A HEATED DEBATE by Warsaw Institute

— SPECIAL REPORT —

2024/02/06

A HEATED DEBATE PIETER CLEPPE

A HEATED DEBATE

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A HEATED DEBATE

In a firm sign of defense of Israel, the German government has “firmly and expressly” rejected allegations that Israel would be committing “genocide” in Gaza, after South Africa charged it with violations of the UN Genocide Convention. Germany, which announced that it will intervene in the case submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), thereby warned against “political instrumentalisation” of the charge. It’s ironic to witness the government of South Africa initiating the case. Last Summer, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa requested permission from the International Criminal Court not to have to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin during a BRICS summit, as there was an arrest warrant out for Putin, whereby he was accused of the war crime of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia. To legally speak of “genocide” requires proving that Israel would be engaged in “intentional” killing of civilians. The United States have already firmly ruled this out, but the argument of Israel’s ambassador to Belgium, Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, is worth recalling. Recently, she argued that “if we did not care about the population in Gaza, we could have finished this conflict in one week. Israel has the fire power, the air superiority to finish off Hamas tomorrow. It does not. Why? Because such an offensive would greatly increase the number of dead Gazans not linked to Hamas.” Israel’s Deputy Attorney General, Gilad Noam, has moreover warned that statements from far-right figures calling for intentional civilian harm in Gaza not only contradict Israeli policy but also amount to a criminal offense.

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A HEATED DEBATE

A complex debate Fundamentally, it is difficult to make grand pronouncements when not all the facts are known. Hamas has claimed that about 23,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, but according to Israel, up to 9,000 Hamas fighters have been killed or captured, so if both claims are true, it means that a sizeable part of the casualties are Hamas terrorists, in a context of Hamas using the population of 2.3 million as human shields. Not only public opinion, but also European governments are divided over the matter. While Germany and Austria are firmly behind Israel, the likes of Spain and Belgium are clearly more leaning to the Palestinian side, both with qualifications. Recent statements by Belgian Development Aid Minister, Social Democrat Caroline Gennez, on the Gaza conflict have now also sparked a diplomatic row with Germany. In an interview, Gennez denounced what she considered Germany’s overly Israel-uncritical stance, stating, “It is a crucial question for our German friends: are you really going to be on the wrong side of history twice?” According to the German government, however, this is putting Israel on a par with Nazi Germany, which indeed seems the case. Germany’s ambassador to Belgium, Martin Kotthaus, reacted sharply, saying: “Comparisons between the Shoah and what is happening now are not appropriate.” He added: “Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas terror, at the same time Israel must do everything it can to protect the civilian population.”

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Even before Hamas’ major terror attack on 7 October, Gennez was already making herself known as a critic of Israel. The Belgian ambassador to Israel had to answer for another statement of hers in September, whereby she said, “Entire villages are being wiped off the map by the Israelis”. Here, Gennez was referring to the departure of Palestinian families from villages in “Area C” of the West Bank, which is controlled by Israel. According to the Palestinians, they had to leave due to harassment by Israeli settlers, which according to the Israeli government, is incorrect. It is undisputed that the Israeli authorities do not oblige these to move. Gennez rather smoothly goes along with the theory that settlers would do the dirty work to that end, using the ambiguous phrase “the Israelis”, but there is no consensus on that, to say the least. Some argue that Gennez makes such statements simply out of electoral opportunism - for the “Muslim vote” - and the Belgian opposition accuses her of behaving like an “activist”. In any case, it is noteworthy that the Minister does not show the same zeal in demanding clarification on reports that 3,000 teachers in Gaza paid by UNRWA - i.e. with Western taxpayers’ money - allegedly celebrated the Hamas massacre on 7 October on the social networking site Telegram, hailing the killers and rapists as “heroes” and glorifying the “education” the terrorists received. They allegedly gleefully shared photos of dead or captured Israelis, also calling for the execution of hostages.

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Double standards If there is any conflict that raises tempers, it is the one between Israel and the Palestinians. In doing so, even the most righteous admirer of Israel will have to admit that the Israeli army sometimes makes mistakes, especially in a war context. And even the most passionate defender of the Palestinians does realise in his heart that the Palestinians are not led by the most exemplary figures. While little attention has been paid to the plight of Christian Africans being overthrown by African Muslims, there has been a particular focus on Israel. One reason, no doubt, is that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the two sides is a Western democracy. Israel has its flaws, but it did send former prime ministers to prison, nearly 20 per cent of Israeli citizens are Muslim and members of the Arab minority have risen to become Supreme Court judges. When Westerners

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are angry with Israel, it may sometimes be due to anti-Semitism, but it could just as easily be due to the fact that they expect more from a country with certain rule-of-law standards. Another explanation for the obsession by far left militants for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is that Jewish culture tends to highly value critical thinking and financial acumen – evidenced by the disproportionate number of Nobel prizes won by Jews. Those are things that are typically not highly valued by the authoritarian left, which is all about collectivism and in some cases outright mob rule. Ironically, Israel started off as a pretty leftwing project, with its kibbutzim, which began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism. However, the country ultimately developed by opting for a capitalist path.

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Going forward Looking at the history of this conflict, there was certainly a lot of injustice in the past, both on the Israeli and Palestinian sides. Many Jews honestly bought land in the area, when it was still controlled by the British, so they cannot be blamed for seeking trouble themselves. Before Hitler came to power in Germany in the 1930s, there were already four waves of Jewish migration to the area, so it is not simply an outcome of the Holocaust either, as is sometimes assumed. How the conflict will ever be resolved remains to be seen. One possible solution is to try to freeze all

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current de facto borders, in the hope that within a century or so these could then be accepted by both sides. Apart from the United States, which supports Israel militarily, other countries have very little influence on this. European countries should therefore maybe better focus on ensuring that their aid to the Palestinians is not misused, which might give them some more credit in Israel for making the same criticisms of Israeli policy that can also be heard from the Israeli left. Sometimes it is best to focus on what one can change.

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