How did western governments become Pontius Pilate in Gaza?

There have been few times in my life when I have felt so helpless in the face of death and destruction. Few times when I feel I have failed as a human being, but I did and I have to live with that.

PART ONE OF A THREE PART SERIES

Substack has blessed me with the gift of being heard, not yet by more than around 30,000 readers, but enough to at least whisper to the world on issues not well advocated for on social media. I feel it’s time to spread my wings regardless of any consequences. The intention of this first piece of three, is to set the stage for the final two which most will find far more challenging to read. The way I have structured it is to carefully piece together the case against both parties of the conflict for crimes against humanity. To assist along the way I have included carefully curated video content to act as reference points should you need them. I have also linked background articles from trusted sources, so you can familiarise yourself with any more detailed material.

I want to open with this important statement from the Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan. I want anyone reading this piece of work to be in no doubt as to the credibility of the parties involved, who are seeking to prosecute those indicted, in what history will record as the largest act of mass murder of our generation. I have linked backgrounds of any person who is part of the attempt to provide justice for ALL those involved. It is important to note that Yahya Sinwar; Ismail Haniyeh and Muhammad Deif for whom warrants were issued have all been subsequently killed by Israel. The point of me including this statement is to set the scene for what I am about to write, so you can clearly see the intent of the ICC in this case. These are not indictments invented to make some political statement as inferred by the US and Israel. They are indictments brought without fear or favor for the most serious criminal acts under international law. By way of further background I have included this statement from Amnesty International.

The indictments for war crimes against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, former Israeli Minister of Defence, were approved by the court. I think it is clear from this statement that the ICC took action based on evidence against both parties. The fact that Israel then embarked on summary justice to execute the HAMAS defendants, has no impact on the validity of the indictments against Netanyahu and Gallant. This was not as Israel has claimed, proof the court was anti semitic and persecuting Israel for an act of ‘self defense’, which incidentally as an occupying power under international law, they are unable to legitimately claim.

To the eternal shame of all of us, I despair at the way western governments have simply placed their fingers in their ears and ignored the genocide of innocent women and children that has taken place in Gaza. Now before you jump in and say Martin, there has not been a legal ruling beyond crimes against humanity. According to the UN's Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as

‘acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. These acts include killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, and forcibly transferring children of the group’

Excuse me if I base my statement on the definition and not propaganda from Israel or it’s best buddy the United States.

As a measure of flagrance of International law, on 25th February Trump signed an executive order Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court. Once again showing the middle finger to the rule of law. There’s nothing like punishing those trying to uphold the law on the international stage. No doubt Trump was spurred on by the fact that Jack Smith was a former ICC prosecutor. Below is an optional clip I have included to understand what exactly is the ICC.

In a polarized world where cruelty is celebrated and compassion is a dirty word, I find myself asking, ‘What have we become?’. Here I am sat with my laptop open and I’m thinking ‘Be careful, watch what you say, because you might be labeled an anti semite’. That is how we now think in a false world created by the Israeli state and it’s propaganda machine.

Take a moment to think about this. A country of 10.1 million has become so powerful, that western nations cower in fear for the damage Israel can do to them. Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way at the outset. Throughout history, the Jews have been a persecuted race which culminated in Hitler’s ‘final solution’. There are no words that can ever articulate the crimes committed against them by the Nazis. Their suffering is well documented and a stain on the conscience of the human race.

In order to avoid a lengthy piece just to get past the starting gate, I want to begin with this helpful piece

The bottom line is, without the US, Israel is just a man walking a dog. With the US they are a protected dominant power in the Middle East, receiving $3 billion every year in military aid from the most powerful nation on earth. Everything emanates from this relationship and it largely dictates the position of almost every western ally who align with US in support of Israel. Netanyahu has long been mindful of the importance of the US Israeli alliance, hence the critical need for AIPAC. I intend to do a separate post on AIPAC because it’s a subject in its own right. For the purpose of this piece, I would just say that after the horrific terrorist attack by Hamas October 7, which I unequivocally condemn, AIPAC got to work on reminding US politicians who bankrolls them.

Nobody can look at what happened on October 7th and not be horrified, repulsed and disgusted by what was clearly a war crime. On the day it happened, aside from not having words to express the sympathy I felt for the victims and their loved ones, I had a deep sinking feeling of what I knew was about to happen. Looking back on the fractured relationship with between the Israelis and the Palestinians I knew Netanyahu would see this as an opportunity to unleash the dogs of war and so it came to pass.

