Washington’s reaction was shocking: “Israel did not inform us.” However, these words unequivocally identify the culprit of the atrocious ad personam elimination and its instigators. Ah, the International Criminal Court…
by Glauco D’Agostino
If state terrorism dies hard, the cowardice of lazy and hypocritical Western countries is even harder. Indeed, guilty, if Israel is part of the West. The mistake of 1948 has repercussions 76 years later, but History cannot be judged, one can only take note of it and, at the same time, be aware of that imprudence. Desired and sought-after recklessness to keep the Middle East divided. Today, these 76 years of war violence find that escalation foreseen irresponsibly by the West and the Soviet allies, who found a point of agreement on the convenience of perpetuating imperial influences until further notice. In other words, an announced and well-timed implosion.
What is disconcerting is not Israeli terrorism, which for decades has been allowed any atrocity with impunity that is certainly not in line with Jewish law which, as a secular democracy, claims to be inspired, but the surge in a foreign policy passing from wars with military objectives to that against peoples, even against individuals. The elimination of political leaders, as in the case of former Palestinian Prime Minister Haniyeh, could perhaps even become a doctrine of international law and a fundamental cornerstone of human rights. Who could rule it out? We are already on this path. On the other hand, the Supreme Court of Israel had declared the legality of targeted killings. And who dares to oppose the rule of law in force in Tel Aviv, if the Jewish Entity is a Western democracy? No one protested when the terrorist assassination of the paraplegic Shaykh Aḥmad Ismā’īl Yāsīn, a Ḥamās founder and spiritual leader, was perpetrated in 2004 by decision of the then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. And when the same fate befell a few days later ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ar-Rantīsī, Yāsīn’s successor at the helm of the Islamic Resistance Movement against the Zionist occupation. Everything was justified by anti-terrorism logic, but this logic had never been extended to the untouchable autocrats in Tel Aviv. And since then, Israel has been raging, spreading terror throughout the Middle East, with the explicit abetment of the U.S., the E.U. and their G7 allies.
Among NATO countries, Turkey stands out, with its uninfluenceable President Erdoğan saying: “This shameful act aims to sabotage the Palestinian cause, the glorious Gazan resistance and our Palestinian brothers’ just fight.” From the European continent front, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Leonidovič Bogdanov said: “It is a completely unacceptable political assassination, and this will lead to a further escalation of tensions.” As a counterpoint to timid and conniving comments of Western diplomacies, unambiguous condemnation comes from China. Lin Jian, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated: “We firmly oppose and condemn the assassination.” Ḥizb Allāh, another movement victim of Israeli massacre raids, commemorates “one of the great resistance leaders of our time who stood bravely against the American hegemony project and the Zionist occupation.”
Peace projects? Two-state solution? The comment of Moḥammed bin ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān bin Jassim ath-Thānī, Prime Minister of Qatar, is enough to illustrate the situation: “Political assassinations and continued targeting of civilians in Gaza, while talks continue, leads us to ask, how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” What else to add? One thing is certain: the “Israeli question” remains open in the Middle East. On this issue, all solutions are available, all of them.
