Any discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will see three sides locking horns, two with extreme views having no middle ground, and a third with some semblance of balance but always a hidden bias. One single bone of contention that stands in the way of a resolution is Palestinian statehood is mutually exclusive to many Muslims. “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a battle cry that calls for the annihilation of Israel. This is repeatedly announced publicly by Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. Who in his right mind would expect Israel to accept a two state solution with the Sword of Damocles over their heads? Yet all those who push for two state solution at the United Nations have made no attempt to get Hamas, Hezbollah and 28 UN member countries that do not recognise the State of Israel, to do so. The two state solution seems like the only viable one, and the immovable block is not Israel.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is very complex. Some base their arguments as if history began in 1948 when it is actually a 3,000 year old story. Yet others freely throw up catchwords of Zionists and Apartheid against those with sympathies aligned with Israel but have no idea of what they are talking. Zionism simply refers to the movement to bring Jews back home in the areas that used to be called Israel, Judea and Samaria. So those who are anti-Zionists deny Jews the right to return to their homeland, but fight for Palestinians the same right. Those who brand Israel an apartheid state do not want to believe 30% of Israelis are Arabs having universal suffrage and representation in parliament. 2 million Arabs live in Israel compared to maybe 100,000 Jews living in all Muslim countries taken together.
I lock horns with Critical Spectator over many issues, but I feel his 2 recent posts on the Palestinian matter offer some good perspectives. Incidentally, Madam Ho Ching, an avid fan, never share these 2 posts. Just as well, for it’s a hot potato and from her perch, she ought to be circumspect.
The conflict is complex and reactions of many are often emotional bothering on hysteria. It behoves on any public figure making a comment to be very careful and yet coming across as fair. PM Lee Hsien Loong offered his views in a recent interview which I thought was very well articulated and unbiased. (Read here.)
Non-Muslims are perplexed why Muslims are overtly sensitive and react so passionately with over-the-top emotion whenever fellow believers somewhere in the world suffer any form of perceived injustice. To understand this, one refers to the Koran and Hadith which have several verses like this one :
"The believers, in their mutual mercy, love, and compassion, are like a single body; when any part of it suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever."Some interpret it as teaching of ‘eye-for-an-eye’, others say it’s about universal compassion for fellow Muslims. The fact is this is deep in a Muslim's psyche. I remember very well a survey in Malaysia some 50 years ago that tried to determine the priority in the Muslims’ frame of mind, what comes first. Turned out it was Islam, Family, Country, in that order.
It is impossible to argue against apathy and compassion. Unfortunately, they don’t sit well on the high moral horse of humanitarianism with the absence of Muslim indignation of ISIS atrocities against Christians in Iraq and the Yazidi genocide, or the ongoing slaughter of Christians in Armenia and Nigeria, or the recent barbaric Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7. We all saw a celebration instead.
Hamas atrocity? Deny, deny, deny. I get annoyed when online commenters ask me to show proof. The barbarism perpetrated by Hamas is too gruesome to show and out of respect for the dead, I will not display any images or videos here. Deniers must understand Israel has surveillance cameras on every street. Evidence is overwhelming. Understand too that captured and killed Hamas fighters all have mobile phones. A treasure trove of self -incriminating evidence there. Israel has vowed to go after all those who carried out the Oct 7 attack ala the Munich Olympics 1972 where all the terrorists were eventually hunted down. All those mobile phones will lead to the killers ultimately.
In a Tiktok or Whatsapp connected world, the audacity of Hamas’ well-coordinated attack on Israel Oct 7 was celebrated all over the world by supporters within hours. That it was an attack on civilians, which is a war crime, and the barbarism, bothered no one in this crowd. The blog title conveys my feelings on Oct 7. I knew immediately one side of the aisle will celebrate the attack as a victory, up till when Israel reacts, they will then play the victimhood card. It played out right on cue.
Now many members of parliament have tabled questions for discussion in next parliamentary session. A strange coincidence to my preceding blog where I mentioned members of parliament are sleeping and not discussing excess death issues. There is now a sudden interest when it involves the death of foreigners. (That blog has been taken down today at the behest of certain parties for breach of community standards. I maintain there was nothing objectionable, nor was there any misinformation or disinformation in that blog. Why not POFMA but take down? Similarly you can judge for yourself about this blog which I have a feeling may suffer a similar fate. It is an opinion piece, but nothing objectionable.)
