October update: I was naive. Nothing changed in terms of the Western weapons approach, particularly the US.
Over two weeks ago, I began augmenting the Wikipedia article of World Central Kitchen (WCK) with information on their heroic efforts to bring food relief to Gaza. The prospects for this quiet heroism to ever gain publicity seemed bleak.
The Israeli drone strikes brought that. It also killed seven relentless humanitarians and halted WCK’s entire operation in Gaza. It was that one beacon of hope: The 200-tonne payload per boat delivery. Hearty food from gracious volunteers. Distributing them to people in dire need.
All of it eviscerated.
Hypocrisy within Western societies
Flurry of condemnations reveals racism in Western societies’ moral conscience
The media and government response has been overwhelming. It is vital to vocally express discontent and pursue accountability. But if that is considered a moral imperative, than should we not also expect a similar response towards all events in which any innocent civilian is killed? It is a good sign that some people are finally having these conversations. It also screams: Palestinian lives do not matter. Arab lives do not matter.
How about Shireen Abu Akleh, sniped 2022 in the West Bank? Israeli forces admitted and claimed it a “mistake”. Any independent, thorough investigation? Any consequences to avert future incidents? How about Hind Rajab, the five-year-old girl who wailed over the corpses of her family; and then later the medics dispatched to fetch her? Any “transparent” investigation?
It is fact that we, collectively, regard certain groups as being less worthy of consideration. It is not always ethnic or racial as is in this case. We must inspect of our moral conscience.
If a being suffers, there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration. No matter what the nature of the being, the principle of equality requires that the suffering be counted equally with the like suffering – in so far as rough comparisons can be made – of any other being.
Peter Singer. Practical Ethics
Virtue-signalling without action
Such responses are evocative of the “thoughts and prayers” approach from former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison. Being the largest military funder of Israel, the United States is yet to tangibly condition military gifts to Israel. It is continuing to fulfill the 2019-2028 “Memorandum of Understanding” of around $3.8 billion per year. Other states like Australia have not announced any impactful sanctions dissuading the Israeli government from more violations of international humanitarian law. The same approach applies to the fear of an assault on Rafah: We will keep voicing our objections to the Netanyahu government. And no, we have not exerted much pressure.
I don’t want to suggest every one of these governments is evil-minded. Far from it: There are competing interests behind the scenes, such as the influence of Israeli finance in US politics. So it guides us to the next matter – shift in approaches towards the Israeli government.
Impetus for change
Breaking taboo of criticising the Israeli government
Precisely due to the anti-universalist response, it is paradoxically a potential impetus for positive change: They hit one of ours. Receiving merely condemnations, the Israeli government acquiesced instead of leaving it unaddressed or blaming it on some imaginery Hamas fighter. It broke the taboo of criticising Israel. It signals the readiness of these governments to escalate. And the populace of these states are witnessing ever more the suffering in Gaza, the power of diplomatic pressure and the imperative to exert it for protecting civilians.
Once this realisation is echoed, the dominoes could fall extremely fast.
- April 3, United States: Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations and former director of policy planning at the US Department of State, enunciated after the incident the need for conditions on military funding and economic sanctions.1
- April 3, United Kingdom: 613 legal professionals, including three former Supreme Court justices, sign open letter reminding the UK government of obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL).2
- April 4, United States: Senator Chris Coons, ardent supporter of Biden, says that the US is “at that point” of restricting support for Israel “if Benjamin Netanyahu were to order the IDF into Rafah”.3
- April 4, United States: Senator Elizabeth Warren appears on television to express the imperative of restricting weapons to Israel.4
- April 4, United Kingdom: Officials revealed to have sent government letters that they will stop cooperating over weapon export licenses, citing IHL concerns.5
- April 4, United States: Biden asks Netanyahu for an “immediate ceasefire” (despite the US abstaining at the UN Security Council a week ago), and purportedly warns Netanyahu about losing US support.6
To be continued…
Motives in this attack?
A case illustrating the complexities of mens rea in IHL
Israeli leaders say it was an “unintentional” mistake. What could “unintentional” mea? Clearly it has been established that the convoy was precisely targeted by drone three times in succession, despite bearing flamboyant WCK logos and travelling along a pre-coordinated route.
I found this paper interesting as it explained the three basic types of intent in the context of the Rome Statute:
- dolus directus: an act is commited resulting in a crime, with that crime being a desired consequence
- dolus indirectus: an act is committed resulting in a crime, with that crime not being a desired consequence but a consequence that was nonetheless foreseen by the defendant
- dolus eventualis: an act is commmitted resulting in a crime, with that crime not being a desired consequence but a consequence that was nonetheless known by the defendent as a possibility
In the case of this attack, it is inconceivable as to how it could have been anything less than dolus indirectus. It shows the utter disregard the Israeli military has for civilian life.
See also
- https://youtu.be/Y-CnR_Acvvo?si=SHq4KDrK_KUUs1xQ&t=1346 ↩︎
- https://lawyersletter.uk/ ↩︎
- https://www.axios.com/2024/04/04/coons-israel-aid-conditions-rafah ↩︎
- https://twitter.com/NewsCentralCNN/status/1775883089924722767 ↩︎
- https://news.sky.com/story/civil-servants-threaten-to-stop-work-over-arms-sales-to-israel-13107895 ↩︎
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/04/israel-us-gaza-joe-biden-benjamin-netanyahu-phone-call ↩︎
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