The dance of medieval barbarism with lethal weapons of 21st century is being played out, while the world watches; some with glee; some with awe; some with pain; some with sheer helplessness and some are indifferent. The callous silence of the human race and the Ummah shrieks at this nonchalant and insouciance attitude.
Death is supposed to happen inevitably to every single individual. The human mind is blessed with the strength and ability to accept the going away of a loved one.
However, the human brain is not wired to connect with mass deaths. I recall, my boss, Saleem Akhtar, citing to me in Persian a saying that loosely meant a single death is a matter of sadness, grief and sorrow, but a million deaths is a time for rejoicement. (Helplessness). That’s exactly the response of the world conscience today to the miseries in Gaza.
In the animal kingdom, there is no concept or hobby of hunting for pleasure. The most weak and timid; the most strong and ferociously courageous animal hunt for their prey only when they are hungry.
Hence, animals do not store, hoard or make warehouses. They demonstrate more Faith than human kind. Animals are wrongfully referred to as “animals of prey”; in my view, humans need to be aptly called “dangerous animals of prey”. They rejoice in killing fellow human beings not to satisfy hunger but to feed their psychopathtic tendencies.
The footages since October 7th, following the blitzkrieg by Hamas, can melt the stone-hearted. For the first week, what seemed as sweet smell of victory for Hamas of having successfully intruded into the myth of Israeli invincibility started to turn for Hamas a killing field in Gaza.
Israel’s ego had been badly bruised; something that they are unable to reconcile with or accept, and hence the vengeful killings of the innocent since then unabatedly. Even those who are not prone to looking for conspiracies of ulterior motives, are beginning to view with a coloured lens the decision of Hamas to launch the offensive on 7th October. To the skeptics the move seems an act of unintended complicity.
Did Hamas (or even some disguised as Hamas) not know that the reaction would be severe? They had full knowledge of their limited capacity to engage in a war with the military might of Israel— in any case, wars are fought between armies; Hamas is no army.
The wrath of the Israelis has fallen upon the poor civilians of Gaza. If it was foolishness, misplaced adventurism of Hamas or a complete misreading of the expected response to be limited in scope and severity of action, whatever the forethought may have been, it doesn’t entitle the blood thirsty Israeli government and army to go on a full scale and unstoppable rampage of killing innocent men, women and children. This is not an armed conflict. This is genocide. This is ethnic cleansing. This is brute and inhuman response.
The footages are heart-wrenching, from the horrid expressions of glee writ large on the faces of the ruthless Israeli soldiers, whilst they are shown mutilating bodies of women, children and infants to the look of shock, surprise and sadness on the innocent surviving faces. In one particular scene captured by the camera, which may have been deliberately allowed, a soldier is shown sitting next to an open mass grave crowded with corpses.
It is a very large trench that was dug up; every other minute these soldiers would bring blindfolded young and old Palestinians and walk them closest to the pit, then the soldiers would kick the Palestinian into the trench; and the soldiers sitting next to pit would start shooting mercilessly at the helpless blindfolded civilians.
To exhibit the psychopathic nature of the Israeli government and army, a soldier choosing his victim is shown insisting to his fellow murderers to throw up in air a young blindfolded Palestinian, which they obliged. And lo and behold, the soldier shoots down the young man whilst he is still in the air, and then lands down with a thud upon the pile of corpses to the cheers of his fellow murderers.
Hunters pride in arrogantly narrating of how good they are with their aiming on the prey, so accurate as a marksman to fatally hit while the bird is in flight mode. But in Gaza, the bird is now replaced with a human, and the joy of killing an unarmed young man was writ on the Satanic and despicable face of that soldier, nay, animal, nay, that would be an insult to the animal kingdom.
Israel in its intransigence to global concerns has put Hitler’s detestable actions to shame. Hitler appears more humane than Benjamin Netanyahu or even Narendra Modi — both cut from the same cloth. These men seriously should be examined by an internationally constituted medical board under the aegis of the United Nations — yes that ineffective and impotent, UN. Does humanity have a choice or alternative? .No. None.
The oppressors sit on seat of judgment, power and pelf. Justice from the UN for any global cause is an opium nations have been chewing upon with hope since its formation. Kashmir resolutions passed in 1948 have dust piling upon them. So, the world should expect nothing from this white elephant called the UN. A myth that is the UN.
