Western powers are now calling for a ceasefire in Gaza?

On Monday 12 August, a few of my friends sent me a notification regarding the joint statement issued by the governments of Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, calling for the resumption of talks to arrive at a ceasefire in Gaza. [1]

Now, some expressed that this was a major turning point, some said that they were shocked. They sought information regarding the context, and why the statement was issued, particularly because these very governments — in fact these very individuals at the heads of those governments — had only recently sacked senior members within their respective cabinets, because they called for a ceasefire.

They were absolutely adamant to be against a ceasefire!

In fact, some went as far as to say that a call for a ceasefire would be to stand with the terrorists, would be determinately anti-Semitic, and so on with such ridiculous and absolutely despicable statements in light of an ongoing genocide in Gaza.

BACKGROUND

On Monday, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy issued a joint statement urging a ceasefire
Support was also given by Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Egyptian President al-Sisi, and American President Joe Biden
Days prior to the statement, Israel attacked a school-turned-shelter, martyring at least 100 innocent civilians
Zionist state has claimed that Hamas were using the school as a 'command centre', but no evidence has been found to substantiate that
In a widely suspected Israeli attack on 31 July, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran, Iran, earlier having attended the inauguration of President Pezeshkian
Since the beginning of October 2023, at least 39,929 have been confirmed killed in the ongoing genocide, with over 92,240 injured, and more than 10,000 remain missing

Adding to the catalogue of Israeli war crimes

I’d like to point to a few things here.

The first is that, 96 hours ago, the Israelis added to their catalogue of war crimes committed over the course of the past ten months.

al-Tabaeen school hit by three 2,000lb bombs

The Israelis committed another absolutely blood-curdling, gut-wrenching crime that killed over 100 innocent civilians as they were preparing to pray Fajr, in a shelter.

Many amongst them, at least 70 or even more, were children. The bombing of that shelter was so barbaric that the bodies of those killed were indistinguishable. You couldn’t tell whose arm, leg, or torso was whose.

Body parts unidentifiable after the strike

Rescuers had to weigh body parts, so every 60-70 kilos made up a human being, and was put in a separate bag.

It was a crime of despicable, repugnant proportions, and something I feel that adds to the many points of the past ten months where Israel has crossed the line of humanity into bestiality, into some level of degradation which I don’t have the words for.

And that, to many — even those who didn’t regard themselves on the side of the Palestinians or against the Israelis — found it to be way too much. Israel is crossing line after line after line, and causing untold embarrassment to its Western allies.

When states publicly advise Israel, they act in its interests

I mentioned this before, but when the foreign ministers and secretaries of the United States or Great Britain or any other country tell Israel “You need to do this” or “You need to stop doing this”, they are doing so because they are truly seeking the best interests of Israel, even greater than Benjamin Netanyahu himself.

Because nothing, nothing would disturb these governments more than for Israel to fall foul of international law, or to be actually found to have committed crimes against humanity.

I and millions around the world — in fact, I would suggest billions around the world — know for a fact that it has committed such crimes.

Many of us hope that one day, via the ICC and/or the ICJ, Israel will be found to have committed these war crimes and will be prosecuted. But we are not holding our breath here.

So this is a crime that causes immeasurable embarrassment to these governments.

Therefore, this statement is a plea that essentially says,

“Please, let’s talk about a ceasefire. Let’s talk about something that may appease the level of anger and disgust that people feel around the world, especially in our countries.”

Israel has meddled in the affairs of its supporters

The second point is that Israel has now meddled in the affairs of these countries, such that the impact of Gaza has reached the streets of Southport, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Rotheram, and Rochdale.

Those rioters who classify themselves as being on the far-right are racist, xenophobic, and idiotic. They call themselves nationalists, they are nothing but a rabble of idiots who go out and air their grievances by burning, looting, and specifically targeting Muslims.

They are targeting Muslim businesses, their mosques, their homes, their taxis, their ways of earning a living.

So now, all of a sudden, Israel and Gaza aren’t that far away! They’re amongst us, and this far-right situation threatens to escalate, to grow, to expand, to actually destabilise society. People are panicking.

Palestinians have had enough of this game

Thirdly — and, in my view, more importantly — only on Sunday in response to the Saturday massacre, did Hamas say they are not going to sit at the table anymore, that they are not going to negotiate anymore.

In their view, it seems clear that these governments are calling on them to “negotiate” a ceasefire, yet this — as we’ve seen time and time and time again — is only a ploy in order to offer Netanyahu and the Israelis time to commit further murders and massacres, and to destroy Gaza further, if at all possible.

Therefore, Hamas has effectively responded by saying,

“We ‘re not going to entertain any of these games anymore.”

Following this response, supportive governments were left contemplating,

“All of a sudden, what do we do now? Who do we call upon?

“How do we get the Palestinians back at the table, so that people have that impression that there is a process to find peace that we’re backing here. What do we do?”

So their thought process continued along the following lines,

“Therefore, this is a plea to the Qataris, to Sisi, to the Jordanians, this plea is to anyone who has the ears of the Palestinians:

“Please call them back to the table, so we can carry on this game, and this constant backing, aiding, and selling weapons to Israel. So that it can carry out further massacres, further crimes, further inhumanity.”