrorist group The Resistance Front (TRF).
And all the logical factors fail to succeed. We remain at the crossroads. Since our blood is boiling even after a successful Operation Sindoor, we can only imagine how an Israeli citizen must be feeling.
There is a fine line between a terrorist and a nationalist. The same individual can seem like a nationalist to their own people and as a terrorist to their opponents. So, this isn't the time to argue about the bloodied history but to end this war. That has to be the top priority.
There was an article by our former Super Prime Minister in a newspaper where she criticized our foreign policy. As is common practice, articles written by such personalities are penned by others. So, she may be excused.
I believe the government has been managing it effectively, and both parties Israel and Palestinians - are aware of our constraints.
Even some known allies of Israel, like the UK, Canada, and Australia, have formally announced their recognition of the state of Palestine. Portugal also declared that it supports the two-state solution. A total of 147 UN countries have recognized it.
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said: “In the face of the growing horrors in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution. That means a safe and secure Israel, alongside a viable Palestinian state. At the moment, we have neither.”
Now, on the front, Israeli troops have pressed ahead with a ground offensive into Gaza City, making further efforts to force more people to flee their homes and travel to the south of the devastated territory.
The UN Human Rights Commission’s report concluded that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. Israel’s foreign ministry categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as “distorted and false.”
To my knowledge, Senator Bernie Sanders is the only U.S. senator who has strongly stated that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. “Over the last two years, Israel has not simply defended itself against Hamas; instead, it has waged an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people. We, as Americans, must end our complicity in the slaughter of the Palestinian people. We must use every ounce of our leverage to demand an immediate ceasefire, a massive surge of humanitarian aid facilitated by the UN, and initial steps to provide Palestinians with a state of their own,” Sanders said.
Sanders has warned the global community, “The very term genocide is a reminder of what can happen if we fail. That word emerged from the Holocaust – the murder of 6 million Jews – one of the darkest chapters in human history. Make no mistake. If there is no accountability for Netanyahu and his fellow war criminals, other demagogues will do the same.”
Official records state that at least 65,000 Palestinians have been killed and 164,000 wounded out of a population of 2.2 million. The Israeli military database also indicates that 83% of those killed were civilians.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has called Palestinians “human animals.”
However, to people on the streets of any city in any country, ethnic cleansing is happening in Gaza, and the United States is involved. They are unable to understand why Trump administration has backed Israeli actions. They feel that if the US really aspires to be the policeman of the world, it should demand an immediate ceasefire.
The EU has called for a suspension of free trade with Israel as the European Commission faced intense pressure for greater action amid criticism that it was not using its economic leverage to influence the Israeli government.
Sadiq Khan mayor of London said, “When I see the images of the children starving – 20,000 children have starved because of the policies of the Israeli government – when I see the health system in Gaza collapsed, when I see the lack of supplies reaching people in need, when I see the famine that is manmade, when I read the interim judgment of the ICJ, and then see a UN commission report, I think it’s inescapable to draw the conclusion in Gaza we are seeing before our very eyes a genocide.”
The opposition to Israel’s action became fully evident when many delegates at the UNGA walked out in protest as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu took the stage. Listening to his speech, it is clear that Netanyahu intended to send the message that Israel is not interested in peace with the Palestinians.
The reactions came as—
Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, said, “It was heartbreaking to see how isolated Israelis are internationally. ... It showed the huge gap between Israel and the rest of the world and between the Jewish world and the rest of the world. But this is the biggest mistake that Netanyahu makes because the consensus today behind a Palestinian state is growing, and there is international determination behind it, so it is only stressing how far away we are from the international community.”
The Irish PM Michael Martin said, “We are witnessing hunger being used as an instrument of war. Babies are starving to death while aid rots at the border. People were shot while desperately seeking food for their families. The deliberate targeting and destruction of schools, hospitals, mosques, and cultural institutions.”
A new survey found that 62 percent of German voters believe Israeli actions in Gaza amount to genocide. Over 100,000 people, organized by a coalition of about 50 groups, gathered in Berlin to protest Germany's support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. They called for an immediate stop to German arms exports to Israel, access to humanitarian aid in Gaza, and EU sanctions against Israel.
After reviewing the current situation, I am now sharing what Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, and Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine, said at the UNGA, because that clarifies their respective plans and views -
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, holding up a poster titled “The Curse,” said it illustrates “the curse of Iran’s terror axis. This axis threatened the peace of the entire world, the stability of our region, and the very existence of my country, Israel.”
Iran was developing massive nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes, meant not only to destroy Israel but to threaten the United States and blackmail nations everywhere. Attacks by Iran’s forces against Israel launched from Gaza on 7 October 2023, and those that followed from Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, over the past year, my country has hammered the Houthis, crushed the bulk of Hamas’ terror machine, crippled Hizbullah, destroyed Assad’s armaments in Syria, and deterred Iran’s Shi’ite militias in Iraq.
