When will Israel be held accountable for the unjust war it is waging in Gaza?

[Pelican Press 0]

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When will ******* be held accountable for the unjust war it is waging in Gaza?

The harsh ******** 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 ******** civilians and combatants as compared with the deaths of ************ and Lebanese civilians and combatants. Because Hezbollah is deemed a ********** group, *******’s ******-trapping of cellphones and pagers issued by the organization largely gets a pass, even though the devices blew up and injured or ******* 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 *******.

Despite efforts to reduce Middle East history to one moment, the Oct. 7 attacks, the world has learned that what happened to ******** civilians and security forces on that day can’t and should not be taken out of context. The fierce ****** ******* was no more brutal than 75 years of denial of the right of return to ************ refugees, or 57 years of ******** occupation, or the 17-year siege of the Gaza Strip.

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Washington and its allies have been exposed for their double standards. On the one hand, they ******* the occupation of Ukraine and impose stiff sanctions on Russia, and on the other, they supply the ******** occupiers with weapons. Gaza suffered under merciless *******

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before a toothless U.N. Security Council cease-***** resolution was finally passed. It has yet to be implemented by *******.

The international media, too, bear blame. They have fallen for *****, some of which were repeated by top Western officials, which may never be fully erased. There has been no evidence that

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on Oct. 7, and although ******* ******* happened, assertions of ****** weaponizing and

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have

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.

Attacks, including *****, on ************ 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 ******* claims ****** is embedded among civilians and “******* has a right to self-defense.”

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Few of those parroting these words have

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, an international lawyer and the ******* Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied ************ Territories: “******* 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, ******* has successfully kept international reporters out of Gaza, and its attacks have

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, with an additional 130 cases still under investigation. Tamer Almisshal, a Gaza reporter for Al Jazeera, said at a

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in Amman, Jordan, in September that ******** intelligence officers called reporters and threatened them if they continued to report on the situation in Gaza. The ******** military

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in the West Bank in September.

Thanks to courageous ************ journalists still on the ground, as well as social media and eyewitness reports from doctors and other humanitarian workers, the catastrophic ********* being perpetuated against Gaza has broken through media restrictions. But constant attacks on West Bank villages, almost as devastating, encouraged by some ******** leaders and carried out by armed settlers, have received much less coverage and little response.

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The unjust war reveals the absence of a political process that could protect Palestinians. The ******* States, Britain and many ********* 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 ************ state.

The irony is that while Washington and its allies still call for two-state negotiations, ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

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of “thwarting” that goal for decades. ******* wants ************ Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to collaborate with it on security issues, but just weeks ago,

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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 ******* Nations Relief and Works Agency for ************ Refugees in the Near East — has been crippled by the ******* States — alone among donor nations —  continuing to withhold its crucial share of the agency’s funding.

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The “pause” began because of ******** 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 *******’s claims could not be fully corroborated. Demonizing UNRWA is more a reflection of bias than a representation of reality.

One year after ******’ ******* and *******’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 ********.

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 ************ journalist, a former professor of journalism at Princeton University and a columnist with Al-Monitor and ***** News. X:

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#******* #held #accountable #unjust #war #waging #Gaza

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