Israel and the West have been describing Hamas’ attacks on Israel as “unprovoked”. In this regard, one of India’s former ambassadors, Talmiz Ahmad, deserves praise for challenging the Israel-West narrative that is clearly aimed at cultivating sympathies for the Jewish state and denigrating or demonising the Palestinians.
In a broadcast interview to Karan Thapar for the Wire, Ahmad, who was India’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman, has said the following: “To describe these attacks [by Hamas on Israel] as unprovoked is an exercise in self-delusion.
It has been staring us in the face ever since December last year when [Benjamin] Netanyahu formed his government that there’s going to be trouble in the region. He has put together the most extreme government that we have had in Israel, a country which already has a fair share of xenophobs, now have them in the mainstream.
They are the ones who run the country. ...They’re committed to expanding [illegal] settlements in the West Bank. And from that day till today, consistent with their own views, they have been doing this. They have been deliberately and mischievously provoking the region into violence. ... This has been building up for some time.
There has been considerable evidence of anger in the region. Therefore, to believe it unprovoked is completely delusionary and has no basis in reality. ....I don’t buy the argument that Gaza was peaceful. This is again delusionary. Gaza can never be peaceful.
It has 2.3 million people living in a little enclave. It has been described as the largest open air prison in the world. They have 45 percent to 50 percent unemployment. Young people are unemployed to the extent of 75 percent.
You think the business of 20,000 people getting jobs in Israel out of a population of 2.3 million is going to dilute their anger? It’s completely idiotic; it makes no sense at all. Gaza has been a boiling cauldron. ...” Yes, the Hamas’ attacks on Israel were not unprovoked. Israel cannot imprison 2.3 million people without paying a price.
Danish Hunarmand
Tehran
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023