The sullen and criminal silence of the Ummah, alongside the abetment of the enlightened countries of the West (their governments only because the people have spoken from Sydney to San Francisco) have ‘descended several rungs in the ladder of civilisation’. They continue to aid and yield to the beast of prey, whose name is not mere one Netanyahu but the entire government of Israel. Even the Israeli people inside Israel have been protesting more against their government’s action than the Muslim countries.
Time is being given to Netanyahu to annihilate the Palestinians. The ruthless killings continue. If there is interest, economic or political, relating to oil and gas, or other natural resources, then why cannot they engage in talks? Why should these resources be had by a trade-off of the loss of over thirty three thousand innocent lives. The brutality of killings must stop. On a long term it appears that fresh lines of demarcation are being thought as a necessity.
Power corrupts irredeemably and absolutely. Rutger Bregman wrote in his book “Humankind: A Hopeful History” that “if powerful people feel less connected to others, is it any wonder and that they also tend to be more cynical? One of the effects of power, myriad studies show, is that it makes you see others in a negative light. If you are powerful you are more likely to think most people are lazy and unreliable.
That they need to be supervised and monitored, managed and regulated, censored and told what to do. And because power makes you feel superior to other people, you will believe all this monitoring should be entrusted to you”. That’s exactly the state of mind of Israel and its cohorts in the West. They assure themselves that they will get away without any consequences. The decision of International Court of Justice has had no effect on them. “Man’s inhumanity to man, Makes countless thousand mourn” (Robert Burns).
The scenes of exemplary bravery and courage of men, women and children in Gaza remind me of a piece I read about World War II, a proprietor of a pub, during the blitzkrieg unleashed upon London, by Adolf Hitler in the midst of devastation put up a notice at the entrance to the pub: “Our windows are gone, but our spirits are excellent. Come in and try them.” The spirit in Gaza is non - alcoholic, it is iron clad determination to stand up to hitherto unknown and unseen human cruelty.
Netanyahu, see for yourself the footages, you would realise that the valiant Gaza’s children faces show more courage than your collective coward faces. They shame you with their resoluteness and steadfastness. Their Faith in Almighty is far superior than your combined strength. You would buckle and lose to the quality of their Faith. Cruelty deserves no mercy. In fact the first attribute of the Devil is cruelty because to the Satanic it is a sign of strength. This is the stupidity of human arrogance.
Those who lack Faith should surely be concerned and be afraid of the strength and quality of faith of the people of Gaza. They have unalloyed trust in Divine justice, which is due. Now. Small children chant their faith in Lord Almighty’s swift justice to come to their aid. Indeed it will. No cry of the orphan infant whose mother is buried live in the ruins of Gaza will go unpunished or unheard. Good and bad deeds boomerang ultimately. That’s the Law of Nature.
Gazans are martyrs. They die to live forever. The blood-thirsty Israeli soldiers shall die many times before their death. Tramp on a snail and she will snoot out her horns. Retaliation, both Divine and human, from the unarmed is bound to be severe.
It is a matter of wonder, that the hearts of the Muslim countries, particularly those in the Middle East, do not shudder and melt at the sight of hungry, impoverished and malnourished children. They have children too. They continue to live in a world of theirs—concerts, theatre, operas, etc. Humans behave strangely, so callous as to appear as mere animals, devoid and shunned of sentiments and emotions.
Why does the Ummah behave as slaves and subjects? They succumb easily. They yield with no resistance. Why? Possibly because of weak social structures where the voice of the people is stifled through terror.
“Man is subject to innumerable pains and sorrow by the very condition of the humanity, and yet, as if nature had not sown evils enough in life, we continually adding grief to grief, aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another” (Joseph Addison in the Spectator— 18th century issue).
The oppressed shall prevail.
Tail piece: As I was signing this article off, the news is that the lazy UN Security Council has passed a resolution seeking immediate ceasefire in Gaza. This wasn’t vetoed. Let’s see if this resolution too is a piece of paper deserving the respect of the bin just as the resolutions on Kashmir.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
The writer is a senior banker & freelance contributor
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