The harsh Israeli revenge war that has shattered Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon and now may expand into Iran has exposed a serious rift in the concept of the universality of human rights. Since Oct. 7, 2023, we’ve learned that not all lives matter and not all countries are held accountable for their actions.
Many nations that preach human rights, the rule of law and freedom of expression have reacted unequally to the deaths and detention of Israeli civilians and combatants as compared with the deaths of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians and combatants. Because Hezbollah is deemed a terrorist group, Israel’s booby-trapping of cellphones and pagers issued by the organization largely gets a pass, even though the devices blew up and injured or killed civilians in hospitals and shopping malls in Lebanon, in apparent violation of international law. The definition of “terrorism” — and “antisemitic” — has been eroded because of the identity of those engaged against Israel.
Despite efforts to reduce Middle East history to one moment, the Oct. 7 attacks, the world has learned that what happened to Israeli civilians and security forces on that day can’t and should not be taken out of context. The fierce Hamas attack was no more brutal than 75 years of denial of the right of return to Palestinian refugees, or 57 years of Israeli occupation, or the 17-year siege of the Gaza Strip.
Washington and its allies have been exposed for their double standards. On the one hand, they reject the occupation of Ukraine and impose stiff sanctions on Russia, and on the other, they supply the Israeli occupiers with weapons. Gaza suffered under merciless attack for months before a toothless U.N. Security Council cease-fire resolution was finally passed. It has yet to be implemented by Israel.
The international media, too, bear blame. They have fallen for lies, some of which were repeated by top Western officials, which may never be fully erased. There has been no evidence that children were beheaded on Oct. 7, and although sexual crimes happened, assertions of Hamas weaponizing and systematically carrying out rape have not been proven.
Attacks, including rape, on Palestinian detainees have gotten much less attention. The utter devastation of churches, mosques, schools, bakeries and hospitals in Gaza gets glossed over by the media because Israel claims Hamas is embedded among civilians and “Israel has a right to self-defense.”
Few of those parroting these words have heeded the conclusion of Francesca P. Albanese, an international lawyer and the United Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories: “Israel cannot claim the right of self-defense against a threat that emanates from a territory it occupies, from a territory that is under belligerent occupation.” No one can factually contradict her, although many have unfairly accused her of antisemitism.
Except for rare instances, Israel has successfully kept international reporters out of Gaza, and its attacks have killed more than 100 Palestinian journalists, with an additional 130 cases still under investigation. Tamer Almisshal, a Gaza reporter for Al Jazeera, said at a media forum in Amman, Jordan, in September that Israeli intelligence officers called reporters and threatened them if they continued to report on the situation in Gaza. The Israeli military shut down the Al Jazeera bureau in the West Bank in September.
Thanks to courageous Palestinian journalists still on the ground, as well as social media and eyewitness reports from doctors and other humanitarian workers, the catastrophic violence being perpetuated against Gaza has broken through media restrictions. But constant attacks on West Bank villages, almost as devastating, encouraged by some Israeli leaders and carried out by armed settlers, have received much less coverage and little response.
The unjust war reveals the absence of a political process that could protect Palestinians. The United States, Britain and many European countries, as well as Australia, regularly repeat that they support a two-state solution as the cure for the Middle East’s intractable, century-old conflict. Yet those same countries refuse to recognize the existence of a Palestinian state.
The irony is that while Washington and its allies still call for two-state negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasts of “thwarting” that goal for decades. Israel wants Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to collaborate with it on security issues, but just weeks ago, the Israeli government prevented Abbas from even entering the Gaza Strip.
The lack of recognition of Palestine is just one of the policies that embolden Netanyahu’s intransigence. The primary agency offering serious help to Palestinians in Gaza, UNRWA — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East — has been crippled by the United States — alone among donor nations — continuing to withhold its crucial share of the agency’s funding.
The “pause” began because of Israeli allegations of UNRWA staff participation in the Oct. 7 attacks. The U.N. months ago debunked 10 of the claims and dismissed nine staffers who may have had a role, although Israel’s claims could not be fully corroborated. Demonizing UNRWA is more a reflection of bias than a representation of reality.
One year after Hamas’ attack and Israel’s response, international legal organizations, human rights groups and protesters throughout the world — especially on U.S. campuses — have shown their support for the thousands of civilian victims of the war in Gaza and the people of Palestine. Washington and its allies must do more to stop the runaway aggression of the Netanyahu administration and bring back sanity and fair play in the Mideast.
The war must end, and so must the occupation, so that Palestinians and Israelis can one day live in peace, each in their own recognized country.
Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist, a former professor of journalism at Princeton University and a columnist with Al-Monitor and Arab News. X: @daoudkuttab Threads: @daoud.kuttab