To be clear, Netanyahu has NEVER wanted a two state solution and he has done everything in his power to ensure it never happens, even to the point of allowing the funding of HAMAS to ensure they stayed in power in Gaza. Why? Because the US had listed HAMAS as a terrorist organisation, so while they were in power, there would be no appetite to move forward with negotiations on a two state settlement.

Now before you accuse me of spreading disinformation, I’ll point you to a New York Times article from 10 December 2023 (The link included is NOT behind a paywall, consider it a gift from me) The piece written by Mark Mazetti and Ronen Bergman documents it in detail it opens with

‘Just weeks before Hamas launched the deadly Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the head of Mossad arrived in Doha, Qatar, for a meeting with Qatari officials.

For years, the Qatari government had been sending millions of dollars a month into the Gaza Strip — money that helped prop up the Hamas government there. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel not only tolerated those payments, he had encouraged them’

In September of 2023, the Qataris asked the question, should these payments to HAMAS continue? The answer as directed by Netanyahu was “YES”. So to be very clear, HAMAS was being propped up by monies sanctioned by the Prime Minister of Israel. This had been going on for over a decade. Up until that moment, Hamas were being used to run interference against any suggestion of a two state solution and it had worked. Bibi being his usual arrogant self, believed he had HAMAS on a leash. I’ll leave you to read the full story if you so wish, but there is no doubt that this was VERY REAL, so any claims to the contrary are a lie.

Before we begin this truthful account of what followed, we need to examine the conditions that the Palestinians have lived under for decades which has long been unspoken of in the corridors of western allies. For context, this is part of a long history of the oppression of the Palestinian people and that’s not a liberal description, it is an indisputable FACT. I want there to be little doubt before you continue, no act of mass murder is EVER acceptable no matter who perpetrates the crime. I don’t have to worry about if Israeli money or influence can silence me, unless of course they have representation on the board of Substack. Regardless, I intend to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Call it my penance for my failure to better support the Palestinian people. If anyone has a problem with this or any piece I write, I am always here to listen and correct any errors or bring clarity to anything unclear, providing the complainant provides fact based evidence with sources.

I intend to pull no punches because God only knows, someone has to say something and at least correct the blizzard of disinformation surrounding this senseless crime against humanity. This DOES NOT make me an anti semite, it makes me an advocate for transparency and truth.

All roads in this tragedy lead to the willful oppression of a people who for generations before the creation of the state of Israel had inhabited the land. I don’t want to spend time on the historical fact that Palestinians were displaced to make way for the Israeli state, the history books can attest to the Nakba, the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. “To the winners, the spoils of war” as they say. The Arab-Israeli war saw the destruction of Palestinian cities and villages and the displacement of half the Palestinian population. It resulted in the Palestinians having no right to return to their land. By any measure, this was the beginning of a catastrophe which never stopped and lies at the root of everything that followed.

As with all geopolitical disputes, history plays its part. The big argument has always been who has the right to the land. In this respect, by more than 1,000 years, “Israel” predates “Palestine.” However, the land then became home primarily to an Arab population, which lasted for more than a millenium, so both parties have a legitimate claim. Why then don’t they simply coexist in peace? Were it not for pesky religion and politics, I believe it could have been so.

The reason the Gaza conflict is difficult to comprehend is that for normal people, hate is not their default position and I don’t for one minute think it is the default position of many Israelis either. However, for a hard line segment of the population this is a religious crusade. It should if nothing else, serve as a warning against America falling into the hands of Christian Nationalists as appears to be Trump’s intended direction of travel. The key here is ‘fundamentalism’ and it’s a centuries old hangover of the religious wars from ancient times.

Corruption in the Middle East is woven into the political DNA as is evidenced by Netanyahu’s current fights in court. In order to better understand the pieces on the Gaza and West Bank chess board, you have to understand the Palestinian internal conflict between the Palestinian Authority who once controlled Gaza and HAMAS, which is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya. In the old days Gaza was under the control of Yasser Arafat, former President of the Palestinian National Authority. HAMAS first emerged in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, as an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood. It did not however come to power until after the death of Arafat in 2004. It began to rise in 2005, but did not take power until the legislative election on 25 January 2006. It should be noted, no elections have been held in Gaza since then. The argument that the current civilian population of Gaza voted for HAMAS is frankly ludicrous, 50% of the population weren’t even born then. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the wider population of Gaza were sick and tired of HAMAS prior to the attack on Israel, many just wanted to live in peace, but they were not driving the bus unfortunately.