Most importantly, Israel has devastated Iran’s atomic weapons and ballistic missile programmes, he said.
(Recalling “Israel’s 12-day war in Iran”, he thanked “President [Donald J.] Trump for his bold and decisive action” with Israel to deliver on “the promise of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons”.)
We removed an existential threat to Israel and a mortal threat to the civilized world. We must not allow Iran to rebuild its military nuclear capacities. Tomorrow, UN Security Council sanctions on Iran must be snapped back.
However, the final remnants of Hamas remain in Gaza City, and they vow to repeat the atrocities of 7 October 2023. I lament that much of the world no longer remembers 7 October 2023.
(Addressing Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza, he said: “We have not forgotten you. The people of Israel are with you. We will not rest; we will not falter until we bring all of you home.”)
My words are also being streamed live to the cell phones of Gazans. (He addressed Hamas’ leaders, declaring: “Lay down your arms. Let my people go. Free the hostages — all of them, the whole 48. Free the hostages now!” He warned: “If you do, you will live. If you don’t, Israel will hunt you down. If Hamas agrees to our demands, the war could end right now”.)
Gaza would be demilitarized, Israel would retain overriding security control, and a peaceful civilian authority would be established by Gazans and others committed to peace with Israel.
“Our enemies are your enemies”, he voiced appreciation for President Trump’s administration, which is “forcefully fighting the scourge of antisemitism”.
However, others “reward the worst antisemites on Earth”, he said, recalling that this week the leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and others unconditionally recognized a Palestinian State.
Peace is possible between Israel and countries in the region, he said, encouraging their cooperation with Israel, which would bring them benefits in medicine, science, defence, and other fields.
In the coming years, the Middle East will look dramatically different. I hope that brave peacemakers will today replace those who waged war in Israel and who will then be gone.
Now, Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine
“I speak to you today after almost two years in which our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip have been facing a war of genocide, destruction, starvation, and displacement. That genocide has been waged by the Israeli occupation forces, in which they killed and injured more than 220,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are unarmed children, women, and the elderly. These crimes will be recorded in the pages of international conscience as one of the most horrific chapters of humanitarian tragedy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
We reject and completely deplore a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a greater Israel. That involves expanding into sovereign Arab States in addition to the brutal attack against the sisterly State of Qatar.
(He drew attention to the increasing “terrorism of settlers”, as they “burn homes and fields, they uproot trees and attack villages, and attack unarmed Palestinian civilians,” adding: “In fact, they kill them in broad daylight under the protection of the Israeli occupation army.”)
Despite all what our people have suffered, we reject what Hamas carried out on the seventh of October 2023. The targeting and hostage taking of Israeli citizens does not represent the Palestinian people, nor their just struggle for freedom and independence. The Gaza Strip is an integral part of the State of Palestine, and we are prepared to assume complete responsibility for governance and security within it. Hamas will not have a role to play in governance and will have to hand over their weapons to the Palestinian national authority. We reiterate: we do not want an armed State.
My authority had recognized Israel’s right to exist as early as 1988 and again in 1993. We underscored that they rejected violence and terrorism and adopted a culture of peace, but Israel did not adhere to the signed agreements. I thank people and organizations around the world who protested in support of the rights of the Palestinian people. We reject confusing the solidarity with the Palestinian cause and the issue of antisemitism, which is something that we reject.
(He called for an immediate and permanent end to the war in Gaza, the entry of humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages and prisoners on both sides, the complete withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip, and the guarantee that residents of Gaza will remain on their lands without displacement. His party is ready to work with the United States, Saudi Arabia, France, and the UN to implement the New York Declaration.)
We want a modern and democratic State that abides by international law, the rule of law, multilateralism, and the peaceful transition of power,” he said, indicating readiness to conduct elections within a year after the end of the war.
No matter how much our wounds bleed, and no matter how long this suffering lasts, it will not break our will to live and survive. The dawn of freedom will emerge, and the flag of Palestine will fly high in our skies.”
I believe that the real battle centers on history, which has long been a key component of the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Neither side will abandon its claim over it. It is a cursed land, and the fight will never end.
Netanyahu is seeking to bolster the historical case for total Israeli control of Jerusalem, rather than a divided city that would emerge out of any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. He has dedicated his political career to preventing the creation of a Palestinian state, and he knows that allies with a controlling stake in a US administration would back extensive Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
I believe that if somehow the present crisis comes to an end, I am still afraid to say that the struggling Palestinians will not remain silent for long. And October 7 might happen again.
The big question is, how long will history keep repeating itself?