Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel has made his point crystal clear: He wants to proceed with the full occupation of Gaza City with troops on the ground, thus dealing the final blow to the much-weakened but still somewhat holding Hamas. He may believe it, or not. In the latter case he may be trying to stay politically afloat with his radical allies in the Israeli government and to avoid the legal troubles that may come for him with peace, for some his utmost consideration. In any case, Mr. Netanyahu is dead set on proceeding with the IDF full takeover of Gaza City despite the unanimous-minus-one condemnation of his decision by the UN Security Council and by the vast majority of the world’s countries and people. Even an apparently significant number of Israeli citizens is against Mr. Netanyahu’s decision, in view of what it may mean for the fate of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.
It is such a disgrace, but also a recognizable human failure, not to learn from history. There is a strong element of irony, especially in this case, because it was Hitler who infamously attempted a “Final Solution” against the Jews of Europe, with catastrophic consequences. Other genocides of our times were also conceived as final solutions, against Armenians, Bosnian Muslims, Tutsis, Rohingyas, and more. They caused great harm and suffering but were eventually stopped, thankfully without achieving their ultimate objective. Despite its still quite low level of swiftness and consistency, the human sense of repulsion to gross injustice kicks in and does something, late and inadequate as that may be but still something that brings “final” to an end.
Let’s see here in more detail what Mr. Netanyahu and his accomplices seem to be seeking. They want to engage Hamas on the ground and kill each and every one of its fighters still resisting, perhaps capturing the rest. They may also want to decapitate the civilian administration that Hamas had put in place as the Palestinian political party that has been running Gaza, following some distant (2006) elections. One wonders whether the decision on who should be killed or otherwise neutralized would be taken on the basis of face-recognition technology, AI calculations of risk according to individual characteristics of Gazan males, extreme insistence on receiving food at the tightly controlled distribution points, or otherwise. No need to worry about these details, as the “minus one” country on the UN Security Council would say. Israel is a democracy, therefore it can decide the fate of everybody else around it, including the occupied Palestinian people in Gaza. It is all democratic decision-making in the context of self-defence, which ignores the inalienable right of the Palestinians to self-determination, decades of illegal occupation, checkpoints, arbitrary arrests and killings, illegal land and building confiscation, etc.
It is unclear whether the “genocidaires” of all times and kinds see themselves as such, or they prefer to think that they have justice on their side, doing the right, God-sanctioned thing. If nobody slaps them hard on the face they may never wake up to the reality of their actions. They may never admit it in any case, but for that reason there are external witnesses, judges and courts. The latter clearly have said they have good reasons to indite Mr. Netanyahu for serious crimes for which he has to explain himself. Abetting or tolerating him, accepting his ever more extreme decisions, and continuing to supply him with weapons makes those who do it accomplices to major crimes against humanity, crimes of war and potentially the crime of genocide.
With the US veto guaranteed to be used to shield Israel on the UN Security Council, one cannot expect any decision that compels Israel to refrain from the full Gaza City occupation and accept a ceasefire for the whole of the Gaza Strip. It is now time for all those who have rhetorically only as of now castigated Israel to take concrete actions. No more arms sales to Israel, even imposition of a commercial embargo for as long as Gazans continue to starve, and a massive recognition of the State of Palestine, as a step towards implementing the globally approved two-state solution as soon as possible. Within the UN, the Israeli government’s credentials should no longer be accepted as legitimate, because of its apartheid and genocidal policies, with the seat of Israel remaining vacant till the country returns to international legality. Such measures helped to end the apartheid in South Africa and will hopefully put additional pressure on Israel regarding its appalling treatment of the Palestinians. Anything less would be complicity to a continuing and exacerbating set of crimes, and would stain the reputations and consciences of governments and people for decades to come.
Dr Georgios Kostakos is Co-founder and Executive Director of the Brussels-based Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS). He has been a UN staff member, including with the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General, the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and field missions for political affairs and human rights. He has also worked with think tanks, academic institutions and as a consultant on global governance and sustainability, peace and resilience.
