[News] The West’s hypocrisy is a bottomless pit for Palestinians

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeastmonitor.com
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241020-the-wests-hypocrisy-is-a-bottomless-pit-for-palestinians/>
The West’s hypocrisy is a bottomless pit for Palestinians
Middle East Monitor
October 20, 2024 - Ramona Wadi
------------------------------

At the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu asserted a war against Hamas. After killing 42,500 civilians,
displacing the entirety of Gaza’s population and killing prominent Hamas
leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar, Netanyahu took to
his colonial podium again to remind the world that the “war” is not over.
Because, according to Zionist colonial logic, genocide can only be over
when no Palestinians are left in Gaza.

Israel’s allies in the West hailed Sinwar’s death. Take Australian Prime
Minister Anthony Albanese, for example, who described
<https://x.com/AlboMP/status/1847032843853001108> Sinwar as “an enemy of
the Israeli people and an enemy of peace-loving people anywhere”. Hamas
never internationalised its resistance – it continuously maintained that
its anti-colonial resistance is contained against Israel – a right under
international law – so why is Albanese attempting to make Sinwar’s
assassination relevant to people outside of Palestine? To score points in
favour of Israel’s genocide from those already supporting it? The people
who understand legitimate anti-colonial resistance will not be swayed, and
if international law was truly upheld, there would be no space for Albanese
comments, and neither for Israel. For let us remember that the UN declared
itself committed to eradicating colonialism, but failed to keep its word.

European leaders
<https://www.politico.eu/article/yahya-sinwar-death-hamas-european-leaders-reactions-war-in-gaza-ursula-von-der-leyen-charles-michel-emmanuel-macron-annalena-baerbock/>
did not fare any better. European Council President Charles Michel blamed
Hamas for the Palestinian people’s suffering throughout the genocide.
French President Emmanuel Macron described Sinwar’s killing as a turning
point. “We should seize this opportunity to free hostages and to end the
war,” he stated after the European Council’s summit. German Foreign
Minister Annalena Baerbock described Sinwar as causing “immeasurable
suffering across an entire region”. EU Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen, who kept silent throughout the ongoing Israeli slaughter of
Palestinians in Gaza apart from maintaining her pro-genocidal and
pro-colonial stance, described Sinwar’s death as “certainly significantly
weakening Hamas.”

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden congratulated
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/18/yahya-sinwar-hamas-leader-killing-israel-biden-ceasefire-calls>
Netanyahu on Sinwar’s killing, because the Hamas leader “has a lot of blood
on his hands – American blood, Israeli blood, and others.” Blood types
matter to colonialists, it seems. Because the blood of the colonised, which
Netanyahu and the entire state of Israel is not only drenched in but built
upon, never gets a mention, despite its visibility. For in the colonial
version promoted by Israel and the US, Palestinians have no blood, it seems.

*BLOG: The psychological manipulation behind the Generals’ Plan
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241017-the-psychological-manipulation-behind-the-generals-plan/>*

What emerges at face value, is that Western leaders purportedly see
“opportunity” in Sinwar’s killing, while Netanyahu sees no end to the
genocide until the last Palestinian standing falls. However, whatever
Western leaders say, their support for the genocide is unwavering. To
maintain a semblance of the non-existent status quo, Western leaders lost
no time in scrambling towards the usual rhetoric of freeing the Israeli
hostages, negotiating a ceasefire and the West’s favourite premise – the
two-state paradigm.

Sinwar’s killing, if Western leaders are heeded, holds the key to all three
occurring. Yet the West knows that Netanyahu dictates the pace, and he has
already decided there is no turning back from genocide, no ceasefire and no
two-state. Isn’t it time that the West takes Netanyahu at his word
publicly? Why do Palestinians still have to listen to the two-state
nonsense, talk of opportunity, ceasefires that never happen? How is it that
the West still needs to exploit Palestinians to maintain its relevance in
this context?

According <https://x.com/AlboMP/status/1847032843853001108> to Albanese, a
ceasefire after Sinwar’s killing will “break the cycle of violence and put
the region on the path to an enduring two-state solution.” On Thursday,
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated
<https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20241018-biden-allies-in-berlin-renew-calls-for-gaza-ceasefire-after-hamas-leader-s-death>,
“There is a proposal from President Biden and others as to what … a
ceasefire could look like and we fully support that.” Is it that hard to
imagine what a ceasefire could look like? Perhaps, if by ceasefire, the
West means a ceasefire in which Israel keeps bombing civilians at whim.

After the genocide, the West will never be believed again. Sinwar’s
killing, according
<https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20241018-biden-allies-in-berlin-renew-calls-for-gaza-ceasefire-after-hamas-leader-s-death>
to Biden, gives the chance “for a political settlement that provides a
better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.” Whatever term the West
uses to describe the genocide in Gaza, the facts are that 42,500 civilians
have been killed and the death toll is most possibly higher. Palestinians
in Gaza remain forcibly displaced and unable to return home. Israel is
bombing densely populated areas to inflict higher kill tolls on
Palestinians. So, what is the political settlement that the US envisages?

*READ: Israel must comply with international law, Germany’s Scholz says
during Turkiye visit
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241019-israel-must-comply-with-international-law-germanys-scholz-says-during-turkiye-visit/>*

For decades, the two-state compromise has been relevant only to Israel and
the international community. Shame on all countries, especially those who
have been more vocal in their criticism of Israel and support of Palestine,
to still have supported such a travesty, knowing full well that colonial
expansion would not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state, because
it allows for no reversal of colonialism.

Since Netanyahu has clearly established the genocide will not stop, and
since not even the live footage of Palestinians shredded to ribbons of
flesh or being burnt alive constitute evidence of war crimes for the US,
Biden and his allies should clarify to the Palestinians that the so-called
political settlement envisaged is one with no Palestinians at all.

The Jerusalem Post has reported
<https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-825221> another macabre move
by the Israeli military – dropping leaflets depicting Sinwar’s lifeless
body with a warning: “Whoever drops the weapon and hands over the hostages
will be allowed to leave and live in peace.” First of all, so many
Palestinian civilians are unarmed and have been unarmed. Secondly,
civilians are not hiding the hostages – they are busy trying to survive
Israel’s genocide. And leave to where, exactly, when Israel’s tactic is to
round up civilians to inflict a higher kill toll? Or bomb supposedly safe
trajectories when Palestinians are being forcibly displaced?

Palestinians are not relevant to the two-state paradigm, except to maintain
its existence until necessary. By referring to the two-state politics at
any crack of diplomatic opportunity, the West is taking the focus away from
the genocide while allowing Netanyahu to continue annihilating
Palestinians. This is the abyss the two-state paradigm and all its
supporters created for Palestinians – the macabre farce of forcing
Palestinians into purported pragmatism to facilitate their slaughter for
Israel.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20241020/be171b05/attachment.htm>