A Year of Israeli brutality on Palestinian People, And the Resistance and Perseverance of the People of Gaza
Mohammad Ajmal
Since October 7, 2023, the ongoing human tragedy in Gaza has completed one year and counting. In this one year, approximately 43 thousand people were martyred, in which more than 40 percent are children, millions of people were injured and 10 thousand are still missing. Burial could not be performed due to the dead bodies being dormant under the debris of the buildings. More than 80 percent of Gaza’s infrastructures were razed to the ground, and there is no area of Gaza left where human life can be lived with basic needs. But in this year-long war, the courage, valor and sacrifices of the people of Gaza have exposed the reality of Israel to the world.
In this one year, from the condemnation of Israel by the United Nations to the issuance of the arrest warrant of the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu by the International Court of Justice, is a historic development, and this is also the first of Israel’s international retreats. Israel, which until today was massacring the oppressed Palestinians at the behest of international powers, today in the same countries there is a public outrage to withdraw support for Israel, and to some extent steps are being taken by these governments to satisfy their people.
Many western countries not only recognized Palestine as a state but also assured all possible support for Palestine. It was not an Islamic country that took Israel to the International Court of Justice, rather it is South Africa. Similarly, the governments in the West that believed to be unbiased human rights did not show the support for Israel that happened to become in the past.
The way the world conscience has reacted to Israel’s violations of basic human rights in this one year is a golden chapter in history. The academic awareness shown by the students and teachers in the universities of Israel’s biggest allies, the United States and the United Kingdom, and the students’ protest in which they demanded to withdraw support of Israel and the boycott of science and technology provided by Israel, and the way in which they expressed their democratic right and freedom of opinion, is promulgating the message of a changing world to raise its voice in favor of the oppressed Palestine.
Great Britain, which sowed the seed of the Israeli state in the heart of Palestine and laid the foundations of this state by forcibly evicting Muslims from their lands after the Balfour Declaration, today, Britain is withdrawing its appeal against the issuance of the Israeli Prime Minister’s warrant in the International Court of Justice due to public pressure. A broadcasting organization like the BBC, which was commonly accused by Muslims of supporting Israel, while covering the Israeli missile attack on a hospital in Gaza, called it an attack on a hospital is a grave violation of the laws of war.
Although, all this is just a few examples, there are many instances that have got world’s attention and received the Palestinian questions acceptance by the world after October 7, 2023. The Palestinians have achieved all this through their continuous struggle and sacrifices. Such an amazing display of global public opinion for the people of Palestine has never been seen before, so this year is as important as a century for the Palestinian issue.
If we compare Israel and Palestine militarily, after the events of October 7, 2023, the world and especially the global military establishment was surprised that the high-tech fence of the Jewish state, which was made an example throughout the globe, which costs more than one billion US dollars, how could it not only be trampled in just ten minutes, rather, one of the world’s most secure military bases was attacked and 250 people were taken hostage and taken to Gaza, which still seems unbelievable.
It has proven to be a complete failure of military, technological prowess and intelligence systems, and this was not done by any other world power, but by those who had been in captivity for years in an open prison, who did not have even a tenth of the Israeli technology, whose military strength and ability was not comparable in any form with Israel. Moreover, despite the complete destruction and capture of Gaza, not a single prisoner could be rescued alive, which is a complete failure of this Israeli military operation.
It was a year of dramatic change in the world, in which seven decades of killings, genocide, occupations and human rights violations were revealed. The world powers that were the basis of Israel’s existence until yesterday. Today, under public pressure, a realistic position is formulated in the light of public opinion and international law, unlike the Jewish state, it does not refrain from openly threatening these powers.
After the killing of about 1000 medical aid workers, 150 journalists and their families, the situation has reached such a point that the offices of international broadcasting organizations are being forcefully closed, journalists are being forcibly expelled from Palestine as undesirables. The one-year war has seen the highest number of deaths of UN agency workers historically. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres stands in the United Nations and declares that Israel is not listening to us, shows incapability of this international organization.
In this one year, the killing of the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, the two organizations that resisted Israel, could not make Israel safe. The number of rockets falling into Israel has increased and a large number of Israelis have now moved to bunkers or shelters. Israeli settlements near southern Lebanon and Gaza, up to 60 kilometers from the border, are now empty. The Israelis themselves are protesting on the streets of Israel against the extremist position of the Zionist government.
Globally, this year has been a nightmare for Israel, where each passing day not only informs the global conscience of Israel’s atrocities, but now also opens up the fortress of Jewish state impregnable defenses. Two divisions of Israel’s military forces on the ground are in Gaza, while two more divisions have been deployed on the Lebanese border following the situation created by the assassination of the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah.
