Before delving into an assessment of both the Hamas and Israeli atrocities I must first debunk the massive propaganda that has been espoused to convince people that this all started when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year.

The facts are that Hamas was only formed in 1987 and Israel’s atrocities have been perpetrated from its very formation in 1948, and even before, by Zionist gangs seeking to drive Palestinians from their land to create the state of Israel. Over 3/4 million Palestinians were driven from their homes, and thousands were slaughtered. Many of those refugees ironically ended up in Gaza where they and their children have been attacked and slaughtered for years.

Ironically, the first terrorists who were a part of this conflict included people who later became Israeli prime ministers, these include Menachem Begin, who was wanted as a terrorist by the British for the infamous bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem; Yitzak Shamir, a member of the Stern Gang, was also wanted by the British for being a terrorist; and Ariel Sharon, while not personally labelled by the British as a terrorist, was an active member of the Haganah — another terrorist gang.

Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, “was known to use intimidatory tactics such as extorting money from wealthy Jews at gunpoint to raise funds for Jewish Worker”, according to Wikipedia. Indeed, it seems that one of, if not the only qualification needed to be an Israeli prime minister was that of being a terrorist or violent mobster.

Interestingly, the first Israeli prime minister to take concrete steps towards peace, with the signing of the Oslo Accord, was gunned down by a right-wing Israeli fanatic for attempting to make peace. He was never labelled a terrorist and his brother, who was an accomplice, was recently pardoned and released from prison. So much for the lauded Israeli justice system in which innocent Palestinians, both men and women, are raped by Israeli soldiers.

The present Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems intent on outdoing all his predecessors in terms of war crimes and atrocities. His Likud party, in its charter, calls for a “Greater Israel”, which includes parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, and he has had the audacity to show a map of Israel — at the UN no less — disregarding any recognition of Palestinian land. He himself faces multiple corruption charges in the Israeli courts and potentially massive jail terms once he vacates the office of prime minister. That is, in my opinion, probably a major motivation to escalate the war, along with drawing attention away from the failure to stop or minimise the Hamas attack on October 7.

At this point it is important to distinguish between Jews and Zionist and Zionism. The fanatical right-wing Zionists love to label any criticism as “anti-Semitic” and keep projecting that they are speaking on behalf of Jews. Some of them don’t even attend the synagogue and aren’t even practising Jews. In fact, millions of Jews around the world do not support the atrocities committed by Netanyahu, and a very high percentage of the protesters in the US are Jews.

I liken it to a mafioso responding to criminal charges by saying he is being targeted because he is Italian. Those who believe in Zionism are also very diverse in what they believe its aims and intentions are, a subject that is rarely explored but definitely should be.

Now let’s examine some facts related to the conflict. Palestinians, especially in Gaza, are projected as somewhat backward and terrorist-leaning, and nothing could be further from the truth. Look at the Palestinians who migrated to all parts of the world over the last century, and look at their role in their new homeland and that of their children. For the most part, the picture is of a successful and peaceful people who contribute to society.

The Palestinians in Gaza are highly educated and industrious despite decades of occupation. Their literacy level is 98.7 per cent. Ironically, it is higher than that of Israel at 97.8 per cent.

With regard to the recent atrocities perpetrated by Hamas, 1,179 people were reported killed, but many of those were soldiers attacked in their barracks. Claims by Israel that babies were burnt and beheaded have since been debunked by international investigative journalist as well as Israeli sources.

Hamas, undoubtedly, would be guilty of war crimes for killing innocent civilians; however, it would have been possible to investigate this and hold those accountable for these crimes with the help of the international community, as was done in the Balkans conflict. That’s the civilised way of doing things, it’s called the rule of law. What is happening now is depleting all our humanity — labelling people, then massacring them.

Those who are not yet convinced that Israel is committing genocide must be totally unaware of the facts or have buried their heads very deep in the sand.

According to reports, since this latest onslaught by Israel, over 85 per cent of homes in Gaza have been totally destroyed or severely damaged, and 850 schools have been attacked, many totally demolished or severely damaged. Most of these attacks on schools have resulted in the deaths of children and families sheltering in these schools. And many of those schools are run by UNWRA and other international aid organisations. Additionally, 15 universities have been demolished or severely damaged and no school is functioning.

Reports further state that 177 journalists and media workers have been murdered. This figure exceeds all the journalist killed in world wars one and two as well as the Vietnam and Korean wars combined.

Israel has blocked off food, water, electricity, and medical supplies, causing starvation. It has destroyed roads and infrastructure. The official death toll (based on bodies recovered and identified) is over 43,000, but the esteemed British journal
Lancelet estimates that it is really over 200,000 based on people buried under the ruble and those that have disappeared.

In the last 22 days Israel has laid siege to northern Gaza, driving the people out, including storming a hospital.

In light of all this evidence, anyone who doesn’t see this as a genocide clearly has no moral compass, an affliction that, sadly, is affecting more and more people. The Palestinians deserve their freedom and their homeland. Judaism and Jews do not need to be smeared by the Israeli Government.

The world does not need to be exposed to this televised atrocity. The world needs an end to this genocide which demeans our humanity and only serves to escalate decades of suffering.