The Needless Israeli-Hamas War: Reign of dishonesty & shameless double standards in the world
Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
In my last eclectic intervention, I pointed out at how the needless war between Israel and Hamas (operating as a terrorist organization) has led to many unfortunate deaths, abductions, injuries and destruction of valuable assets. Lives, once lost cannot be replaced while destroyed assets would take huge resources and valuable time to replace. Since my last writeup, I have received many feedbacks with some applauding my viewpoints and others highly critical of same because I did not join the hypocritical majority to demonize Israel.
In fact, one person called my writeup, a propaganda written by Israel and falsely published under my name. Those who know me would tell you without hesitation that I would not lend my name to such an absurdity. The world we live in today is so polluted and convoluted that it has lost its moral fibers and odious people now use their nefarious standards to judge others. I will continue to speak the truth as I see it because that is what I owe posterity. It is convenient for people who have not been at the receiving end to be idealistic and pontificate morality over serious issues.
These plethora of contrasting views explain why it seems difficult for the world to find solutions to these problems which in all sincerity are not beyond their solving. If you want to find a solution to a dispute between two persons, you must detach yourself from the issues in dispute. Unfortunately, what I find are situations where interested parties posture as arbiters with a predetermined end in mind. This is true of all parties without exception. People find it easy to condemn the barbaric attack of terrorist Hamas against the State of Israel on October 7, 2023 but their subsequent actions and arguments seem to justify the unfortunate action which is paradoxical.
The war is called Israel-Hamas War but some people are striving to make it an Israel vs Palestine war in order to propagate a predetermined narrative thus making Hamas to look innocuous. Nobody has bothered to ask why Hamas would start a fight and run back to hide in a network of tunnels it built in Gaza thereby using Palestinian civilians as human shields. Apart from Hamas, Islamic Jihad is another terrorist group implicated in this melodrama. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and private Palestinians civilians are known to be involved in the abduction and holding of the Israeli hostages. How then do you identify innocent civilian Palestinians in this circumstance? I refrain from using the word, INNOCENT PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS because, Hamas and Islamic Jihad Operatives live in the midst of these civilians and are not SPIRITS. If they are not complicit in aiding and abetting what Hamas and company are doing, they would not be covering the terrorists.
I am totally in support of HUMANITARIAN PAUSES BUT NOT IN SUPPORT OF ANY CEASEFIRE. Those who readily harp on CEASEFIRE SHOULD KNOW THAT THERE WAS A CEASEFIRE UP TILL OCTOBER 6, 2023 which Hamas unilaterally breached on October 7, 2023 when it attacked Israel and abducted her citizens as hostages which it in currently holding. A ceasefire now would amount to postponing the evil day. I am happy that IDF is allowing TACTICAL pauses and opening HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS for innocent civilian Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza for the relatively safer southern Gaza and for humanitarian aids to flow into Gaza as required. This window should be utilized by innocent civilians to leave northern Gaza where the war is fierce. The truth is that war brings about deaths and destruction on all sides but more on the weaker side as can be seen from what is going on in Gaza. Troublemakers and terrorists like Hamas and confederates should bear this in mind when taking actions that will precipitate war. Everybody should be concerned about the enamors DEATHS , DESTRUCTIONS AND DISPLACEMENTS IN GAZA BUT THAT IS THE REALITY OF WARS. This is why we are enjoined to avoid it. PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW THAT CAUSING A WAR AND HOPING TO EMPLOY PROPAGANDA AND WORLDWIDE PROTESTS TO FRUSTRATE YOUR OPPONENT CANNOT WORK IN ALL CASES. This is a typical example.
I believe that Israel must not occupy Gaza but must be assured of its security from incessant attacks by its neighbors. The two states must coexist and live in peace and whatever minor misunderstandings and differences between them can be sorted out gradually over time. Hamas is holding about 241 hostages ( I suspect it may be more than 250) and all the noises calling for ceasefire had not factored in the release of these hostages by Hamas and other non state actors. It does not make sense in calling for a ceasefire when Hamas & co are still holding on to these hostages. A ceasefire should be predicated upon the release of the hostages. The role of Russia in the whole crisis is despicable. It claims to have invaded a sovereign country, Ukraine to save Palestinians as if there is a nexus between what she is doing in Ukraine and what is happening in Gaza. These shows a leader who has become hysterical and thus lacking in coherence of thought processes. It is a matter for regrets that nobody is vehement in condemning Russia for invading Ukraine and murdering innocent civilians including abduction of about 4,000 Ukrainian children but people are quick to inveigh all manners of invectives against Israel for the same in not lesser offense.
What is going on in Ukraine is worse and less justified than what is happening in Gaza yet everybody is shouting INNOCENT PALESTINIANS as if the Ukrainians killed, maimed, abducted and displaced by Russia are GUILTY UKRAINIANS and less human beings. This is the HYPOCRISY AND DOUBLE STANDARDS of the world led by the UN which I quarrel about. As I said earlier, this war is between Israel and Hamas but I have not seen anybody call out Hamas and demand the UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF THE HOSTAGES FROM THEM . I have also not heard anybody ask Hamas to SURRENDER in this war which they are losing. They had no mandate for what they did. All I keep hearing is, STOP KILLING INNOCENT CIVILIAN PALESTINIANS without saying anything about Hamas terrorists and the hostages as if their lives do not also matter. Nobody has told us how Israel can fight Hamas who are taking refuge in a network of tunnels shielded by the so-called INNOCENT PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS without touching the civilians who are in harms way and have become cannon fodders. As I write, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are still firing ROCKETS into ISRAEL. Yet , these terrorists live in Gaza and are not invisible spirits. Some revisionists call them FREEDOM FIGHTERS but freedom fighters like ANC did not engage in mass murders and abductions. They sabotaged institutions through GUERRILLA WARFARE .
From my in-depth study of the situation in Israel, every Jew whether living in Israel or outside supports the war against Hamas. They see it as a war that would preserve their existence and lives. All the political parties are united on this and that is why it was easy to flawlessly form a bipartisan war cabinet to prosecute the war. The banner you see protesters waving and reading NOT IN OUR NAME is nothing but propaganda by people who are nothing but anti-semitists. ISRAEL AND PALESTINE MUST EXIST SIDE BY SIDE, NONE SHOULD GIVE WAY TO THE OTHER. When I see placards in most pro-Palestinian protests around the world reading, AWAY WITH THE JEWS, I shudder at what is happening. FATALISM SHOULD BE CONDEMNED BY ALL, IT SHOULD HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR MODERN CIVILIZATION. It is common knowledge that most of those who posture as activists across the world do so as their daily job. Most have no scruples and do not believe in what they champion. I used to think that those who pastor churches whether orthodox or Pentecostal are living saints until I learned that they are all businessmen and women with no spirituality in the drivers.
Consequently, I am not carried away by spurious demonstrations across the world or UN resolutions which have no moment on this Israel vs Hamas matter. If it was actually Palestinians and not Hamas who invaded, murdered and abducted Israelis on October 7, 2023, why are people pleading for criminals and terrorists calling them innocent Palestinian civilians ? Because I know that Hamas terrorists committed the barbaric acts, I urge innocent Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza as advised so that those Hamas terrorists would fight the war they started. Once again, there should be no ceasefire until the HOSTAGES ARE UNCONDITIONALLY RELEASED. Once again, I condemn ANTISEMITISM AND ISLAMOPHOBIA which are spreading like wildfire across the world because they are mere distractions. As I said in my previous writeup, this is not a religious war as a religious war in the Middle East will be more damning. The struggle can at best be described as an ETHNIC CRISIS BETWEEN THE PALESTINIANS AND THE JEWS OR BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES NAMELY; ISRAEL AND PALESTINE. Protagonists of ANTISEMITISM AND ISLAMOPHOBIA are playing God and this is HERETICAL. There are SAINTS IN ALL RELIGIONS just as there DEMONS. In similar fashion, there are saints in all countries just as there are demons therefore, DO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER. We have a responsibility in the world to INCREASE THE NUMBER OF SAINTS AND REDUCE THE NUMBER OF DEMONS. WE NEED TO PROMOTE LOVE AND DISCOURAGE HATE.
To avoid civilian casualties, the IDF has asked INNOCENT PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS to evacuate northern Gaza which is the theater of the war to the relatively safe southern Gaza but some have remained adamant, refusing to relocate giving flimsy excuses. Life has no duplicate and it is only a tree which remains still after it knows that it is going to be cut down. What is the motivation of those Palestinians who choose to die from the Israeli bombardment of northern Gaza instead of relocating to the relatively safer south as advised. I cannot place my hands on why those Palestinians choose to use their HEADS TO BREAK COCONUT. It is foolhardy and a grave error of judgement for Palestinian civilians to be taking refuge in hospitals and refugee camps when the IDF has continuously claimed that Hamas militants are embedded among Palestinian civilians taking refuge in hospitals and refugee camps.
The IDF also claim that the network of tunnels being used by Hamas are too close to the hospitals or crisscross under those humanitarian facilities. So instead of taking refuge there and be speaking big grammar, isn’t it wiser to evacuate northern Gaza to the southern Gaza as advised? There is the wise saying that, HE WHO FIGHTS AND RUNS AWAY LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY!!!! It is a written code that Israel cannot seize any part of Gaza from the evacuated Palestinians who are the land owners. In fact, everybody is agreed on this one fact. Giving a possible Israeli appropriation or seizure of land in northern Gaza as the reason some Palestinians are refusing to evacuate to southern Gaza is superfluous as it is a nonsensical excuse. Every sensible person has to deplore the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza but I believe that civilian Palestinians have to do their possible best to minimize it and one sure way to do it is by evacuating northern Gaza and the war front as advised by the IDF . The concern will be how to restore Gaza after the war because of the huge devastation it has suffered due to heavy bombings by the Israelis. The world has a role waiting for it here!!!!!
The tactics of Hamas in firing ROCKETS into Israel and running back to hide under tunnels in Gaza is not working and incapable of achieving anything meaningful apart from heavy losses of civilian lives and property. JAW-JAW IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN WAR-WAR. It should be made known to them in case they are under the illusion to the contrary that they can never defeat Israel in any war even with Iran and Hezbollah joining them. Israeli soldiers are battle tested unlike Iranian soldiers whose only war experience is the IRAQ—IRAN WAR IN WHICH THEY WERE WORSTED. Iran is only good at sponsoring terrorists to attack Israel and other enemies. They have not won a full fledged war with any other country talk less against the battle- tested Israel.
Iran is a highly divided country and ideologically polarized and unstable. Theirs is a very REPRESSIVE REGIME. The speed with which Israel was able to mobilize military reservists of up to 300,000 should send the necessary message to the world. Contrast it with what happened in Russia when they sought to mobilize 300,000 military reservists for the Russia-Ukraine war. Some Russians ran away from the country to avoid being enlisted in the war. For Israel, Jews were leaving the comfort of where they were abroad to travel home to Israel and enlist in the military voluntarily within a week of the call. That is the type of patriotism which is lacking in the military of most countries. We all saw how Baghdad fell to the US forces despite the pre-war ratings , boasts and propaganda. Iran will not fare any better despite all the noise they make. My advice is that countries should avoid wars and toe the lines of peace.
What alarms me the most is the hypocritical attitude of Nigerians who posture as sympathizers of far away Palestinians when thousands of their fellow Nigerian civilians and soldiers have been killed by vicious herdsmen, armed bandits and Boko Haram terrorist group with them maintaining ominous silence. Thousands of Nigerians both old, young, women, elderly, school children and farmers have been abducted by those armed non state actors in the past 20 years without any effective challenge from the Nigerian state yet some Nigerians are shamelessly shedding crocodile tears for people whose living circumstances are better than theirs. I watched some Palestinians trekking to the south from the northern Gaza and it reminded me of how some Igbos trekked from Onitsha to Owerri and farther during the civil war. Innocent civilian Igbos were bombed by the Federal Forces during the war and starvation was used as an instrument of war. Many Igbo innocent civilians died of starvation, malnutrition and were afflicted with the disease called KWASHIORKOR. These people were innocent civilians going about their legitimate businesses. They were not soldiers and never took part in any military coup. Most even had no relation who was a soldier talk less of a relative yet they were massacred all over Nigeria for what they knew nothing about. Ethnic cleansing was game so long as Igbos were the victims.
Related Posts
Even after the civil war, Igbos were made to start from the scratch as no provision was made by the Nigerian state to alleviate their sufferings and deprivations from the war. Nigeria is broken down into six geopolitical zones but only the southeast zone peopled by the Igbos has five states, while the rest of the geopolitical zones have six states with the northwest geopolitical zone having seven states. Yet Nigerians overlook this obvious injustice. The constitution of Nigeria makes states the federating units of the country. Ipso facto, the Igbos are short-changed in the sharing of resources of Nigeria. To enter federal government educational institutions, they are frustrated with the highest cut-off points while others are given cut-off points which are less than 10% of what they are forced to bear. Yet during employment, appointments and other benefits in the federal service, they are discriminated against on account of RELIGION AND ETHNICITY. The brunt of all ethnic and religious disturbances in Nigeria is borne by the Igbos who would have their businesses destroyed for something they often know nothing about and are forced to start lives afresh. Where is the fairness, justice and love in all these? The other time in Lagos, there were END SARS PROTESTS which spread to the toll gate in Lekki, every attempt was made to create the narrative that the protests which simultaneously took place in other parts of the country were sponsored by Igbos in Lagos when the authorities knew what caused and who sponsored the protests. The sponsors never hid their faces but some people found it convenient to blame the Igbos as a ploy to descend on and kill them. Hate speeches aimed at the Igbos and other acts of Igbophobia are condoned by the Nigerian state with no deterrence whatsoever to those who champion them.
Words like: THE IGBOS CAN NEVER BE PRESIDENT OF THIS COUNTRY ARE FREELY USED EVEN BY THOSE WHO ARE SUBSEQUENTLY REWARDED WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPOINTMENTS. That is why when I see Nigerians who lament over the fate of Palestinians in the Middle East, I see the very definition of HYPOCRISY, DOUBLE STANDARDS AND SADISM in them because they are doing worse things to Igbos in Nigeria. The Holy Bible admonishes hypocrites to first remove the molt in their eyes before removing the specks in another person’s eyes. I am sure there is a similar provision in the Quoran. Can any Nigerian living today say that he does not know that the Igbos are serially persecuted in Nigeria? Just like football matches unite Nigerians, persecution of the Igbos unites Nigerians. It is gleeful to deny Igbos their dues in Nigeria and nobody would speak for them , everybody keeps CONSPIRATORIAL SILENCE. Tell me what is wickedness and sadism if this is not? Most Igbos from the South South geopolitical zone have conveniently denied their Igbo Identities because they are lily-livered. Wike will shamelessly shout on mountain top that he is not Igbo but Ikwerre but we all know that Ikwerre is just one of the many dialects of the Igbo Language in Nigeria.
A typical Igbo person calls Wike or Nwike or Chinwike. It is only cowards who change their names and identities because of persecution and filthy lucre like some Igbos from the south south geopolitical zone do. Igbos from Agbor will readily deny their Igboness because Igbos are persecuted in Nigeria and defeat is a villain and an orphan. The Igbos from the southeast are the ones who bear the brunt of the persecution which is like the official policy of the Nigerian state. In Igbo land , every town has its unique dialect which differentiates and distinguishes it from other towns. This was useful in periods of intertribal wars which are part of our history. Also tribal marks are used as distinguishing features in the historicity of the Igbo nation. Ikwerre is not an ethnic group in Nigeria but a dialect within the Igbo ethnic group. Nigeria has major fault lines but our political leaders exploit our differences to remain in power so that they can exploit the surplus values of what belongs to all for their personal benefits. It is criminality masquerading as state policy which should be condemned by all decent people.
The psyche in Nigeria’s leadership dynamics is CONSUMPTION RATHER THAN PRODUCTION and our leaders are not ashamed that the country is going down in all indices of development. After destroying Nigeria, they will run to become second class citizens of better run countries. Yet they always boast that they are among the best in the world and They have no evidence to prove it in Nigeria. WHAT A SHAME!!!! Political leaders who fail to build a nation out of our diversity but pander to their ethnic interests are venerated while those who remind us of the need to promote love, forgiveness ,equity and justice in Nigeria are scorned. We can start afresh and do things right now!!!! TABU GBOO !!!(meaning, you can start afresh now).
There is war going on between Israel and Hamas but why are people finding it hard to ask Hamas to unconditionally release the hostages they unlawfully abducted and have been holding for more than one month now as a condition for the much vaunted ceasefire. The Israelis have pledged to a ceasefire once the hostages are unconditionally released. Isn’t this the quickest way to obtain a ceasefire and to stop further spilling of blood and destruction in Gaza? People ought to know by now that propaganda can not end the shedding of blood and destruction of assets in Gaza or bring about the needed respite which only a pragmatic approach can achieve. The strident calls for ceasefire which I hear on this Israel-Hamas war are not heard over the Russia vs Ukraine war which is now over one year old with more devastation than what is going in Gaza. Ukraine did not invade and kill Russians as Hamas did to Israel. Ukraine did not abduct Russians including tourists like Hamas did to Israel. Ukraine did not annex any part of Russia as Russia did to Ukraine. Ukraine did not kidnap innocent Russian children as Russia did to them yet what we hear is largely conspiratorial silence from the world. The UN and its agencies are not assisting Ukrainians the way they are assisting the Palestinians. Are Ukrainians less human beings than the Palestinians? This is the hypocrisy of the UN which I detest and condemn.
Russia is one of super powers in the world but it is not conducting itself with caution as should be expected. Instead, it is openly engaging in unnecessary warmongering and intimidation of weaker countries. Instead of urging for restraint on the Israel—Hamas imbroglio when it arose, it invited the head of Hamas urging the terrorist group to step up its militancy against Israel notwithstanding that Hamas also abducted some Russian citizens when it invaded Israel on October 7, 2023 and it a priori had a smooth diplomatic relations with Israel. Hamas advised Russia to team up with China, North Korea and Iran to defeat the US and enthrone a new world order. What do they want to achieve? The destruction of the world? I am happy that China ignored the stupid suggestion underscoring that its interest is the welfare of the Chinese people and not the destruction of the world as Hamas, Iran and Russia pontificate. China is a global peacemaker unlike Russia and her allies. Russia believes that might is right and in throwing its weight about like it is doing now in Ukraine. It is romanticizing yesterday when it was both a political and economic ideology leader. In doing so it has made itself the most hysterical and irresponsible super power in the world today.
The above writeup should not be mistaken as endorsing the actions or giving a CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH to the actions of the government of Israel overtime. Their attitude which frustrated the OSLO ACCORDS 1993(1) &1995(11) is condemnable. Also , their equivocation and vacillation over the TWO STATE SOLUTION to the saga is contributory to the ongoing crisis. Israel should not be seen as robbing the Palestinian Authority of the much needed credibility among their people. The Palestinian Authority is the surest way to stability within the region. After all , the Palestinian Authority believes in the two -state solution to the problem between them and the state of Israel. Having found out that majority of Israeli population are not sold on most of the Israel-Palestine Agreements, I suggest that a BIPARTISAN TEAM LED BY THE PRIME MINISTER SHOULD REPRESENT ISRAEL IN ALL FUTURE TALKS. THE US SHOULD BE MORE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN FUTURE NEGOTIATIONS AND MEDIATIONS BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE.
Godson O. Moneke, a registered quantity surveyor, economist, sociologist, administrator and sociopolitical advocate wrote from Abuja. Readers are permitted to share.
—