According to the world-renowned journal ‘The Economist’, the Israeli army is facing a serious shortage of manpower and there are not enough soldiers to operate the military machinery. Israel’s economy is now a complete disaster. As per a report published in March 2024, Israel’s debt exceeded its total of three-year budget, and five months later, the situation has become even worse.
The history of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine and wars is as old as the history of the establishment of the Israeli state. However, the 1973 Arab-Israeli War is considered a decisive war after which Israel asserted its military might in the Middle East. In this 20-day war, Israel was roughed up against the military forces of Syria and Egypt, along with the Army of ten other countries, however, the war ended with an Israeli victory and Israel seized 1,600 square kilometers of territory along the Suez Canal from Egypt, and the Golan Heights of Syria, and its 500 square kilometers of area was converted into its settlement.
Israel’s most popular newspaper, the Jerusalem Post, compared this one-year war with the Arab-Israeli war of 1973 in its special publication on the completion of one year. In 1973, Israeli forces reached Damascus and Cairo in just three weeks, now after October 7, 2023 Israel conquered Gaza in three days. But it still could not protect Israel from attacks by Hamas; on the contrary Hamas has the ability to carry out an October 7 attack again. The newspaper further writes that if the two wars are compared, in 1973 the population of Israel was 3.3 million and 2,356 Israeli soldiers were killed in that war, which was the death of one person out of 1,242 in proportion to the population, while 295 soldiers were captured. While in 2023, the population of Israel was 9.8 million, and 1,697 people have been killed in this year, of which 885 are soldiers and 812 are civilians. It is devastating in that sense, that these killings are far more civilian than in the past, and that 91 percent of the prisoners held by Hamas are civilians. The newspaper wrote on this situation that there is a fundamental difference between the imprisonment of civilians and the detention of soldiers, and in this 50-year period, most of the dead are civilians, which is a cause of great shock, sorrow and grief in Israel.
Notwithstanding, the newspaper did not write a single word about more than 43,000 people killed in Palestine in retaliation for the killing of these 1,700 people. However, the actual situation is this, that even one Israeli soldier or civilian is more important to them than a hundred thousand Palestinians are. The current situation for Israel is not only militarily frightening in terms of the fact that Israel, which has not only defeated the armies of 12 countries fifty years ago, and had also conquered their territories, currently it is confronting with the militia forces, and not able to rescue its captors either. In frustration, Israeli army kills mostly civilians; among them are children, women and elderly people.
According to the New York Times editorial of October 7, 2024, Israel is surrounded by an endless war. In one year, Israel has become more insecure, its wings have been torn apart in international politics, it has failed to achieve the results it envisioned, despite stifling freedom of expression and scattering human rights. One year of this war is a prelude to Israel’s greatest military defeat. The International community has also seen the claimant of human rights and the double standards of the most powerful nations. This year has been a year of amazing changes in the world, and the year to come will surely be the year of complete freedom from the oppression of the people of Palestine, and all this will be the fruit of the eternal sacrifices of the Palestinian people.
A year into the ongoing tension between Israel and the Palestinians, talks and claims of Jewish visions of a Greater Israel have begun to emerge from Israeli officials. In this regard, Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smutrich has claimed in a TV interview that “I openly declare that I am a supporter of a Jewish state that stretches from the Nile River to the Euphrates”, he further states, “people may not take me seriously but what I say comes true”. The Jews call this imaginary state the Promised Land, that is, the one promised in their religious books. This statement by the Zionist Finance Minister is actually based on the ancient concept that such a Jewish state is prophesied in the Bible. Under this concept, the proposed Jewish state includes Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq beyond the Nile River. Not only this, but Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza are also decorated with badges containing maps of Greater Israel.
After that, a very hot atmosphere between France’s Emanuel Macron and Netanyahu continued to be discussed in the same trend. Some people think that this “Greater” may be just a propaganda, because in reality there are no many Jews in the world, so why are they willing to take such a large land? The Jews are not growing, their population around the world is said to be barely 150 million, of which 6 million are in America and 7 million are in Israel. The remaining 2 million live peacefully in France, Canada, Britain, Russia, Germany, Australia etc. They would never want to leave their assets and settle in this proposed region. However, after the Al-Aqsa storm, this topic has definitely taken its place. Because no country in the world is able to control Israel, it has become uncontainable and has invaded Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. In this situation, the US and the UK are standing with Israel as supporters.
One important aspect is that the anti-American camp i.e. Russia and China are not taking this situation seriously, nonetheless, in response to the support of the United States, a very good cry has been heard for many days that “Israel has the right to defend itself”. But what is the meaning of the right to defend of the land that has been occupied by Israel itself? And how can Israel have this right? Literally, this right belongs to the Palestinians whose land has been occupied and it has been constantly taken away from the Palestinian people.
