EDITORIAL: Who could have known that Hamas’s October 7 operation inside Israel and the Jewish state’s savage and expected revenge attack would split world opinion, traditionally blinded by pro-Israeli sentiment, in such an unprecedented manner.

For, even as Israel continues with its criminal killing of civilians across the length and breadth of Gaza, it has already lost the PR war and now stands more isolated than at any point since its controversial and forced existence.

And with Ireland, Spain and Norway followed later by Slovenia, formally recognising Palestinian statehood last week, which was “strongly condemned by Israel” of course, fresh ground has been broken in Europe with more states from the continent expected to follow the move in the immediate future. Let’s not forget that most countries in the world already recognise Palestine, and this stance was reaffirmed this month with a United Nations resolution in support of Palestinian membership passed by 143 nations.

In fact, the tide has turned to such an extent that even among Israel’s typical diehard supporters, who have conveniently turned a blind eye to all its atrocities over more than seven decades, only the US still unabashedly comes out with lines like “the Rafah operation did not cross our red line”. Others, like France and Germany, are seemingly on the verge of giving up because voters over there are now posing very difficult questions that their leaders are increasingly struggling with.

Unfortunately, though, the one group that has been characteristically mute about this genocide is the Muslim bloc. Nobody can deny that this sad reality of Muslim impotence was in large part responsible for the creation and early existence of Israel.

Their early leaders, especially Golda Meir, are on record as saying that once they realised that the threat from the Muslims all around them was little more than hot air, they understood very early that there would be no problems for Israel in the long run, especially with powerful friends on both sides of the Atlantic.

It’s also true that the few countries and militias that have been fighting for the Palestinian cause all these years are not only dubbed terrorists by the west, but have also been hounded within the Muslim world, especially countries with close ties to Washington.

So, as much as this is a moment of reckoning for the international community, as it struggles to balance its policy towards Israel, it is also an opportunity for soul searching for the Muslim world. To be fair, there are some signs of the kind of progress that has not been made for the better part of the last century.

Word is that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman might soon visit Tehran in a historic thaw that could and should resonate across the Muslim world. Should it go through, there’s hope for better times in the not-so-distant future.

The Irish prime minister said they recognised Palestinian statehood “to keep the miracle of peace alive”. That is appreciated, but the Muslim bloc will have to mobilise much more strongly and aggressively to nurture this miracle, if at all it can be achieved.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024