Nothing can justify what Benjamin Netanyahu is doing to the Palestinian people now - Paul Andrews
It can’t be good to be living in a constant state of fear of being attacked by your neighbours with rockets, as has been the reality for ordinary Israeli citizens for years. Before October 7, many efforts had been made to resolve the situation. At that time three agreements were being negotiated.
Firstly, there were the normalisation talks with Saudi Arabia. Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia were in advanced discussions toward a potential normalisation agreement, similar to the Abraham Accords (with the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan). The deal was expected to include US defense guarantees for Saudi Arabia, possible civilian nuclear support, and concessions to the Palestinians (such as limiting settlement expansion or steps toward Palestinian statehood).
This process was seen as potentially historic because Saudi Arabia, as the most influential Arab state and custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, had never recognised Israel.
Secondly, there were the internal Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. While there were no formal peace talks, Israel was holding indirect discussions with Hamas via mediators (Qatar, Egypt) about easing the blockade on Gaza in exchange for quiet along the border.
There were also ongoing talks about a long-term ceasefire framework and potential prisoner exchanges (Israeli captives in Gaza vs Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails).
Finally, there were the security arrangements with regional partners. Israel was negotiating security cooperation with Egypt and Jordan, especially about the Sinai-Gaza border.
It was also engaged in US-brokered talks with Lebanon about maritime boundaries and gas exploration, though that was mostly resolved in 2022.
The most high-profile and politically sensitive negotiation right before October 7 was the Saudi-Israel normalisation deal. Many analysts believe Hamas (and its backers like Iran) launched their surprise attack and massacre to derail those talks, since a Saudi-Israeli peace deal would have been a major strategic setback for them. If so, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
One cannot blame Israel for their armed response. The underground tunnels used by Hamas to hide their rockets had to be destroyed. Nor can Israel be blamed for supplying Hezbollah with explosive pagers. That was a clever ruse. It may even be possible to justify what the military call “collateral damage” in the hunt for Hamas’s leaders. And as for Iran, their nuclear sites should have been destroyed years ago. However, nothing can justify deliberately starving two and half million people in Gaza or the theft and settlement of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
But the worst war crime of all was the deliberate attempt to assassinate a peace envoy in a friendly country. Attacking a peace envoy has been a war crime for centuries and is expressly forbidden by the Hague and Geneva conventions. To imagine that these rules do not apply to Israel is a supreme act of arrogance.
I am reminded of the famous words of the poet Sophocles in his play “King Oedipus”. These can be loosely translated in this context as follows:
“Arrogance breeds the tyrant; arrogance which brims over with self-conceit;
Arrogance which is neither convenient nor expedient;
Arrogance which ascends the highest heights and then plunges into utter ruin.
But I pray that god may never do away with the struggle which profits my country. I shall never cease having god as my champion.
Whoever marches haughtily with violence, without reason on his side, without respect for Justice or the ways of the gods, may an evil fate take him for his swagger…
What man will ever boast of defending his life against the vengeance of the gods – if such behaviour is honoured, why must I perform this play?”
I’ve worked for Jews and admire them. I regard them as an important part of our society and cultural heritage. However, nothing can justify what Netanyahu is doing to the Palestinian people now.
Military action should only be justified as an aid to diplomacy – never as an end in itself. Netanyahu’s decisions have put his country’s neighbours in a difficult position: if they turn a blind eye and take no action against Israel, they risk an Islamic revolution which could destabilise the Middle East completely. If he’s not careful, Netanyahu will drive the Arab sheikhs into the Russian camp. The leader of God’s chosen people is not only a war criminal – he’s a fool.
Netanyahu would have been well respected if the attack on Gaza had been limited and he had then seriously resumed the peace talks which had been in progress before October 7, but then he has always been against the Palestinian state which was being discussed in the talks with the Saudis. So, perhaps he too wanted to undermine the peace process. Perhaps this is why he did not continue the negotiations to release hostages after its first phase.
Paul Andrews is a freelance writer and author. He is an honorary alderman of North Yorkshire council and a former mayor of Malton. www.paul-andrews.net