As this is a complex and sensitive matter, members who put up their questions have been as diplomatic as possible. Some wanted to understand the government’s position on the Palestinian issue, some asking for provision of humanitarian aid, some wanted condemnation for breaking international laws in warfare (apparently directed against Israel). Let’s not kid ourselves. These are pre-determined questions that the government wants to discuss. They are just farmed out to a few members to file the questions in a faux display of independence Singaporeans call wayang.
None of these members condemned the barbaric Hamas attack on civilians that precipitated the outbreak of full-fledged war. In my opinion, anyone that condemns not the Oct 7 attack forfeits the right to talk about restraining Israeli rights to obliterate Hamas in Gaza.
So is it a good thing for parliament to discuss the Isreali-Palestinian problem? I think it is good for Singapore as a sign of maturity to be able to discuss the politics in a calm and collected manner and be able to agree to disagree. This seems to be a break from long held tradition – that public discussion of politics of other countries is voodoo. However, religion should remain a no-go zone. It is of course very difficult to separate the two, after all, Islam is both an ideology and a political organisation of a way of life.
I am all for talking about humanitarian aid. But here we also need to be careful. Whether it is privately funded initiative or tax payer dollars, we must know where the money goes. Hamas is both a terrorist organisation and the government of Gaza. Where will the aid money go? To the government and the people or to terrorists? It is impossible to prevent humanitarian aid money being diverted to military use by Hamas. Notice in Lee Hsien Loong’s interview, he referred to Palestinian Authority even though that is the government of West Bank and not Gaza. LHL cannot recognise Hamas as government of Gaza. It is easy to assume a Liberal bleeding heart talk about aid, but the brutal reality is the problem is complex.
The world now says Israel has the right to defend itself (as if there are countries which do not have this right), but the IDF must observe the proportionality doctrine. It is a demand never imposed on any army in the world, what more on an army that drops leaflets or sends out notifications to its enemies to vacate buildings targeted to be bombed, or give adequate time to move out of designated fighting zones. But the world does not want to hear Hamas fired more than 5,000 rockets on Israel. The fact Israel’s Iron Dome was able to take out most of these rockets and spare the country of untold suffering, somehow also spares Hamas the criticism of carrying out a disproportionate act. Hello World, Israel is no longer reacting to unarmed youths throwing stones, but a full-fledged militia firing 5,000 rockets at them. Where is the proportionality?
Hamas rockets have a high failure rate. Israel’s missile launch tracking system says in the current conflict, about 400 Hamas rockets dropped within Gaza. When Singaporean bleeding hearts see the destruction in Gaza and the death toll, are they able to partition blame on Israeli precision bombs or Hamas faulty rockets? Including the bomb on the Orthodox Church. Of course we now know the Baptist Hospital was not bombed by Israel. An Islamic Jihad rocket misfired and fell on the carpark near the hospital. Casualty count was about 50, not the media lie of 500 that went around the world.
That is not to say Israeli bombs caused no civilian casualties. Of course in a war, casualties there always will be. The test is it must not be indiscriminate or intentional targeting of civilians.
As Western liberal media take Hamas press releases without care for authentication, it is clear Israel will win the battlefield war but not the propaganda war. Anti-semitism once again rears its ugly head all over the world. So when Singapore parliament sit to discuss, members should weigh the issues fairly. Since I suspect much of the discussion will be centered on what role Singapore can play in terms of humanitarian aid, I like to share something that has no traction with Western media.
Did you know Israel issued at one time 70,000 work visas for Palestinians from Gaza and West Bank to help improve their economic situation? Just like Malaysians working in Singapore, Palestinians treasure the Israeli work visa because the pay is substantially much higher. These Palestinians have an entirely different mind set. They care about their employment and work hard to build a life for their family, to save and build a house and invest in business back in Gaza. In other words, these are the ordinary folks that will help build the economy of Gaza. But in the propaganda world, no one hears about stuff like this. Read about the visa here.
It is important to have a proper perspective. One side has an unappreciated humanitarian streak, not all Palestinians are terrorists, and Israel is not the enemy. Hamas is.
A parting shout out :
Plato said:
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
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