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Czech Republic shamefully supports Israel genocidal practices

January 15, 2024 at 9:00 pm

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala delivers a speech during a rally in solidarity with Israel and the people taken hostage in the Hamas attacks, in Prague, Czech Republic on November 1, 2023. [MICHAL CIZEK/AFP via Getty Images]

Images of murdered civilians in Gaza and the West Bank have exceeded all limits of humanity and yet Israel continues its brutal campaign against innocent civilians, both in Gaza and the West Bank. We have been witnessing in “live broadcasts “of  how Palestinian victims started to be counted in tens, then hundreds, now thousands and no-one dares to guess where this Israeli butchery will go next. We are seeing genocide being committed by the Israeli Zionist regime where the United States of America and many European countries, including the Czech Republic, provide inexcusable diplomatic and political backing for these blatant Israeli crimes. Here, it became more than obvious how Western might finally “shook its hand with its own powerlessness“or, perhaps, unwillingness to halt Israel and bring it to justice, which it has been avoiding since its establishment and, hence, is long due. However, as Martin Luther King Jr. said “The arch of the moral universe is long, but eventually curves towards justice.”

Nelson Mandela´s moral heritage and impact on South Africa has prompted its brightest minds to compile a document in which they detailed Israeli crimes in Gaza which have amounted, so far, to over 24 000 deaths, and charged Israel with genocide at the ICJ (International Court of Justice). The vast majority of the world is convinced that the Israeli regime has been committing genocide, with the exception of a few hypocritical states which refuse to see the facts as they are. At the beginning of this bloody campaign, the Israeli Minister of Defence, Gallant, said: “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed (to Gaza)”. Another Likud MP, Vaturi, last Wednesday, reaffirmed his calls to “wipe Gaza off the face of the earth”, and added: “Gaza must be burned”. “I stand behind my words … It is better to burn down buildings rather than have (Israeli) soldiers harmed. There are no innocents there,” he said in a radio interview, before calling for the “elimination” of the estimated 100,000 Palestinians left in northern Gaza. “I have no mercy for those who are still there. We need to eliminate them.”

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What else, other than a direct recipe for genocide, are these words from top Israeli officials?

The West and the Czech Republic, in particular, has been obsessed with portraying Israel as a victim and, yes, to certain extent Israel has become the victim of its own blatant crimes, racist policies and disrespect for international and humanitarian law. Hence, Israel is in no position to complain that the majority of the world has voiced its strong support for Palestinians. On top of that, Israel often complains that some of the most respected international organisations, including Human Rights Watch, B´Tselem, Amnesty International and others focus on Israel more than on other countries in the region and worldwide. All this for a very good reason and this is simply Israel´s extensively long and well documented criminal record.  No other country in the world has “carte blanche” to kill thousands of civilians, without being kicked out of the international community and heavily sanctioned from across the world.

The right question we should be asking is how is it even possible that Israel still can pursue its brutal, colonialist and racist policies without being held responsible for them? What kind of insanity has been created on this God´s earth where Israel has killed, in cold blood to this day, more than 24,000 Palestinian civilians (most of them children and women), dropped tens of thousands bombs on residential areas and, yet, does not have to be held accountable for that? Notwithstanding the fact that some of the world leaders, including the current Czech government, even dare to argue that Israel is defending itself? Self-defence has been a big lie, trying to justify the inexcusable Israeli crimes. In the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, there has never been anything like self-defence pursued by Israel but, rather, merciless collective punishment like starving, house demolitions, mass-killings of civilians and other forms of brutalisation and war crimes against the oppressed population in the Gaza ghetto and the West Bank in order to make their lives unbearable.

There is simply no way for the rest of the international community to ignore Israel´s heinous practices that, instead of supporting peace-building and cultivating ties with its neighbours, only disseminates suffering and death. This “blood thirsty monster, meaning the state of Israel“ has brought the whole region on the verge of a deadly conflict, that might easily flare up the whole region, and beyond. All this without realising that even the strongest army in the world (as Israel claims IDF is one of those) cannot wipe Hamas off the face of the earth. Idea, symbol of struggle and resistance, motivation to break free from the Gaza concentration camp all symbolise Hamas, and all are deeply enshrined in the Palestinian mindset. Not even thousands tons of bombs can change that. Blindness for bloody revenge and the illusion of regaining its “masculinity” after Hamas took it away from Israel on the 7 October prevents Israel from seeing the disaster they have run into. Nevertheless, the same as the apartheid in South Africa eventually reached a tipping point, so will the apartheid in Palestine.

No apartheid regime has ever willingly given up its perverse policies without being forced to give them up by imposing political pressure, economic blockade, cutting diplomatic and cultural ties, boycotting its events, athletes, artists, researchers and products. This is the only way to make Israel respect the international order and comply with basic human values. No other country, not even biblical Israel with its tendencies to be superior is, in any case, above the law.

The world is still moving around in circles without being able to take resolute and appropriate steps towards resolving this, more than seven decades-lasting conflict. What goes unanswered (often intentionally) is how to achieve that. For sure, Palestinians need to get real political gains from this and not only plain promises which basically do not suffice and never will. These political gains will never be achieved without forcing Israel into unconditionally lifting the illegal siege on Gaza, releasing all Palestinian prisoners and, last but not least, a clear road map (which has previously been created) must be immediately revived and a path towards an independent and viable Palestinian state must be taken without further delay, consisting of Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The world has unjustly turned the Palestinians into a poverty-stricken nation and the final political solution needs to be implemented so they can live normal lives as people anywhere else in the world. This is the duty of the international community, including the Czech Republic, towards the Palestinians.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.