If non-alignment is right in Ukraine, it’s right in the Middle East too

The situation in Gaza is so fluid it’s difficult to keep up, but according to Palestinian health authorities, 12,000 people have been killed, among them almost 5,000 children,  in just over a month since Israel launched its air and ground operation. The UN said more than 100 of its employees have died. The conflict has also taken a toll on those reporting on it; 42 journalists have died.

The mounting civilian deaths and the enormous destruction have divided world opinion like never before. US President Joe Biden this week appealed to Israeli forces to spare the hospitals, as if to suggest that anything else was fair game. The pleas fell on deaf ears as Israel shelled and raided Gaza’s biggest hospital. The army claims that Hamas uses the hospital as a command centre. Asked about civilian casualties, a senior army officer said the aim was damage, not accuracy.

It’s been difficult to watch the carnage. One cannot imagine the trauma and utter helplessness that people living — and dying — under such bombardments have to endure. The invasion of Gaza is a response to the Hamas attacks on October 7 in which about 1,400 civilians were killed and 240 people taken hostage. It has been described as the worst killing of Jews since the Holocaust.

There’s not a shred of evidence that Hamas was going after military targets or institutions of state. The attack on civilians was deliberate and premeditated. Hamas and its supporters have been bragging about it as though it was some honourable achievement. But the killing of innocent civilians, especially children, cannot be justified under any circumstance. It’s just beyond the pale, and should be condemned outright. Even captured combatants enjoy some protection under the Geneva Convention.

The Hamas attack, and Israel’s response to it, have led to impassioned demonstrations for and against around the world. Families are divided and there has been a rise in anti-Semitism. Islamophobia, too, is increasing.

It’s become hard to discuss the issue without being accused of favouring one side or the other. But it should be simple to empathise with the suffering on both sides. As one astute US commentator put it: “It should be possible to feel the pain in one community without denying it in another.”

We’re doomed to live together, and we have to choose whether to share this land, or to share the graveyard under it

—  Israeli peace activist Rami Elhanan

Israel boasts one of the best intelligence networks in the world and it’s hard to understand how Hamas was able to carry out such a brazen and devastating attack with the benefit of total surprise.

The war has thrust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu front and centre. He’s on trial on a string of charges including bribery, fraud and breach of trust. His “reform” of the judiciary, widely seen as an attempt to weaken it, provoked a storm of protest domestically. And many Israelis blame him for the lapses  that allowed Hamas to spring their surprise incursion.

A recent poll found that more than 70% of Israelis want him to go, a sentiment supported by Haaretz, one of the country’s leading newspapers. Netanyahu, who leads perhaps the most right-wing government since the founding of the Jewish state, obviously doesn’t speak for all Israelis and to criticise him doesn’t amount to a anti-Semitism or an attack on Israel.

The war offers him a way to once and for all kill the idea of a two-state solution, which he has always opposed.

Some have sought to defend the killing of civilians in Gaza by saying they should have removed Hamas from power. But there hasn’t been an election in Gaza since 2006 when Hamas defeated Fatah, a faction of the Palestine Liberation Organistion. And the Israeli government welcomed the development because it saw Fatah as a more significant foe.

The conflict has left many around the world speaking from both sides of their mouths. Biden, who before October 7 was lukewarm towards Netanyahu, has since wholeheartedly embraced him. But that support could come at a price. It’s enraged the progressive wing of his party, especially young people, and the coalition that propelled him to power seems to be fraying. With elections due next year, that may not be good news for him.

But it is Vladimir Putin, the monster in Moscow, who can’t believe his luck. The conflict has removed Ukraine from the headlines, and he’s smiling all the way to his next massacre. The other aspect is that those who care about the killing of civilians in Gaza seem to think they are expendable in Ukraine, and vice versa. It’s muddied the waters, and certainly leaves Western leaders sounding hypocritical when they rail against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Given our history, it’s understandable that the South African government should be passionate about these events. But it should react in a manner that promotes unity in South Africa, rather than deepening the divides.

Making common cause with Hamas is wrong. The government should behave like exactly that, a government, and not like a political party. It should temper emotions. The call for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador is not only misguided but could backfire. You expel the ambassador, and then what? Have you thought about the consequences? We’re currently on bended knees, begging the Americans to extend the African Growth & Opportunity Act. Do you think they’ll look kindly on our entreaties after such a reckless act?

At some point a ceasefire — a word many leaders find difficult to utter — will have to be agreed. The longer the conflict goes on, the harder it will be for people to talk. Rami Elhanan, an Israeli citizen and peace activist whose 14-year-old daughter was killed by a Hamas suicide bomb some years ago, says Israel and the Palestinians have been in “a circle of blood” for 75 years, and this was just another vicious round.

“You cannot put 2-million people in a box, close the cover, and expect nothing will happen,” he says. “They will not go away. We will not go away. We’re doomed to live together, and we have to choose whether to share this land, or to share the graveyard under it.”