TRUTH is the first casualty of war. United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s attempt based solely upon Jewish-Israeli accounts of what happened to a Jewish family of four on Oct 7 is reminiscent of many attempts in previous wars to dehumanise the enemy; in this case, Hamas.

After the invasion of Kuwait in the first Gulf War, I recall testimony before Congress about the murder of Kuwaiti babies in incubators by the Iraqi army. After the war was over, it turned out to be a false testimony.

I also recall that in the run-up to the second Gulf War, stories about weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), and mobile biological and chemical weapons laboratories in Iraqi vans were peddled before the United Nations Security Council by the then secretary of state, Colin Powell. All such stories also proved to be rather spectacularly false.

What about the publication of the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War? The episode proved that the Pentagon had lied to the American people about how the Vietnam War was going. Then we heard about the Afghanistan Papers in Washington Post, which told us about how the US lied to the American public about the war being a success, which it surely was not.

Now the Israelis expect us to believe that their vaunted intelligence agencies, which failed so completely on Oct 7, are actually capable of generating 300-450 or more military targets within 24 hours to bomb in Gaza. The truth is quite opposite to their claims. The world does not believe the Israelis when they say they are striking solely military targets.

The war in Gaza is the terror raid akin to the bombing of London during the Battle of Britain. It is time for a ceasefire on the ground to allow food, water, fuel, medicines and electricity to flow into Gaza for the desperate humanity over there.

It is clear that Israeli actions amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction and must hold Israel to account.

If any Hamas leader and its foot soldiers are found to have committed war crimes, then they, too, must be held accoun-table, provided they still happen to be alive by the time the conflict comes to an end.

Omar Mirza
New York, USA

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2023