In a report by the Wilson Center it reads in part:

‘Even though Hamas won a plurality of votes in 2006 legislative elections in both Gaza and the West Bank, the Arab Barometer’s findings make it clear that the terrorist group had fallen well out of favor before the October 7 attacks.

When asked how much they trusted Hamas authorities, 44% of Gazans said they had no trust at all, and 23% had “not a lot of trust.” Only 29% expressed either a great deal or quite a lot of trust in their government. When it came to government corruption, 72% said they believed there was a large or medium amount of corruption in government institutions, and only a minority thought the government was taking meaningful steps to address the problem.’

In short, the people had little choice, they were being ruled not governed. A little like Trump wants to rule America.

in 2023, HAMAS was estimated by global authorities in terrorist groups to have had between 20,000 and 25,000 armed fighters. This is a figure supported by the Israeli government.

The biggest problem we face as onlookers is that each side wants to play the numbers game. Israel would have you believe that the civilian casualty numbers are not as high as the ‘HAMAS’ Health Ministry reports, but even US intelligence has regarded the published numbers as largely accurate. There have been claims that the numbers are about 5000 adrift because natural deaths have been included in the figures provided. Given the range of reported civilian deaths vary between 50,000 and 62,000, let’s call it 55,000. It’s estimated that of those Palestinians killed, 70% of them were women and children (38,000). This is a widely accepted number, which makes sense given it leaves 16.500 of what must be men. Let’s assume 20% of these were elderly men (3,300), this leaves 13,200 fighting age men. What we don’t know is how many of these are fighters and just not men caught up in the crossfire.

To be honest, you simply can’t believe a word the IDF spokespeople say, given time and time again they are caught out in blatant lies. International journalists have not been allowed inside Gaza for good reason. The IDF can and have targeted Palestinian citizen journalists with impunity. That would be much more difficult with International journalists. It’s this policy of the denial of entry to those wishing to investigate alleged criminal activity on the ground that allows the IDF to hide behind a tsunami of propaganda, which persistently seeks to undermine complaints against what are clearly criminal acts by an occupying force. The story goes, a crime is perpetrated, the lies and propaganda is set in motion to undermine the claim. If irrefutable evidence is subsequently presented and then the story is changed to say it was a mistake and some low level IDF Patsy is sent home from the war. It is a consistent pattern of behaviour.

A prime example being that of eight PRCS paramedics, six first responders from Gaza's Civil Defence agency, and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) were killed when their ambulances, a fire engine and a UN vehicle came under fire from the IDF in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah during an emergency call-out early on 23 March. The IDF claimed the emergency vehicles were approaching IDF troops in a ‘threatening manner’ with no lights on. They killed everyone and buried them and their vehicles in a shallow grave. When their bodies were found, the mobile phone found on one of the bodies provided irrefutable evidence not only did they have lights on, they also had emergency lights flashing. It also recorded the owner of the phone praying before he was shot.

It is simply indicative of an occupation army killing people for sport. There are numerous clips of Israeli snipers shooting women and children posing no threat. The IDF is told EVERYBODY should be regarded as a terrorist and this has been backed up by former serving soldiers who have spoken out about the vile behaviour encouraged by senior IDF officers.

The reality is, in March of 2024, the number of children killed in five months of the Gaza war, was more than four times the death toll for GLOBAL conflict.

The constant drumbeat of ‘The Israeli army is the most moral army in the world’ is frankly preposterous and an insult to the intelligence of any honest observer. The numbers just don’t add up in terms of justification of acceptable collateral damage. There’s a good reason why they don’t add up and that’s because ALL Palestinians are treated as terrorists, even the children because they will it’s assumed, grow up to be the terrorists of tomorrow. The objective from the outset has been to dehumanise the Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank.

One of the biggest challenges of this conflict is accountability. Neither the US or Israel recognise the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In addition, Israel has constantly defied the United Nations and is in breach of a number of UN resolutions in respect of Gaza and the West Bank. By way of understanding the role of the ICC given the above circumstances, cases can be brought to the court by members who do recognise it’s jurisdiction. This is why the case against Israel is active and lawyers representing Israel have appeared in the court to defend the state from the charges.

I will conclude this the first part of this series with this clip from the ICC which I think sets the tone for PART TWO.