<p class="bodytext">In blocking a flotilla of about 40 boats headed to Gaza with aid, and detaining activists including Greta Thunberg, Israel has thumbed its nose at an international leadership that remains silent on its war crimes. This interception of vessels and detention of solidarity activists in waters policed by Israel is the brazen extension of a strategy to weaponise starvation in the war-ravaged enclave. The flotilla, transporting food and medicine, was seen as an inspired stroke of resistance against Israel’s blockade in Gaza. The incident has triggered protests in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. But the West’s response to the massive, ongoing humanitarian crisis – people-led protests notwithstanding – has been limited to statements of condemnation.</p>.Palestine needs more than a stamp of statehood.<p class="bodytext">Some countries, such as the US, are guilty of enabling the war crimes; others are aiding and abetting by supplying arms and workers; and there are those who are complicit but posture with statements of support for the people in Gaza. Palestinian supporters in the US have been criminalised and deported. In Europe, its economic powerhouse, Germany, is in the news for the violence its security forces unleash against those protesting Israel’s war crimes. The recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin saw early signs of a Russia-India-China troika – a new, critical formation with global import – that also contented itself with mere words that are unlikely to deter Israel from its relentless offensive.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Few seem to be moved by a mid-September report by independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, which accused the Benjamin Netanyahu government of genocide in Gaza. The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, led by former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, also called on the international community to end the genocide. The panel, established in 2021, said its latest findings were the most authoritative on the situation in Gaza. Israel rejected the findings, calling it “distorted and false”. The US has lost its claim and capability for global leadership, and nothing can be expected of the Donald Trump regime on humanitarian issues, particularly when it involves the US-patronised Netanyahu. As Israel asserted itself as an expansionist state with impunity, major Western powers even backed its right to “defend itself”. The latest blockade of aid to Gaza further reveals the resolve with which Israel is waging its war on a hapless people. The SCO, especially the RIC axis within, and the G20 should intervene swiftly and decisively on the right side of history to uphold the Palestinian people’s right to live.</p>
<p class="bodytext">In blocking a flotilla of about 40 boats headed to Gaza with aid, and detaining activists including Greta Thunberg, Israel has thumbed its nose at an international leadership that remains silent on its war crimes. This interception of vessels and detention of solidarity activists in waters policed by Israel is the brazen extension of a strategy to weaponise starvation in the war-ravaged enclave. The flotilla, transporting food and medicine, was seen as an inspired stroke of resistance against Israel’s blockade in Gaza. The incident has triggered protests in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. But the West’s response to the massive, ongoing humanitarian crisis – people-led protests notwithstanding – has been limited to statements of condemnation.</p>.Palestine needs more than a stamp of statehood.<p class="bodytext">Some countries, such as the US, are guilty of enabling the war crimes; others are aiding and abetting by supplying arms and workers; and there are those who are complicit but posture with statements of support for the people in Gaza. Palestinian supporters in the US have been criminalised and deported. In Europe, its economic powerhouse, Germany, is in the news for the violence its security forces unleash against those protesting Israel’s war crimes. The recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin saw early signs of a Russia-India-China troika – a new, critical formation with global import – that also contented itself with mere words that are unlikely to deter Israel from its relentless offensive.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Few seem to be moved by a mid-September report by independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, which accused the Benjamin Netanyahu government of genocide in Gaza. The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, led by former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, also called on the international community to end the genocide. The panel, established in 2021, said its latest findings were the most authoritative on the situation in Gaza. Israel rejected the findings, calling it “distorted and false”. The US has lost its claim and capability for global leadership, and nothing can be expected of the Donald Trump regime on humanitarian issues, particularly when it involves the US-patronised Netanyahu. As Israel asserted itself as an expansionist state with impunity, major Western powers even backed its right to “defend itself”. The latest blockade of aid to Gaza further reveals the resolve with which Israel is waging its war on a hapless people. The SCO, especially the RIC axis within, and the G20 should intervene swiftly and decisively on the right side of history to uphold the Palestinian people’s right to live.</p>
