In this war, we are all losers, By Abdullah M. Abu Shawesh

It’s very clear that they haven’t succeeded so far in accomplishing any of their two main goals, but this isn’t the end of the story. The sympathy they received till the middle of October from many Western countries has been slightly converted against them now, after lengthy intergovernmental organisation reports and the broadcast of tens of thousands of videos show the horrific butchery they have been conducting against innocent people.

On the 118^th day of the running and unfolding text book genocide conducted by the troika of death, with the full military and political support of many western countries, the hands of Israeli professionals rest on the joysticks of weapons and machines. The lack of condemnation of this attack in much of the international community can equally and rightly be interpreted as complicity in it. Everyone is trying to figure out who will win, but I’m confident that everyone is a loser on both theoretical and practical levels. In the current situation, Israel is the main loser for very rational reasons.

There is a huge difference between desires, on one hand, and reasonable goals on the other hand. As they put on their military uniforms, call thousands of reservists to the battlefields, or to the offices of propaganda and manipulation, fuel their tanks, load their aircraft with Western ammunition, draft the war plans based on tons of intelligence information, to the very long list of preparations for the final victory, Israel has declared its intentions to completely eliminate the Palestinian fighters and remove what they consider as the threat. For Israel, this means maintaining the 1948 borders and getting the hostages back homes are their two main goals of this revenge war.

Israel’s leaders have declared many optimistic overall goals of the war, and are quite certain that they will achieve them like in a piece of cake fashion – “easy as a pie.”  More than obvious is their surplus military power, their deep hatred of “Human animals, the Palestinians,” as Minister Galant described them, and their anger and mood of revenge. These undeniable facts are in addition to the Western unwavering, unquestionable, and unbeatable support.

On their way to battle, they launched a wider propaganda campaign in their long-standing quest to eradicate the people of Palestine. Israel’s propaganda machine is portraying this as a fight for the final victory, a fight on behalf of angels against demons, civilisation against savages, the sole representative of light against darkness, little David against Goliath, while remembering the ancient Hebrews fighting of the Amalekites, even as we are long past the time of Hezekiah.

There is a huge difference between desires, on one hand, and reasonable goals, on the other hand, after nearly four months of war, with no progress other than the mass destruction and killing of innocent civilians. This has led to more frustration among the Israelis, in general, and the army, in particular, resulting in more bloodshed. Despite the Israeli army declaring the northern area of Gaza as a cleared area with no threat, there is still resistance and many Israeli invaders have been killed there, as evident in numerous videos. In addition, their own reports state that nearly 140 soldiers have lost their lives, mainly in the north of the enclave.

Indeed, the only way, so far, that granted the return of some of the hostages is the diplomatic way, such as when Qatar succeeded in negotiating the return of 105 of the hostages. The Israeli bombardment also killed quite a number of those hostages. In an unfortunate accident, Israeli killed three other hostages who apparently managed to flee and moved towards the Israeli army unit naked, shouting in Hebrew and waving a white flag, seeking shelter. Instead of being in their homes that evening, being warmly welcomed by their families, regrettably the Israeli army sent their dead bodies to their homes.

Today, we can confidently say that the Palestinian narrative is gaining more traction than ever before on social media outlets, breaking the monopoly of biased Western media outlets. One example is the video of Khaled Nabhan, a bereaved grandfather, which garnered overwhelming empathy and sympathy worldwide. This video, which cost less than one cent to produce, successfully defeated the billions of dollars spent on Israeli propaganda.

Even in this very simple mission, Israel not only failed, but also proved what we have been saying, that they are deliberately executing unarmed and naked civilians. Despite all the cosmetics and justifications that they gave in this particular incident, they failed to convince anyone of their innocence or use of caution, or even of misunderstanding the situation.

It’s very clear that they haven’t succeeded so far in accomplishing any of their two main goals, but this isn’t the end of the story. The sympathy they received till the middle of October from many Western countries has been slightly converted against them now, after lengthy intergovernmental organisation reports and the broadcast of tens of thousands of videos show the horrific butchery they have been conducting against innocent people.

There were the declared war goals, as well as the main hidden goal of another Palestinian Nakba, meaning another Palestinian ethnic cleansing like that faced by our ancestors in 1948, when they were forcefully expelled to the Sinai Peninsula. While this planned for nakba has not yet occurred, it’s not guaranteed that it will not be accomplished in the future.

We can’t take this off the table as a possibility and threat if the international community continues turning its back to the inhabitants of Gaza. In 2018, the UN Special Rapporteur stated that Gaza may be unlivable by 2020. We will all wake up to a Gaza that has been completely devastated, with shortages of food, shelter, and essential infrastructure. The destruction of homes, buildings, schools, hospitals, and sewage pipes will undoubtedly force people to flee. We are in desperate need of a divine miracle to prevent ANOTHER PALESTINIAN NAKBA.

Today, we can confidently say that the Palestinian narrative is gaining more traction than ever before on social media outlets, breaking the monopoly of biased Western media outlets. One example is the video of Khaled Nabhan, a bereaved grandfather, which garnered overwhelming empathy and sympathy worldwide. This video, which cost less than one cent to produce, successfully defeated the billions of dollars spent on Israeli propaganda.

After even all of these days of the horrific and terrible war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel has been conducting, we know that more of the same will be revealed. What we know today is the tip of the iceberg. The Palestinians have learnt how to use their iPhones to produce simple, short, but very real and powerful messages that is being used to storm the world in seconds.

Much of the people are seeing the real and final victory that Israel has accomplished in completely destroying empty universities, schools, mosques, churches, roads asphalt, sewage water pipes but they DID NOT AND WILL NOT DEFEAT THE RESISTANCE OF THE SOUL.  Palestinians will not go down to their knees and this will lead to more and more anger, and more desire for revenge.

The world will know that they succeeded in sending thousands of innocent people to the cemeteries, they left thousands and thousands of women as widows, orphaned children, and tens of thousands of paralysed and disabled people. The entire society is completely traumatised. Much of the people are seeing the real and final victory that Israel has accomplished in completely destroying empty universities, schools, mosques, churches, roads asphalt, sewage water pipes but they DID NOT AND WILL NOT DEFEAT THE RESISTANCE OF THE SOUL.  Palestinians will not go down to their knees and this will lead to more and more anger, and more desire for revenge.

They will not hesitate to justify all the crimes, and if you have not been convinced, this means that they will resort to using their most sophisticated, long used and tested weapons. The scarecrow of anti-Semitism is ready to stifle any voice of criticism and they will take us all back to their very true historical grievances; one cannot forget the slander in the Merchant of Venice, which depicts the Jewish merchant as a monster, and it is no harm if we all remember the Spanish Inquisition.

The Israeli lobby all over the world will play the crucial roles of bridling the mouths and will impose more restrictions on free speech. All of this will enable the hatred of the Israelis in an accelerated manner.

Some with a short vision may think this is benefiting us, but this is absolutely not so. The hatred of the Israelis means more crucifying of us by the loser, more brutality and more revenge acts, as long as we do not bear the responsibility for all of this.

We have been familiar with this for a long time ago, so what is new? This will take us all to another stage of dead-ends and no one knows when we will be free from it all. We, the Palestinians, will gain more sympathy, empathy, lose more land and loved ones, while the Israelis will lose the role of being the eternal and sole victim and gain the shame of being a cursed killer.

IN THIS WAR ALL ARE LOSERS, BUT ISRAEL IS THE MASTER LOSER.

Abdullah M. Abu Shawesh is the ambassador of the State of Palestine to Nigeria; X/Tweeter: @AM_Shawesh