If it wasn’t for work and my concern for people I know, I have to admit, I’d be tempted to switch off the news.
The stories coming out of both Israel and Gaza are beyond comprehension.
In Israel we have learned just how brutal Hamas were to innocent women and children. It’s too graphic to go into detail. The men who did this are not human beings.
Inside Gaza, we have seen the Al-Ahli hospital being hit. Almost 500 are said to have died. Hamas blames an Israeli air strike. Israel claims the blast was from a misfired rocket, fired from inside the Gaza Strip and by Islamic Jihad.
I’ve looked deeply into this. There is no evidence given by Hamas to say it was Israel. There is, however, plenty of evidence, especially sound recordings of conversations, to suggest it was in fact an Islamic Jihad rocket gone wrong.
We will never get the full truth though, as no one will ever admit it.
Meantime, body parts lay strewn around the hit hospital. What a sickening tragedy, whoever is to blame.
The UK, and many other western nations, are still holding the line that “Israel has a right to defend itself”. Therefore, I ask…
Is the UK, and western democracies at large, not guilty of double standards?
While rightly condemning Russian “war crimes” in Ukraine, we totally back Israel’s “right to defend itself”.
How long though will this last?
Will our friendship be pushed to the limit? Only time will tell, as the death numbers rise in Gaza.
I absolutely accept that Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza are not the same, in fact totally different. But the fact remains. Hundreds of innocent children have died in Ukraine, hundreds in Gaza.
Some even say that the recent blockade, ie cutting all food, water and medical supplies to Gaza, amounts to a war crime. Israel denies this.
Egypt finally agreed to let vital aid in through its border crossing. “Why doesn’t Egypt just open its border and let the innocents escape the bombings in Gaza? Both countries are Muslim after all?” I’ve been asked this many times during the past week.
The short answer is: “Egypt doesn’t want them.”
Egypt knows if it opens that border, not just now during war, but at any time, it would be flooded with up to 2 million Gazans, desperate to leave, most of whom would probably never leave Egypt once allowed in. It doesn’t want that.
But back to the “double standards” issue.
Few relations are as contentious as the UK/Saudi Arabia one. Here’s the official line.
“We develop and maintain the long-standing relationship between the UK and Saudi Arabia. We build on the bilateral relationship between our two governments and peoples, especially in the areas of trade and investment, education, culture, energy and climate security, and defence.”
Sounds good, makes sense. Until you look at what Saudi Arabia is.
Remember, we condemn numerous other regimes the world over and label them as “barbaric”.
Human rights in Saudi Arabia are near non-existent. There is no freedom of speech. Saudis, and this also goes for foreigners, cannot criticise the government or the royal family. Punishment for doing so can be brutal.
Islamic law is strictly enforced. Alcohol is banned, as are all pork products. There is no freedom of religion. It is a crime to publicly practice Christianity. And of course, one must never even attempt to try to convert a Saudi to Christianity. That’s called proselytising, and the death sentence can be handed down.
As for being gay – that is punishable by death.
Men and woman cannot display affection in public. And, if you are a single man, even a foreigner, you can only eat in segregated sections of restaurants. You are not allowed to mix with women.
The Mutaween, the religious police, or to give them their proper very Orwellian sounding name, the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, patrol the streets and often dish out harsh punishments if you do fall foul of the laws.
Get on the wrong side of the authorities and depending on your “crime”, which can range from blasphemy to theft and murder, you can expect to be beaten, lashed, whipped, have your hand chopped off and ultimately, beheaded by sword.
Such executions have often taken place in public. Gruesome theatre indeed.
Jamal Khashoggi was a prominent journalist who covered many major world events. He was once even close to the Saudi royal family and an adviser to the government.
However, he then crossed a line when he criticised the policies of crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman. In 2018, the Saudis murdered then dismembered Khashoggi – inside their own consulate in Istanbul.
Yet, we are good mates with Saudi Arabia. And later this year we will host crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman in the UK. We will basically roll out the red carpet.
Photo opportunity outside Number 10? Most likely.
Will the prince be invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the King? Probably.
What message does this give to the world? A very mixed one indeed.
How do you feel about this? Does it matter? Should it matter? Remember that we call out other barbaric regimes around the world.
Actually, our relationship with Saudi makes very good business sense. We have done deals with the Saudis worth tens of billions of pounds over the years. That said, most of these business deals are for arms. We sell them state of the art weapons. Lethal weapons, and it’s claimed such weapons have been used against civilians in Yemen.
We rightly condemn Putin’s actions in Ukraine, Assad’s in Syria, yet we invite the Saudis with open arms. Double standards and hypocrisy, or just good business sense? Probably both I’d say.
I’m not suddenly turning anti-western. But the world is often not as black and white as we may like to see it. Remember that Bush quote on axis of evil? “You’re either with us or against us.” We’re not going to change the world and make it a better place with language like that.
But it’s certainly not just the UK that is guilty of double standards. Putin said recently – and remember this is the man whose forces have committed genocide in Ukraine – that citizens in Gaza must be protected. It’s even been touted that Russia, who is very close to Hamas, gets involved in peace talks. Russia as a peace negotiator? That leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
Iran – who publicly backs Hamas, sends weapons and helps train them – has claimed Israel is committing war crimes against the people of Gaza. But the beheading of innocent Jews is OK? It seems so, because only last week the Ayatollah said: “We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime.”
Our system of government in the UK is not perfect, far from it. Yet I’d still rather live under our politically correct, ever growing toxic UK political system than just about any of the 80 plus countries I’ve been in.
Churchill famously said: “Democracy is the worst form of government… except for all those other forms…”
Indeed. For unlike in Russia, Syria, North Korea and Gaza to name but a few, we can kick our leaders out every few years if we so wish. We should never forget that, and it’s why everyone should vote.
When it comes to world events, I cannot help but think that we, the west, are guilty of double standards, whether that is intentional or not. And never forget that during the Second World War, we carpet-bombed Dresden.
The only way we are going to save humanity and stop killing each other is to mix with each other and talk with each other. We must understand where the other side is coming from and listen to their fears and grievances.
We also must stop labelling one side good, the other side bad. From what I’ve seen, the world’s conflicts are rarely black and white issues.
We will always have extremists. But now, entire nations are being whipped up by governments, and I’m sorry to say but often religious extremism.
We will never totally stop ultra-extremists. But for the vast majority of people, I feel that if we can stop the brainwashing and indoctrination of blind hatred, then we can make the world such a better place for all who inhabit it.
If you take away the nationality, the flag, whatever religious book it may be, what do you have left?
People. Just people. People who want a better life for themselves and their families.
Whatever the issue, wherever the conflict, it’s always the innocents who suffer.
At the end of the day, as my photo of a slogan painted on the Palestinian side of the dividing wall with the West Bank says: “We all bleed the same colour.”
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