By Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
1. The reactions to the latest hostility between Palestinians and the Israelis actually underscores why the conflict, which has been more than seven decades, would not find a solution.
2. Firstly, the responses that came from powerful Western nations and their apparatus, including their media, are hypocritical, bigoted and pathological.
3. Instead of addressing the conflict for what it actually is, they chose to continue with their deceptive narrative that it is an attack on Israel by terrorists – their blame being obviously against Hamas, the Hezbollah and Iran.
4. With that narrative, they stoke fear in the Western community, claiming that it is an attack on democracy and peace loving people.
5. With that, the US in particular feel justified to extend military support to Israel to “retaliate” against Palestinians attacks.
6. All these are far from the truth. Instead they are outright lies which had been perpetuated unashamedly by Western leaders and their media.
7. The truth is actually very simple.
8. For decades, the Israelis had been committing war crimes, massacres, genocide and unthinkable atrocities against the Palestinians.
9. These are not one-off acts but rather systematically conducted without respite throughout the seven decades.
10. Apart from Palestinian land which the Israelis acquired illegally through unilateral agreements and treaties with former occupiers of Palestine, the Israeli settlers have been forcefully seizing lands and farms belonging to Palestinians.
11. The Palestinians are chased out of their land and any attempt to seek some form of restitution from the Israeli authorities are met with violence backed most times by the Israeli security forces namely the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
12. The Palestinians, pushed to the corner, while Gaza was turned into an open air prison, attempted sporadic retaliations, which in turn were met with the full force of the IDF with weapons supplied by superpowers in particular the US.
13. This episode is not any different from previous retaliations except that probably this time around they are more focussed with a bit more assistance externally.
14. But the Western powers and their apparatus continue with their lies, with their narratives that the hostility is an act of terror committed by terrorists, ignoring the fact that it is retaliation by a people whose freedom and rights to their land had been forcefully taken away from them.
15. They refuse to view the hostility is committed by freedom fighters who are up against an injustice committed by an apartheid regime which had been perpetrating genocide on the Palestinians.
16. The Western powers and the US are party to apartheid, genocide and crimes against humanity for as long as they support the heinous Israeli regime.
17. With that, any attempt towards finding a just and fair solution for the Palestinians becomes an exercise in futility.
18. In the meantime, the Israelis can be expected to carry out their genocide with impunity and with total disregard of international laws.
DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Oct 9, 2023
Source: @chedetofficial at X.