IT has been nearly two months since the world was forced to watch as two million people were massacred in the Gaza Strip, in an unprecedented genocide of this age.
The daily rate of death committed by the Israelis against the Palestinians is said to be much higher than that of the Holocaust by the Nazi German regime between 1941 and 1945 when about six million Jews were killed.
The Israelis have repeated the state-sponsored mass atrocities committed on the Jews during World War II but with more diverse and sophisticated ways ranging from air, sea and ground bombings.
However, this time the Israelis avenged it on the Palestinians (and not on the Nazi Germans) — the generous people who once had helped and hosted them when they were expelled from Europe. What the Israelis have been doing these the past weeks to the Palestinians is another form of ethnic cleansing just as much as the Nazi Germans had done to their Jewish predecessors.
It can be said that this is Holocaust 2.0, although John Benjamin, one of the descendants of the Holocaust survivors who wrote an article, "The Real Danger of Using Holocaust Analogies Right Now", might not agree with the comparison.
Many young people are unaware of what it means when we say "during those days" which mainly refers to the 17th and 18th centuries when "the Jews were not welcome in Europe" and the Palestine land originally belonged solely to the Palestinians.
It was due to the Balfour Declaration by the British government in 1917 in support of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine that the Jews started to have a piece of land in Palestine.
But, the real turning point was the United Nations' vote in 1947 to partition land in the British mandate of Palestine into two states — one Jewish, one Arab — following the destruction of much of European Jewry in the Holocaust.
Yet, the Palestinians have never accepted nor recognised the partition. This is a fact and true history that happened more than 75 years ago, but those who are unaware of the history will not understand why Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7.
Far from being terrorists, they are liberators and freedom fighters for the independence of their homeland, Palestine, from the occupier, the Jews. But, the West has been in a state of denial, and would not want to look from this perspective.
The West refuses to go back to 1947, rather pointing to Oct 7th, 2023, when the root cause does not begin on that date.
They attempt to delete the history and compel the Palestinians and all of us to regard Israel as a sovereign state today, which the Palestinians certainly will never accept although one after another neighbouring Arab countries have begun to normalise their diplomatic relationship with Israel.
Malaysians should be proud that Malaysia does not recognise Israel and has no diplomatic relationship with it until today.
Indeed, it is a mixed feeling of sadness and infuriation to see the collapse of all the international organisations from the United Nations, International Law, Unicef, Human Rights Commission, and others in defending the innocent civilians killed in Gaza and upholding their rights.
Children, women, the elderly and even babies who are all non-combatants were killed and butchered by the Israelis in disregard to the International Law on War.
On Nov 20, 2023, the date designated for World Children's Day — a global initiative to promote children's rights, safety, education, health, and happiness — it was reported that one child was killed every 15 minutes in Gaza, and the number have exceeded more than 5,500 of Palestinian children murdered by the Israelis since Oct 7.
While tens of thousands of pro-Palestinians have been demonstrating almost every day throughout the globe, the Western world leaders seem to be deaf and blind, disassociating themselves from their own people's demand for a stop of war, and ignoring protection of the "human rights" or "children's rights" or "women's rights" they have been upholding all this while.
The Western leaders do not have the audacity to demand for a "ceasefire", but rather use a milder term by asking for a "humanitarian pause" from Israel so as not to offend them. This is like asking "only for a few days respite" before Israeli armies can continue massacring the Palestinians.
According to Al Jazeera, "the disproportionate use of military might in Gaza is being billed by Israel as a legitimate means to destroy Hamas. And so civilian deaths tallied up in the attacks, including children, do not qualify as war crimes, Israel claims".
The Israeli army, led by President Benjamin Netanyahu, has committed the gravest crime against humanity, no matter what. Even under the pretext of "defending Israel" or "destroying Hamas" the actions are non-justifiable and is considered a war crime, murder, genocide, ethnic cleansing and atrocities and he should be brought to the International Criminal Court (ICC), The Hague.
A Malaysian prominent Malaysian activist and the president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), Dr Chandra Muzaffar, has foreseen that it would be "a waste of time" to charge Israel in the ICC since it would not take any action against white people like the Jews.
Rather, they would be quick to take action against the poor and small countries such as those from the African continent. The same thing had previously been said by the president of an African nation: "The ICC has been put in place only for African countries, only for poor countries."
It is deplorable that the Western leaders have demonstrated a clear moral bankruptcy, hypocrisy and double standard when it comes to Muslims as victims, in this case the Palestinians, in contrast to when the victims were Israelis or white people.
This is prejudice, bias and racism to the Muslims in the worst degree.
Perhaps it's true as some people have said that since the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, there has been a collapse in the so-called Western proponents of "human rights". They even say, "Do you know what else died in Gaza? The answer is: "The myth of Western humanity".
Despite the moral bankruptcy and Western hypocrisy, the people of Gaza and their resistance should be saluted for their dignity, bravery and steadfastness in defending their homeland. Susan Abulhawa of The Electronic Intifada aptly wrote this on Nov 22, 2023:
"The people of Gaza are displaying great dignity despite the extreme brutality to which they are being subjected. No matter the outcome of Israel's genocidal invasion of Gaza, the Palestinian resistance fighters have already won.
"Some have bluntly suggested that the best solution to this on-going conflict in the Middle East for over 75 years with the existence of Israel in the middle of Arab countries, is to relocate Israel in Europe or the US. After all, they are all fond of the Israelis and have almost a similar lifestyle as compared to the Muslim Arabs."
* The writer is Principal Fellow, Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM)