Palestinians are suffering destruction in their own land and have been for nearly 80 years. When Hamas entered illegal Israeli settlements last Oct. 7, killing 1,200, and capturing more than 200 Israelis and other nationals, it was was no justification for Israeli occupier forces slaying more than 40,000 Palestinians in retaliation.
Israel has notoriously used the clarion cry of its “right to defend itself” in a hostile region of enemies. However, Israel has a record of exceeding the limits of justice and appears to be operating from a more sinister motivation.
Using scriptural lenses, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam has called to question Israel’s penchant to shed Palestinian blood.
“The Israelis practice the law of retaliation, but to the extreme,” said Minister Farrakhan in an August 20, 2015, message in Memphis, Tennessee, at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
“The Old Testament says an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life, and it warns the aggrieved don’t exceed the limits. The Qur’an says in matters of the slain: It is a life for a life, but we are warned by God not to exceed the limits and not to ever be the aggressor. For Allah loves not the aggressor,” the Minister said.
“My Palestinian brothers shot some rockets into Israel,” the Minister said, referring to a skirmish that happened in the region during that time. The rockets killed a few people and caused a few thousand dollars worth of damage and Israel responded.
“She (Israel) always retaliates and it’s never a life for a life because if a Jew is killed then they want a hundred Palestinians because they have devalued the life of a Palestinian,” Minister Farrakhan said.
“When God said a life for a life, He’s putting all life on an equal status, but they killed thousands of men, women and children. They bombed schools and mosques and hospitals, and they make no apology,” he explained in his 2015 message.
The same scenario describes the current unbalanced slaughter.
As Gaza has been the current epicenter of war, the Israeli occupier forces have now turned up with large-scale military actions in the Occupied West Bank. On Aug. 28 they attacked cities and refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas governorates, using armored vehicles and airstrikes, which resulted in casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.
Among global calls for Israeli restraint of such aggression, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “an immediate cessation” of Israel’s attacks on the Occupied West Bank, including Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas governorates, said his spokesman.
“He calls on Israel to comply with its relevant obligations under international humanitarian law and to take measures to protect civilians and ensure their safety,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General.
“These dangerous developments are fueling an already explosive situation in the Occupied West Bank and further undermining the Palestinian Authority,” said Mr. Dujarric.
The Secretary-General said only an end to the occupation and a return to a meaningful political process toward a two-state solution will bring an end to the violence.
But before the Gaza war started, raids by Israeli forces in the West Bank were common and worsened after October. Illegal Jewish settlers, backed by the Israeli military, increased violent attacks on Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank. The bloodthirst of the Zionist state toward the besieged Palestinian people is getting worse by the day.
Despite global condemnation, on-again-off-again ceasefire talks, and an acute humanitarian crisis, the occupier power continues repression and destruction. Some note that Israel can be placed in check if its chief benefactor, the U.S., will stop politically, economically, and militarily backing it.
America the enabler
“The bottom line is that there is no penalty for the Israelis as far as the United States is concerned,” said Bill Fletcher Jr., an author, activist and former president of TransAfrica Forum.
Mr. Fletcher referenced the recent alleged communication between former President Donald Trump, running for a second stint as president, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The alleged mid-August call sparked controversy and accusations of possible interference in U.S. foreign affairs. The prime minister denied the reports he had spoken with the former president in August though the men did meet on July 26 at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, reported the Associated Press.
“Netanyahu is probably being convinced by Trump that he should continue to take a hard line and that there’ll be no dire consequences,” opined Mr. Fletcher. “The thing that a lot of people are underestimating are the Republicans on the issue of Israel and Palestine,” he added.
There is a lot of focus on what the Democrats are doing and not doing, he said, including in the pro-Palestinian movement. “But what has to be appreciated is the balance of forces in Congress are not simply the Democrats,” explained Mr. Fletcher, adding, “the Republicans are a hard right-wing party for authoritarianism and for absolute and total support for Israel.”
Outgoing President Joseph Biden has been a staunch supporter of the Zionist state for decades and has defined himself as “a Zionist” in past remarks. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has positioned herself as a “distinction without a difference” on Israel and Occupied Palestine.
“And let me be clear … I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” said the vice president during her nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago.
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again,” she said. “The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”
She said, she and Mr. Biden are working to end the war “such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends,” and “the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination,” she said in her August 22 remarks.
Suffering amid slaughter
Since war broke out almost a year ago, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been slaughtered, maimed and displaced and critical infrastructure has been destroyed. According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) online platform monitoring attacks on the healthcare sector, more than 1,000 documented attacks on healthcare facilities rendered hospitals and primary care centers severely strained and ineffective.
In addition, medical stocks are in short supply, and access to care is mired by ongoing hostilities and damaged roads. The WHO said most residents in the Gaza Strip no longer have access to drinking water from service providers or domestic water through pipelines.
International rules of war prohibit healthcare facilities from being targeted and as a result, communicable and noncommunicable diseases are rampant in Gaza.
On August 29, the WHO announced an agreement was reached with Israel for a series of humanitarian pauses, beginning Sept. 1, for treatments due to a surge in polio. The once-eradicated disease reappeared in Gaza. However, questions remain about the extent Israel can be trusted.
The threat of polio comes as repeated evacuation orders continue to displace thousands in Gaza’s cities, adding to the physical and mental strain on an already suffering people.
“No one is safe, nowhere is safe,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, in an Aug. 22 post on X.
“People have barely any options left, after being uprooted multiple times, to find shelter, health and other services in an already crammed and challenging environment,” he said.
The UN Security Council met in an emergency session on Aug. 29 about the polio situation, the deteriorating humanitarian crisis, and the escalating attacks in the Occupied West Bank.
Nacim Gaouaoui, Algeria’s ambassador and deputy permanent representative, said that the days briefings reflected the “tragic reality” of the international community’s failure to enforce humanitarian law inside Gaza.
“They clearly show the scale of the brutality the Palestinians are subjected to as a result of an occupation that disregarded all conventions and norms,” he said, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to bring the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” to an end.
The Israeli occupation should also be held accountable for its crimes and blatant violations of international humanitarian law, Mr. Gaouaoui added.
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, warned that the Occupied West Bank attacks risk further enflaming an “already explosive situation.” The situation “could worsen dramatically” if the Israeli military continues to “systematically use unlawful lethal force and ignore violence perpetrated by settlers,” said the OHCHR.
The situation remains alarming, with ongoing military operations and settler violence exacerbating the crisis. Checkpoint closures and movement restrictions also define the reality of Palestinian life under genocidal policies and ethnic cleansing, according to observers and analysts.
Israel not motivated by insecurity
Earlier this year, Minister Farrakhan warned that Israel’s plans were more sinister than Gaza alone but included the West Bank and Jerusalem.
“They use the Amalekites as a justification for killing the Palestinians,” said Minister Farrakhan, during his February 25, 2024 remarks in his Saviours’ Day address titled: “What Does Allah The Great Mahdi And The Great Messiah Have To Say About The War In The Middle East?”
The biblical Amalekites were a vehement enemy of the scriptural Israelites that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoked by name to justify the onslaught on the Palestinians, in the early days of the Gaza war.
“Well, just a minute, Mr. Netanyahu. The Palestinians didn’t bother you. You were in Europe, and your own White brothers, the pope of Rome, looked the other way when the Jews were being slaughtered,” said Minister Farrakhan, referring to the Jewish holocaust.
“Well then, none of them were Palestinians! So, you deserve reparations not in Palestine, you deserve it in Germany. So, you’re going to have to think about returning to Europe, because you’re not going to stay in the Middle East.
You are not going to stay there. Mr. Netanyahu, I watched you; I studied you, with the Guidance of God, and the plan that you had with Hamas: To let them do what they did.
Because that would be your ticket to justify removing them from all of Gaza; then from the West Bank, then from East Jerusalem. And that’s why Netanyahu is going to continue fighting. There won’t be any truce or peace,” the Minister warned.
