Author: Dustin Broadbery
Based in London, Dustin is a writer and researcher trying to make sense of the New Normal these past few years, particularly the ethical and legal issues around lockdowns and mandates, the history and roadmap to today’s biosecurity state, and the key players and institutions involved in the globalised takeover of our commons.
Aside from Covid-19, Dustin writes about the intelligence state, big tech surveillance, the co-option of activism and human rights.
You can find his work at: thecogent.org
Follow him on twitter: @TheCogent1
President Zelensky must be feeling a bit miffed these days. Seems his war has not satisfied the international warmongers who are indicating regularly that they cannot afford to keep funding him. Despite promises and reports of great victories over the Russians, it seems that it is no longer enough simply to tell people it’s happening; people need to see results. It looks very like Zelensky, and his cronies will be left to their own devices to either negotiate with President Putin or see their country destroyed and occupied by the Russians. The sooner he considers negotiating the better.
Now we have a war that we can really get our teeth into. It hardly needs saying that the Hamas atrocities were terrible. But with the Israeli troops massed on the border of Gaza, with the world’s most advanced firepower at their disposal, the Hamas atrocities may soon seem trivial, at least in terms of the body count.
Of course, accusations of antisemitism follow any criticism of Israel or a display of anything but full support for their actions. Israel, it has to be acknowledged, is the only democracy in the Middle East and, apart from its draconian response to Covid-19, it is a free country. Disarming the Palestinians would, most likely, lead to peace. Disarming Israel would, most likely, lead to its annihilation. And we must not lose sight of who made it thus. We did. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 promised the Jews a homeland where we had no right to grant one. We also expected them to rub along nicely with their Muslim neighbours. After the Second World War in 1948, the Israelis seized what they thought was rightly theirs and we washed our hands of the region.
You only have to read Leon Uris’s hagiographic—about the formation of the state of Israel—novel Exodus to realise how brutal the Israelis were to the Palestinians remaining on what they considered to be their territory. Palestinians were, essentially, hunted for sport by the Israeli army out in the desert. They had also operated, by means of the Sern Gang, a very effective terrorist campaign against the British. It could be said that the Stern Gang wrote the manual for all subsequent terrorist groups.
Presently, the Israelis are softening up Gaza with devastating rocket attacks and an energy siege. Nothing was spared, including hospitals. Now they have ordered an evacuation which even the UN has criticised. Hospitals will be cleared of patients which, the WHO says, will mean a ‘death sentence’ for many. The Israelis clearly mean to invade, but what will they find? Gaza has been described as a ‘sniper’s paradise’. They have little hope of finding live hostages or capturing Hamas terrorists. Meantime, thousands of people have been driven from their homes as winter approaches. What will they return to and when? Undoubtedly to a Gaza that has been razed to the ground in places and it may even be years before they can all return to rebuild their homes and their lives.
The question when Israel was formed was ‘why the brutality?’ and the question now is ‘why the disproportionate response?’ The answer is undoubtedly in part that this is pure Old Testament ‘eye for an eye’ theology. Forgiveness is not a strong feature of the Old Testament any more than it is a feature of The Koran. When well-equipped Old Testament seeks vengeance against primitive forces who think likewise but with the added advantage of not being afraid to die, then we are about to see the result. But we in the ‘Christian’ west have no reason to be smug regarding disproportionate responses; witness the Second Gulf War.
Britain has sent auxiliary ships and reconnaissance aircraft, explicitly in support of Israel and the United States is sending a second aircraft carrier. All sent under the rubric of ‘no direct involvement.’ It is obvious that everything in the power of the west must be done to discourage other Islamic states, principally Iran, from becoming involved. But it is unconscionable that we are not doing everything within our power to stop Israel from committing a massive crime against humanity. One in which we will be implicated.
Roger Watson is a retired academic nurse who lives in the UK.
He is currently engaged in a range of professional consultancies in the UK, Europe and China. He writes regularly for several outlets including The Daily Sceptic, The European Conservative, Country Squire Magazine and The New Conservative.