In the era of modern nation-states, if any other country had shown this intention to grab the lands of any country in whole or in part, then the US and Western countries would have raised a storm by calling it an aggressor and resort it to international law. However, The Zionist state, being the darling and favorite of the West, does the same and advertises such maps and shows such intentions, but the world has kept mum and shows the criminal silence on its face.
The matter of surprise is that even those countries seem unable to show any strong reaction to it, whose existence is threatened by the concept greater Israel. All these Arab countries did not show any official reaction to this statement of the Israeli minister. This style of turning a blind eye to a cat like a pigeon has become the tragedy of the Arab world. They have been so skillfully put into the inner recesses that they have lost their self-esteem, self-confidence and faith in God. While they could have showed the ability to become a flame, they disappeared one after another from the scene very cleverly.
One must not forget the story of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, which started with him and ended with Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. All of them died an unnatural death. King Faisal, who demonstrated the power and weaponization of oil, was killed by a bullet and disappeared from the scene, and thus the nucleus of unity in the Arab and Muslim world was destroyed at that time. Later, Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, who showed eyes to Israel in different periods, became victims of a mysterious wave called the Arab Spring and were treated very uneventfully.
The only result of the Arab Spring that came against the will and purpose of the United States was the end of the power of Hosni Mubarak, the proven ally of the United States in Egypt and then the presidency of Mohammed Morsi in the Egyptian general elections. America did not waste much time in correcting this mistake with the help of the Arab countries and after only one year, the government of Mohammed Morsi was met with an unnatural end. Later, Mohammed Morsi also suffered an unnatural death in prison. Syria’s Bashar al-Assad was also an undesirable character from Israel’s point of view, who tried hard to sacrifice the waves of the Arab Spring, but Russia sent military reinforcements to save its old ally. Bashar al-Assad was saved from being a victim like other so called radical Arab rulers.
After 9/11, the United States came to the conclusion that instead of carrying the corpses of Arab monarchies on its shoulders, democracy should be introduced in the Arab world, but the figures that emerged from democracy in Egypt by electing Morsi, were not liked by the United States, so America gave up their intention in the Arab world, to sell the deal of democracy and adopted the path of unconditionally accepting the authoritarian regimes. As it is well-known that America has no foreign policy in the region, rather Israel’s policy is America’s policy.
Israel’s interest in the region is America’s first priority. Now Iran is the only country in a position to challenge it in the Gulf and it has also been targeted. The rest of the Arab countries have bowed down before Israel. Ironically, the burden of the rulers of the Muslim countries is being imposed on the people. The purpose of bringing the expediency and compulsions of the Muslim and Arab rulers to the people is to end the sensitivity regarding the first Qibla, the Aqsa Mosque and Palestine and to defuse the anti-Israel sentiments.
The situation in Syria is not good either, the Russian camp, the Iranian camp, the Sunni camp, the American camp, the Saudi camp, the Turkish camp, the ISIS camp, are all working here. But at this time the antagonism is with a common enemy who has very terrible ambitions. The resisting forces, on the field, can determine who is with us in this war and who is not. So one can decide itself in this blind, terrible and dangerous war with whom to stand with!
This week Israel carried out its 105th attack on Syria in the 9 months between January and October. The destruction of the building in Damascus city and the bodies of innocent women and children were scattered, telling the spread of Israeli brutality. It’s an air distance of up to 200 km only, but it’s not just a distance, it’s a different country. What is mentioned in the blessed Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ about Syria and Yemen is of an utmost importance. Though this is not my subject of discussion as of now, but it is certain that the situation is being created exactly as the Prophet Muhammadﷺ has indicated.
Global propaganda against Hamas continues on social media, while monitoring social media throughout the year, it has been noticed that there have been no demonstrations for attacks in Lebanon, Yemen, Syria. This is the reality of fake “human rights”. Why were there no “humans” who were targeted by Israeli missiles in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen? Why were 13 innocent women and children not “humans” in the building in Damascus that was hit by a missile on October 17? This is the fact that we repeatedly explain that ‘Man and Human’ are two completely different things. As many people will be targeted in Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, you will not hear a word of “human rights” from anywhere. This is exactly the same situation that was created in Afghanistan during the “Daisy Cutter” and those people do not come under the criteria of “human rights”.
In Europe, there can be held protests against the massacre in Gaza, but it is not allowed in the Muslim countries. Even in the United Nations meetings, the Muslim rulers did not bother to mention the name of Israel and Netanyahu. The very defensive, humble and fiduciary attitudes have boosted the morale of the Israeli leadership to such an extent that they are showing the intention of a geographical upheaval in the region by chanting Greater Israel, which is not possible at least with the current world system.
