PARTLY FACETIOUS: There’s a vast difference between words ‘militancy’ and ‘terrorism’

“Why the long face?” “I am devastated by events in the Middle East.” “Aren’t we all - and we are all taking sides aren’t we!”

“Yes, but I take heart because two days after the Hamas attack even American news channels are referring to Hamas not as a terrorist group but militants.”

“I thought the two terms were interchangeable – both are using violence to attain a political goal.”

“Nope, there is a difference – militants use violence for a political goal while terrorists use violence to spread fear…and wait…I reckon there is another difference - while militants’ political goal is national, terrorists are into an ideology that may transcend national boundaries…”

“Yes, but I am not sure your definition will gain traction. Be that as it may, Biden and members of his administration refer to Hamas as terrorists and have pledged to provide more weaponry to Israel, over and above the $ 3 billion-dollar annual security assistance to it, while his poodle Sunak has denounced Hamas for an appalling act of terror and…”

“Western countries have denounced Hamas but I will be surprised, if besides the US, any other country would provide Israel with military assistance.”

“Sounds familiar doesn’t it. And one important lesson to be learnt is, no matter how militarily and financially powerful you are vis a vis an adversary, no matter how much territory you control and/or appropriate, with all the international diplomatic support behind you and I am referring to declaring your adversary a terrorist group, constant use of superior military force against the adversary with claims that you have completely destroyed your adversary or degraded their infrastructure may come to haunt you.”

“Indeed, but don’t you think the Hamas attack was to derail the Abraham accords – you know many Muslim countries have forged diplomatic ties with Israel and reports that Saudi Arabia is very near an agreement…”

“May be so, but as I said, this does sound familiar. Modi’s India has taken measures against the hapless Kashmiris and the world is silent, and Israel, militarily by far the strongest country in the region…”

“Right, I get it, but this time something is happening which is different. The 15 nation United Nations Security Council was called on an emergent basis on Sunday, the meeting lasted for 90 minutes, the US demanded Hamas condemnation, the Israelis…”

“And no communique was issued! Does that mean that the US which has vetoed condemnation of Israel for killing Palestinians with impunity time and time again failed to get this condemnation through?”

“Indeed, times are a changing – Palestine’s Permanent Observer at the UN, Mansour, lamented that we came to the Security Council month after month warning the consequences of Israeli impunity and international inaction, as the 15 nation body walked past for emergency consultations behind closed doors.”

“The Chinese Ambassador told reporters on his way out that failure to arrive at a consensus was abnormal, so make of that what you will.”

“Indeed, if I recall the Chinese did broker a peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran, right?!”

“And the Russians aren’t going to back down to US demand either, right?”

“Don’t know, but Mansour put it rather well, you cannot say nothing justifies killing Israelis and then provide justification for killing Palestinians. We are not sub-humans. We will never accept a rhetoric that denigrates our humanity and reneges our rights, a rhetoric that ignores the occupation of our land and oppression of our people.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023