I will not shed any tears for Netanyahu’s rogue state

By Kelly Given (for the National)

It’s been hard to watch the news over the last couple of days and not feel like I am going completely insane.

For a year past this coming weekend, we have watched Israel drop tens of thousands of tonnes worth of explosives on a civilian area measuring approximately 140 square miles. An area just slightly bigger than Edinburgh that was home to two million Gazans.

Of course, a year ago wasn’t the beginning and there are another 76 years of documented Israeli aggression to unpack, but a year ago the active genocide of Gazans began.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s army of bullies with bombs has excitedly maimed, tortured and murdered innocent Palestinians every single day, live in HD on our social media feeds, for almost an entire year.

More than 40,000 Palestinians are now expected to be dead, with the real figure likely higher given the amount of people that are undoubtedly trapped beneath the ruins of a historic city that once was.

But if I am to follow guidance over the last 48 hours – I am now expected to mourn for Israeli infrastructure? I am supposed to feel sad about the demise of an Israeli military base – a base at least partially responsible for the terrorising of its Middle Eastern neighbours?

Well, I don’t.

Millions of us demanded a ceasefire from day one of this nightmare, and have taken to the streets routinely to put pressure on our spineless UK Government to act in the interests of humanity.

And it wasn’t just here – the entire world erupted in protest alongside us. A disdain for the powers responsible that has not yet quietened and that will be unlikely to before peace is achieved.

Even if it is achieved the cowards who did nothing will be remembered as unkindly as they deserve in years to come. I am sure of it.

We have shouted and protested and boycotted. We have listened to and shared the stories of Palestinians – stories that only a person devoid of basic humanity could ignore.

We warned of escalation. That Netanyahu was a power-hungry monster whose concern lay not with the hostages as the media and governments would have you believe but the expansion of Israeli territory.

And we were virtually ignored. Our governments pressed ahead, supplying weapons and funding for Israel’s mass slaughter in our name. And all the while we were routinely gaslit and lied to by those abetting his crimes. As if we weren’t watching the reality play out in HD on our phones. The world has been forever changed.

And now? The escalation we’ve all been dreading.

In the same week as Israel expanded its genocidal efforts into Lebanon, slaughtering innocent civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure in a similar fashion to how it has undertaken its colonial project in Gaza, Israel has been the target of an anticipated attack from Iran.

Bearing in mind, this week alone Israel has dropped explosives on Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

And yet, as if we are living in a parallel reality, we are to believe that Israel is the victim – rather than the aggressor that it clearly is. In no other reality would a state be allowed to bomb another, or take out its political leaders, without facing repercussions. But for Israel? Our snivelling leaders will always find an exception.

Our Prime Minister, granted a man hardly famed for his integrity and sound judgement, didn’t waste a second in taking to our screens to express solidarity with Netanyahu in our name. Despite the fact that a sustained majority of people in Britain want an end to arms sales with Israel and a ceasefire.

Interestingly, he was nowhere to be seen on Monday when Israel levelled residential apartment blocks in Beirut? The selective morality and faux outrage is enough to make you sick.

Is there something about becoming the leader of the UK that automatically corrupts you the second you walk through the door? They all turn out remarkably similar.

I find it incredible that a so-called human rights lawyer could have the gall to address the nation with the level of dishonesty and blatant hypocrisy that he did on Tuesday night, despite the flagrant violations of international law and human rights abuses being perpetrated.

It takes a special kind of weakness, stupidity or – more than likely – a combination of both.

It is nothing short of a travesty that at this crucial time for the world, Britain could have been led by Jeremy Corbyn. A man always found on the right side of a human rights argument, and a long-standing ally of the Palestinian people. A long-standing advocate for peace more generally.

Instead, we have simply replaced one unfeeling, soulless power-hungry grifter for another. Another insufferably out-of-touch man who prioritises geopolitical alliance above human decency, and who will sell out whoever necessary if it means clinging to his well-utilised expense account.

Remind me to thank the Labour Party for the infamous lack of political astuteness that, in the face of complete Tory collapse, has somehow managed to arrive us straight back to the depths of Tory-esque despair – the very place they swore they were going to rescue us from.

Despite what you will hear this week – be it from politicians, pundits, or Netanyahu and his genocidal pals themselves – Middle Eastern countries have a right to defend themselves from Israeli aggression.

If international law is worth the paper it’s written on, and if Israel has a right to defend itself, then the same surely applies to the countries facing its relentless bombardment and invasion.

I will be shedding no tears for a rogue state and its genocidal regime. When and only when our pathetic Western leaders find the spine to stand up to Netanyahu will the Middle East be afforded the peace it deserves. Until then, this will only continue to get worse.

Urgent Appeal