By Ameer Ali –

Dr. Ameer Ali

After Israel’s genocidal rampage in Gaza since 7 October 2023, which killed so far nearly 44,000 “human animals” and “cockroaches” in the words of Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and wounded around another 105,000 while turning that strip of land into an uninhabitable heap of brick and concrete rabble, Judges of the International Criminal Court have at last issued arrest warrants for these two war criminals and for the Hamas leader Mohammed Deif. Of the three wasn’t the last claimed to have been killed by IDF in an air strike in Gaza in July this year? Does that mean Deif is still alive according to ICC? Israel’s killings and destruction has now extended into Lebanon. According to one report, in both Gaza and Lebanon IDF has killed more than 17, 000 children and in Lebanon alone 400,000 children are displaced from their homes. In these two killing fields IDF has not spared even news reporters and aid workers.

Be that as it may, the tragedy about these warrants is that they are virtually ineffective, because ICC does not have a police force to chase and arrest international criminals and outlaws. ICC therefore needs to depend on the good offices of the 124 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute. And the tragedy turns into comedy when one realizes that Israel and its backer US are not parties to that statute. Does this mean that these two countries are above the jurisdiction of international laws? Was that why when ICC initially requested those warrants be issued in July this year Joe Biden called it “outrageous”? And now the outgoing and physically wobbling lame duck president reaffirmed that position. That became even more evident when US singularly vetoed the last UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire when all other 14 members supported it. One can be rest assured that US backing of Israel would be further strengthened when Donald Trump takes over the Presidency soon. And curiously, according to Trump America’s security seems to depend on the security of Israel. Didn’t he say during his election campaign that destruction of Israel would mean destruction of US? Enamoured and strengthened by that solid backing from US, Netanyahu, a protected outlaw, has reacted to ICC warrants by showing the Roman digitus impudicus or the insulting middle finger, which in obscene parlour is equivalent to saying “f— off”. His was a Roman salute to the Rome Statute.         

This is an insulting embarrassment not only to ICC but also to every other international institution operating under the auspices of UN to promote law and order, and peace and harmony among civilized nations. Worse, is the situation of the Arab Muslim world and all those 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The entire organization has become a clique of impotent jokers with all their petroleum resources and financial assets, and none of them including Iran is militarily capable of challenging the might of Israel. To US on the other hand, Israel is the most dependable ally not only to take care of US imperial interest but also to take control on behalf US of the economic resources and markets in Muslim Middle East and prevent either Russia or China to set foot in that part of the world. Moreover, as far as US is concerned Arabs and Muslims are expendable creatures. According to a report by researchers at the US Brown University’s Watson Institute, US post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Somalia and Yemen have killed between 4.5 and 4.7 million Muslims including military personnel and civilians. (M. Reza Benham, “Retreat from Reason: Palestine in Times of Monsters”, Counterpunch, 22 Nov. 2024).       

According to a study published in 2019 by UNCTAD titled, “The Economic Cost of Occupation for the Palestinian People: The Unrealized Oil and Natural Gas Potential”, there is a deposit of 122 trillion cubic foot of oil and gas of which an estimated 1.7 billion oil worth $522 billion is recoverable. That was why Donald Trump during his first term as President successfully engineered the so-called Abraham Accord signed between Israel and UAE and between Israel and Bahrain in 2020 so that a joint commercial venture could be established to exploit this resource and promote friendly relations between Arab nations and Israel. Trump’s successor went along with that policy, and he was about to bring in Saudi Arabia into that Accord when Hamas spoilt everything by firing those deadly rockets on October 2023. What began as Gaza-Israel war has now turned into Gaza-Israel-US war drawing Lebanon, Iran and Syria into it. Joe Biden’s occasional calls for limited ceasefire was a charade while he continues supplying weapons and funds to Israel, and the so-called Qatari mediation efforts have ended in zero.  In fact, Netanyahu has been given carter blanche to accomplish what the ultra-orthodox Zionists want him to do i.e., to get rid of all Arabs from Gaza and annex it with Israel. Yet, despite all the killings and devastation of Gaza, Israel could not finish off Hamas and now Netanyahu is offering $5 million cash for every Israeli hostage returned by Hamas. There is no chance of that happening.

The incoming US President Trump promised during his campaign to end the war in one month. How is he going to do is not clear, but there are some indications that he would put an end to the so called two-state solution. His choice of appointing Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and a former Evangelist as Ambassador to Israel would encourage Netanyahu and Co. to proceed with the total annexation of not only Gaza but also the West Bank. According to Huckabee there is “no such thing as the West Bank” and “no such thing as settlements”, but only Judea and Samarra as the ultra-orthodox Israelis would prefer to call. Not only he would do everything possible to make that become a reality but as a first step would reactivate Trump’s earlier call to shift Israel’s capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  Eventually, with or without Trump, the entire Palestine would become part of Israel, and the sacred mosque al-Aqsa would be eliminated to make way for the construction of David’s temple. Netanyahu’s Likud Party’s charter of 1977 says, “From the river to the sea”, which would mean between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan river there will only be Israel sovereignty.  In the meantime, Western leaders would go on repeating their empty promise of a two-state solution to the Palestine problem.  It is a historic betrayal to the Muslim world that the Arab countries have given up fighting for Palestine.

Outside the Middle East is another worrying development which should concern countries like Sri Lanka.  Orthodox Hasidic Jews are putting up Chabad Houses all over the world and they are particularly very active in the universities in America. In Sri Lanka too Chabad Houses are mushrooming. The recent suspected terror threat in Arugam Bay and before that the fire that consumed the students hostel of a Muslim Girls school in Weligama, were all rumoured to have had Jewish links. In the absence of a notable Jewish community in Sri Lanka it is claimed that Chabad houses are providing services to Jewish tourists, but what type of services apart from supplying kosher food are they providing is not clear. There are reports that tourists from Israel are staying for months and illegally engaging in business activities. It appears that the lure of employment in Israel for local artisans and skilled workers seems to have allowed bankrupt Sri Lankan governments to tolerate the activities of law-breaking tourists. However, with Sri Lanka’s increasing importance in the geo-strategic rivalry among China, India and US in the Indian Ocean whether the Chabad houses are becoming intelligence gathering workshops for Mossad needs to be closely monitored especially by the left leaning NPP government, which has committed for system change.    

*Dr. Ameer Ali, Business School, Murdoch University, W. Australia