Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

The Crime of Silence on Israeli Massacres against Palestinians | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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During the Israeli operation, dubbed “Hot Winter”, we were painfully watching the carnage of Palestinian infants and children disrupted by the Israeli tool of malignancy. In the meantime, I was daily checking the foreign media, trying to find any condemnation or even any call to “exercise restraint” from any western politician.

By Wednesday March 5, 2008, at least /123/ Palestinians were killed, of whom /39/ were infants, /12/ were mothers. This horrid carnage of innocent civilians was not enough for western “civilized” or international “democratic” authority to denounce the killing of innocent children by tanks and missiles, made and financed by USA. All western newspapers, news agencies, TVs and radio stations contributed in uncurling a discreditable silence on these crimes. This is not surprising because all western newspapers are being subjected to strict instructions to ignore the war on Arabs.

Subtitles varied between accusing the Palestinian resistance rockets of being responsible for the Israeli bloodbaths in Gaza, to threats made by Israeli officials of Holocaust for the people of Gaza, and Rice’s known stance of blaming the Palestinians as being responsible for the Israeli massacres. During this bloody terrible week, no western newspaper published anything about the Israeli missiles that comminuted Palestinian kids in their houses.

I have not read any article about the horrible Israeli crimes. Headlines varied between “Lull in Gaza violence as thousands protest: Israeli minister vows to stop rockets” (Herald Tribune, March 1-2, 2008), “Only a new President can end Gaza’s nightmare” (The Independent, March 3, 2008), “A Gaza Quagmire for Israel” (The Time Magazine, March 4, 2008), “Hamas rockets bring Israeli city in range: Military launches fresh incursion into Gaza” (The Guardian, March 5, 2008), “Olmert warns of more fighting soon as Israel pulls troops out of Gaza: Prime Minister says goal is to weaken Hamas” (Herald Tribune, March 6, 2008), “Israeli minister warns of Holocaust for Gaza: Huge military operation seen as almost inevitable” (The Guardian, March 1, 2008).

Many news agencies agreed on showing that all the shameful Israeli crimes and murders are reactions to the Palestinian rockets. Olmert himself admitted that the rockets are not the only reason for these crimes, just as he admitted that his war on Lebanon was not a response to the detention of the two Israeli soldiers! This wordage has even acquitted Israel of its crimes as we read in the British Independent “rocket fire from Gaza will result in a Palestinian ‘holocaust”. The entire Western world is accusing the Palestinians of being responsible for the Israeli perpetrations against Palestinian children, and their land. This is the latest version of Western hypocrisy in blaming the Palestinian victims and vindicating the Israeli perpetrators of horrid crimes. This view has been totally changed when the Israelis were murdered.

Suddenly, statements of condemnation of the “massacre” and “terrorism” appeared when Jewish students were shot dead at a school for extremist rabbis in Jerusalem. Many stories on the rabbinical students were published in the front pages of all western newspapers with bold headlines such as “Massacre in the heart of Jerusalem” (The Independent, March 7, 2008).

Those newspapers did never mention any thing about the Palestinian infants who were killed by the Israeli troops. This is obviously displayed in what the Economist wrote on March 6, 2008 “The bloody conundrum of Gaza: The Israelis and Palestinians are trapped in a lethal stalemate, and the Islamists of Hamas refuse to be destroyed”.

The escalated events during the last two weeks should convince the Arabs that the Security Council cannot censure Israel for its heinous crimes, and that the US Veto is ready to be used to guarantee flouting the blood of Arabs and their lives. Arabs should know that the “International Community” failed in denouncing any crime of killing innocent children. So, what is the solution?

Israeli “Hot Winter” massacres would effloresce an Arab spring imbued with the soul of resistance. Ehud Barack will discover this time that massacres do not attain security for the Israeli murderer. Sacrifices are so huge, and this is a result of the “civilized and democratic” world ignorance of the crimes committed in its name and by its weapons in the daylight against Arab civilians. No fair word is published in the “free” Western “democratic” media! There should be a day when we will look at those hypocrites and remind them of their crimes of silence towards the Israeli massacres against Arab children!