The inhuman aggression by which Israel treats Palestinians is known to everyone who possesses an ounce of justice. This excludes, of course, Western nations for whom, apparently, history began last Saturday. Much of its media has embarked on a carefully choreographed campaign of misinformation to justify what is now unfolding - mass slaughter and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Sami Hamdi told me in our Thinking Muslim interview yesterday that this comes out of desperation. They no longer tightly control the media narrative that has for decades given succour to the apartheid state. This is why, as they lose control, the lies have intensified.
The West are very aware that the colonial outpost they set up in the Middle East is hell-bent on extracting as much land as possible to accommodate racist Americans and European emigres. Israel symbolises both its ideational arrogance and the projection of the West’s material prowess contained in John Winthrop’s fantasy of the ‘City on a Hill’. Liberalism has always had an unhealthy relationship with supremacism. Liberal notions of the good merely replaced outdated Christian ones, but the crusading spirit remained. Israel is often hailed as ‘the only real democracy in the Middle East’, reminding the rest of the world that only European civilisation should be the object of adoration.
The so-called rules-based liberal world order is an extension of this hubristic rationale. Iraq and Afghanistan wars cannot be explained away by terrorism or oil alone; they were wars fought to carry the ‘good word’ of liberalism to ‘primitive’ societies. Those campaigns ended after exposing Western follies, of which Bagram and Guantanamo were their lasting legacies. In the same way, the Gaza genocide is exposing the vacuity with which liberal values are maintained. For all the talk of human rights, the international community, shared values, protection of civilians and other such norms - when it comes to it, the West apply these with a shocking degree of duplicity. The besieged Ukrainians were subject to ‘war crimes’; their refugees were treated with human dignity, and their war was ‘just’. When Ukrainian soldiers were caught violating the Geneva Convention, it was the sad ‘fog of war’. Such acts of civility never apply to those who do not share the same cultural heritage and, yes, skin colour. Our people are ‘animals’, in the words of Israel’s interior minister. Our protests are ‘supporting terrorism’. When Palestinians are besieged, Western politicians of all political stripes cannot even utter words of condemnation lest their settler project is delegitimised.
They are aware that Israel slowly squeezes Palestinians, aware of the daily humiliations – the trigger-happy border guards that maim and murder. They know all of this yet remain deaf to the cries. They give the murderous state weapons of war, instruments of torture and diplomatic cover. In an age of impunity, Israel has a free pass. And it is on the verge of ethnically cleansing Gaza.
But all of this is not to engender hopelessness. What I have seen in the past week fills me with hope. There is not a single path to our resurrection as an Umma. We must all find something to help real change and dedicate our lives to it.
Our story
I started The Thinking Muslim from my backroom, realising the need for compelling, intelligent discussion. I never knew we would be where we are today, Alhamdulillah. But I learned from this past week that we need to build our narrative and put together our resources. I want your views on how we can do this.
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salaam brother jalal, mashallah you've done a great job with your substack. I made hijrah to turkey and I write about life here - if you have a chance I would love to do a collaboration with you - thank you so much for your consideration, and ramadan mubarak!