It is a year since the Hamas attack on Israel. It led to about 1200 casualties. We are now closer to a regional war, that some say could well be a precursor to the next World War.

We have known for some time now that hundreds of the dead fell to Israeli helicopter attacks on their own people who were fleeing from the scene of Hamas attacks. It has been widely reported by independent media that Israel invoked the Hannibal Doctrine to prevent hostage taking by Hamas.

We have known for some time now that the rape and murder of Israeli women, and the brutal butchering of children by Hamas operatives as alleged did not happen. There has been no evidence presented. Nil. But the allegations, through repetition, served to paint Hamas as a bloodthirsty, barbaric outfit and as a justification for the horrendous atrocities committed by Israel since.

We have known for some time now that an active program of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide is underway in which Gaza has been reduced to rubble, virtually unlivable. A genocide executed by Israel, backed by weapons and diplomatic cover from the US, UK, Germany, France and other nations.

We have known for some time now that of the over 200 hostages taken by Hamas, some were released in the early months since Oct 7^th last year, and apparently, less than a hundred survive in captivity. A freed captive is believed to have said of the time in captivity: We feared the bombs more.

We have known for some time now that the Israeli pretext of self-defense’ for its excesses in Gaza has no leg to stand on under international law, while the legitimate right of people under occupation to resist is well recognized under such law.

We have known for some time now that the chorus from Western powers about Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ willfully ignores the collective punishment being meted out on Palestinians, the deliberate strategy to starve a population, the disproportionate use of force, the thousands of civilians, notably women and children blown to bits, the targeting of journalists and health care professionals and facilities, flattening of schools and universities, …the list is long and nauseating.

We have known for some time now that ceasefire proposals have been torpedoed by one side, and in some instances by misleading its allies or unleashing a fresh campaign of bloody massacres on defenseless women and children.

We have known for some time now that the relentless campaign to erase a people from their lands through gross abuse and violations is sustained by unconditional support from the USA, a country whose duplicity and hypocrisy has been exposed like never before.

We have known for some time now that the Lancet estimated the death toll in Gaza to be above 170,000 while the reported number of dead Palestinians now hovers around 42,000, with approx 70% of them being women and children.

We have for some time now been denied the right to pretend that ‘we didn’t know’ of the catastrophe – the wanton and unabated death and destruction in Gaza brought upon by Israeli and US bombs.

We have for some time now known that many Governments that tacitly support or abet the genocide in Gaza do so against the will of the majority people they represent, including Jews. Suppression of information, repression of people protesting and silent censorship through various means are ongoing.

We have known for some time now that the international system is broken. When powerful nations align with a rogue state and make common cause with it, every other nation has some critical choices – diplomatic, military trade and commerce, and people-to-people contact. Words of support, protest or withdrawal mean little unless back by action – individually or collectively. 100 + countries recognizing the State of Palestine and numerous UN resolutions for peace and the right to self-determination make for great speeches but are toothless. Very few nations have chosen to act to rein in an entity that has run amok and whose blood-lust is unbounded.

We have known for some time now that the tide can turn if nations act collectively and treat change not as an impossibility but an inevitable. The South African struggle against the apartheid regime offers an example from recent memory.

We have known that the people of Palestine – in Gaza and the West Bank – have shown, patience, courage, a strong will, and fortitude in the face of grave threats to their existence from the settler-colonial project for a Greater Israel. The rest of the world has now to go beyond words. Silence, prevarication, and playing the game of both sides must stop. The world’s first ‘live-streamed genocide’ must end. Else, the scourge of collective punishment will spread. Lebanon has been lined up.

The time has come to pick a side. I have chosen mine.

I want the violence to end. I want the dehumanization of Palestinians to end. I want the just claims of Palestinians to their lands and to a State they can call their own to be honoured and enabled. I want the Occupation of Gaza to end. I want the settler colonies in the West bank to be dismantled and plans for new ones halted. It is my fantasy that the Palestinians and Jews can co-exist on peaceful terms and the ethnocentric present State of Israel will be transformed rather than remain in its present state with its threat perceptions and greed for land. I want that the people of Israel be restored to their original essence of humanity rather than be inured to the violence and gore brought on the fear of the ‘other’ and perpetually invoking their victim-hood.  

If a period of international isolation and cutting of ties is a way to a more wholesome engagement later with Israel following favourable changes on the ground, so be it. The ringmaster of sanctions, the USA will predictably obstruct, but history is testimony to the power of collective action in favour of a just cause.

This is urgent and cannot be the subject of endless, inconclusive parleys. BRICS, ASEAN, SCO, and others, where are you?

I would not want India to join the merchants of death and profit from the misery of millions. Our voice against genocide must match our claims to significance and our humanity must demonstrably be inclusive and rise about ethnic and religious lines. For a country that has in recent times been about trade and commerce, being the globe’s marketplace and manufacturing base, the time is right to underline that we are about principles, and not just profit.

A footnote:

I have not referred to many matters of history and competing narratives /claims, the compulsions that supposedly drive the rejection of ceasefire proposals, the documented rape and torture of Palestinians in Israel’s dungeons, other players in the region and their antics, the apathy and self-preserving tactics of the Arab world and others – they are important and add nuance, but don’t alter what I have shared above (from my perspective).

My present stances on Israel–Palestine tensions are influenced by reading (articles posted on social media) or listening (on YouTube) to the following:

Norman Finkelstein

Ilan Pappe

Benny Morris

Gabor Mate

John Mearsheimer

Jeffrey Sachs

Rashid Khalidi

Bassen Youssef

Scot Ritter

Craig Mokhiber

Mouin Rabbani

Owen Jones

Mehdi Hassan (both as interviewee and interviewer)

Yani Varafoukis

Ori Goldberg

Gideon Levy

Daniel Levy

Tabliz Ahmed

South Africa’s petition/filings/arguments at the ICJ

Francesca Albanese