Out of control: The IDF has deliberately attacked the Unifil in Labenon, injuring at least 20 peacekeepers. — AFP
ONLY Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows when the terror and genocidal acts against people in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon will stop.
He does not care about the world’s call for a ceasefire of the military operation that has displaced millions in Palestine and Lebanon.
The world is powerless, including the United Nations Security Council. Worse, the council and United States President Joe Biden seem to just let Netanyahu continue his savagery.
News coverage of the war in Gaza and Lebanon has been dominated by pro-Israel Western media organisations and very often journalists who offer different perspectives of the conflict have been harassed or even dismissed.
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has also deliberately attacked the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) observation tower and other facilities in Naqura, and Unifil’s main gate in Ramyah. At least 20 peacekeepers were wounded, including three Indonesian soldiers.
Indonesia condemned the attack, warning the IDF that any offense against peacekeepers was considered a “gross violation of the international humanitarian law”. But does Israel care?
After more than a year since the attack and kidnapping committed by Hamas on Oct 7 last year, there has been no signs of an end to the conflict. Instead, Israel has kept the wheels of its war machines turning even faster.
It is disappointing that despite the fact that the crisis is worsening, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) have opted to be silent and to ignore the horrifying tragedy unfolding in Gaza and Lebanon. They have not done enough to bring peace back to the territories. Their lack of action contradicts their written condemnation presented during the UN General Assembly in New York last month.
In their statement, they expressed deep concerns over the continued crimes by Israel, the illegal occupying power, and the growing scale of its brutal aggression on the State of Palestine, including the crimes of genocide, settler terrorism, field execution, arbitrary arrest, torture, rape, enforced disappearance, starvation, blockade and forced expulsion of citizens.
They also called on the Security Council to assume its responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security and to implement its relevant resolutions, including Resolution 2735, imposing an immediate, comprehensive and sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
That’s all. In fact, they could have done more other than just issue condemnation. For many of them, Iran, the main sponsor and arms supplier of Hamas and Hezbollah, looks much more dangerous and frightening than Israel. Iran’s missile strikes on Israel earlier this month have raised fears of Israeli retaliation, which could exacerbate the conflict and force major powers into the fray.
Netanyahu’s hardline government has justified the war as a response to the barbaric acts of Hamas, which has held hundreds of Israeli people hostage following the Oct 7 attack last year. But the mass killings of more than 42,000 Palestinian people, mostly women and children, and the displacement of millions of others only shows that Israel intends to eliminate Palestine, despite its claim to support a two-state solution.
It is just a matter of time before the world will pay the high price for failing to stop Netanyahu’s war crimes. As has happened in the past, terrorist groups will spread fear, kill the innocent in random attacks in a response to what they call injustice and oppression against the Muslim world. The quicker the UN Security Council, the OIC and the world find a solution to the protracted conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, the more lives will be saved, and vice versa. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
