THE Zionist government in Israel, overtly and covertly supported by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, is continuing with its aim to eliminate the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. There seems to be no relief in sight as the world at large, especially the governments, seems to have lost faith in its ability to come good in this critical matter.

By the looks of it, Israel is actually emulating the precedents set by the troika of its supporters. France, during Algeria’s embittered struggle against the French colonial occupation that lasted from 1954 to 1962, killed over a million Algerians. Serious war crimes were committed by the French forces posted in Algeria.

Similarly, in Vietnam, the US forces killed around 1.5 million soldiers and civilians. The US destroyed 50 per cent of Vietnam’s forest cover plus 20pc agriculture land by spraying millions of gallons of chemicals, particularly the infamous Agent Orange, a herbicide mixture.

Besides, these chemicals are still causing birth defects, including congenital malformations that are often extreme and grotesque, in children born in Vietnam, Cambodia and Korea. They also caused various types of cancer. The US even dropped that infamous ‘mother of all bombs’ over Afghanistan, ignoring pleas by the United Nations, and protests by a number of countries.

As for the UK, it was more than active participant in the US-led killing spree in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Besides, its colonial past in there for all to have some idea of human rights violations the UK practised in its heyday.

Currently, Israel is following everything that its current supporters did in the past, behaving as if it is invincible. One may remind Israel that in 1973, the bubble of Israel’s invincibility was burst by the Egyptian forces. This shock was so intense that Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister at the time, used to cry while receiving the bodies of Israeli soldiers that were retrieved from the battlefield. Israel should study history and remember that there can be another Yom Kippur War, and this time it might not have any some bargaining power at the negotiation table.

Abid Mahmud Ansari
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2024