The newly appointed UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, has co-authored an article in The Times with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, outlining their government’s position on the war in Gaza. It is so far the most eloquent and logical position written in Europe which directly contrasts with the position of those European governments calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Basically, what Cameron and Baeerbock have explained is that a permanent ceasefire will only come about once Hamas is disarmed and loses its capability to fight. This is the political reality of the conflict in Gaza. Demanding a ceasefire while allowing Hamas to exist as a military force in the region is unsustainable for peace and will guarantee a resumption of hostilities in the future.
We do not believe that calling right now for a general and immediate ceasefire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent, is the way forward. It ignores why Israel is forced to defend itself: Hamas barbarically attacked Israel and still fires rockets to kill Israeli citizens every day. Hamas must lay down its arms.
Hamas has been sabotaging the peace process in Palestine since the 1990s, and they openly claim they will be doing more of the same in the future. Allowing the Hamas death cult to keep existing as a legitimate political representative of the Palestinians is not a serious peace proposal.
On the other hand, the Israeli government which is led by political extremists and the worst elements of Israeli politics, has no serious intention of making a lasting peace with Palestinians by offering them a state. The IDF has potentially committed war crimes by targeting journalists and killing a large number of Gazan civilians including women and children indiscriminately. The IDF’s PR campaign to pretend they are being considerate towards Gazan civilians has already been shelved since we are no longer seeing the comical scenes of IDF soldiers pretending to care by giving water to a group of Gazan women on the beach.
There is nothing wrong or strange about admitting that even though Israel has a right to defend itself against the Hamas death cult, the IDF’s reaction has been disproportionate, cruel, and inconsiderate to civilians, apart from exploiting this war to increase oppression in the West Bank and targeting journalists they don’t like. Indeed, Germany is now taking the position that although Israel’s war was justified, its response was disproportionate.
The ideal and right response by Europe would be to apply the law to both belligerent parties such as by sanctioning those in Europe who help and sponsor Hamas and sanctioning policymakers in Israel who have allowed the IDF to turn into an indiscriminate killing machine. Europe can only be effective with these actions if it becomes a regional power, possessing an economy that is indispensable to our neighbors, and defense forces that evoke fear in our enemies.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
Leave a Reply