Israel, US Have Lost Their Moral Compass

With more than 10 000 Palestinians dead (mostly children and civilians), and 40 journalists and over 90 United Nations humanitarian workers killed in one month, it is scary if Israel and the United States don’t appreciate the gravity of losing the moral high ground.

Hamas’s massacre of 1 400 Israeli citizens (mostly children and civilians) rightly evoked sympathy for Israel. A response to shore up security for the Zionist state was expected.

Alas, the reactionn by Israel’s hawkish leader Benjamin Netanyahu goes beyond taking out Hamas in order to guarantee his country’s security.

Netanyahu and his supporters have so far shown they are more interested in annihilating Gaza ostensibly to ensure the total destruction of Hamas.

How choking a population of more than two million, bombing everything to smithereens and killing many children will guarantee peace and security for Israel is difficult to fathom.

The New York Times quotes Hamas leaders as saying their attack on the Israeli settlers and the Zionist government’s response was exactly what they wanted.

“We succeeded in putting the Palestinian issue back on the table, and now no one in the region is experiencing calm,” Khalil al Hayya, a member of Hamas’s top leadership reportedly told The New York Times in Qatar.

Hamas, whose battle cry is to never allow a Jewish state alongside Palestine, may be getting their wish to ensure a state of permanent war.

Sadly, Netanyahu is the flip side of the same coin; willing to wage bloody wars so Israel continues to rule over the Palestinians.

Peace and security can never be guaranteed at the expense of others’ freedom and dignity.

Namibians – whether supporting Israel or Palestine – should try in their own small way to send messages that encourage peaceful co-existence.

It’s about humanity. As we are painfully reminded these days, the cries of Israeli children are no different from those of Palestinian children.