AS Israel continues its extermination project in Gaza, the global community — particularly the UN, OIC and Arab League — have displayed a shocking inability to stop the slaughter.

While these multilateral bodies issue statements of outrage, Israel has murdered over 8,000 Palestinians, many of them children, since the outbreak of hostilities on Oct 7.

There appears to be no one on the global stage with the moral courage to take Tel Aviv to task for its barbaric violence targeting Palestinian civilians, especially with the US and other Western states shielding it from all censure.

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Within the hallowed halls of the UN, the US, using its veto power, has thwarted calls for a ceasefire in the Security Council, while also voting against a Jordanian resolution in the General Assembly demanding a humanitarian truce. Meanwhile, Israeli leaders and diplomats have openly expressed disdain for the UN.

With regard to the Arab/Islamic world, the paralysis is even more glaring. Apart from a few voices — Iran, Qatar, Turkiye — that have forcefully demanded an end to the slaughter in Gaza, the Arab League and OIC are barely audible.

For many Arab states and Islamic countries, it is business as usual as Israel unleashes hell upon the Palestinians. A similar disinterest has been witnessed for decades as India pummelled the Kashmiris in the occupied territory. The resource-rich Arab states are not without agency.

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Recall the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when Arab petroleum producers deployed the ‘oil weapon’ against all those states that supported Israel. Oil prices went through the roof, as many Western states realised that there were costs to pay for blindly supporting Israel. Can such an economic boycott be considered today in solidarity with Gaza’s defenceless people?

With most Arab rulers supported either economically or militarily by the West, such a proposition would not be endorsed. Moreover, Muslim states that have established diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv have not even considered suspending these until the Gaza massacre stops.

When it comes to the elites in the East and the West, cruel realpolitik trumps human empathy.

However, for many common people across the globe, the tragedy in Gaza is an unmitigated humanitarian disaster, and Israel is clearly the guilty party, responsible for the mass murder of Palestinian innocents.

Hundreds of thousands have marched in Europe and North America demanding an end to Israel’s vicious military campaign. This is despite the fact that many of these ‘democratic’ states have threatened to take legal action against supporters of Palestine, while witch-hunts of pro-Palestine activists have also been reported.

Yet the bravery of the common citizen marching in support of justice for Palestine and demanding an end to the slaughter, needs to be saluted, while the global elite’s shameful inaction on the Gazan massacre deserves nothing but opprobrium.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2023