If a Muslim country or group comes out of such a framework in the current world system, it would have been declared and certified a global terrorist by the United States, but Israel is showing such intentions in public, despite that, no reaction from anywhere is being made. Greater Israel is no longer an imaginary thing, but Israel has designed the blue print to sketch out of its ancient religious concepts by practically erasing the existence of Palestinians.
In this way, the last signs of resistance are also weakening in Palestine. The outcome of Israel’s attack on resistance forces like Hamas and Hezbollah is pathetic. All other resistance forces, including Hamas and Hezbollah in containing the path to Greater Israel of the Zionist state, cannot operate in space without external support.
In this so called ongoing war for the last one year and counting, on October 16, 2024, the Israeli army killed the new head of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, and three of his associates during an operation in Tal al-Stan neighborhood of Rafah after a fierce battle. The killing of Yahya Sinwar is neither the first martyrdom nor the last one. The founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza in 2004, a month later, in April 2004, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin’s successor, Abdul Aziz al-Rantisi, was assassinated in an Israeli missile attack in Gaza. Similarly, on July 31, 2024, Israel attacked the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas and former prime minister of Palestine, who travelled to Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected Iranian president Masoud Pezishkian. On the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the leadership of the Hamas fell into the hands of Yahya Sinwar, and now on October 16, Sinwar also died while fighting with the Israeli soldiers.
The successors of Sheikh Ahmad Yasin and Ismail Haniya laid down their lives fighting bravely for the honor of Masjid al-Aqsa and the protection of their sacred land, but his martyrdom will give birth to more courageous successors like him. Yahya Sanwar was a charismatic personality; he lived all the way his life with great bravery, he was born in 1962 to a working-class family in the Gaza Strip and became part of the Palestinian resistance movement as a teenager. His personality was one of exceptional capable and perseverance. He was captured by Israeli soldiers in 1989 and languished for 22 years in a prison of Israel. In 2011, a number of Palestinian prisoners, including Yahya Sinwar, were released in the Gilat Shalit exchange. He lived his entire life for one vision and never compromised with his objective and purpose, he was a mountain of hope and determination to the Palestinian people.
The killing of Yahya Sinwar is a tragic event in the context of the resistance movement and the global Islamic struggle. Most part of the Islamic world fell into sorrow and gloom from his death. Yahya Sinwar has always been one of the most important leaders of Hamas who dedicated his life to the Palestinian people’s freedom, national sovereignty and endless struggle against Israeli occupation.
His life is an important chapter in Palestinian history. He bravely confronted the hardships of imprisonment, exile and brutality and died fighting bravely with his enemy till his last breath. At the time of martyrdom, a prayer beeds and a few prayer booklets were recovered from his pocket and was dressed in military uniform. He fought his enemies like a trained soldier, a leader, a fighter; his killing is an irreparable loss to the struggle for Palestine liberation. Sinwar sacrificed his life for a great cause and made the Muslims proud and also proved that the Palestinian leadership fights from the front and keeps themselves at the front line of the battle ground, he did not shield women and children but in practice, he fought his enemies while being helpless.
Today, where are the insensitive Muslim rulers and their fellow Jews and Christians who declare humanity as a religion? In such a situation when little innocent children are dying of hunger and thirst at the surrounding of Jabalia camp. How do these oppressed people living amidst the sounds of terrible explosions? The insensitive and shameless Muslim countries and the international communities should consider these oppressed people as human beings if not Muslims, and let the world know the crime of these oppressed and innocent people? And it should also be questioned why they are being killed on their own land, and are forced to displace their own houses?
After the Al-Aqsa storm on October 7, more than 45,000 Palestinian have been victims of Israel’s cruelty and brutality. How beautiful and charming is this statement of Yahya Sinwar, who fought till death, which gives a new life, strength and power to the Palestinian people. Yahya Sinwar said, “The best gift my enemy can give me is to kill me and to be martyred in the hands of my enemy and get the highest honor of meeting with Almighty Allah.” He further said: “I would rather die by a missile of the occupation forces than die of Corona or a heart attack or brain shock; I prefer martyrdom rather than physical death”.
While penning down these lines, according to reports, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has begun his 11th visit to the Middle East to expedite the ceasefire talks, however, as per the Hamas leadership and other political analysts confirmed that this visit of Anthony Blinken will not be different from earlier ones, rather he has come to the region to support the positions of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and will give him a green light to continue his aggression against the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples and even Iran.
(The Author, Dr. Mohammad Ajmal is an Assistant Professor at Centre of Arabic and African Studies School of Language, JNU, New Delhi)
{The views expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and do not represent the stance of Eastern Crescent}