Moral Bankruptcy

The abusive behavior applauds the perpetrator of land theft and crimes against humanity, and demonizes the victims.

(LONDON) - The August that marked the 100th anniversary of the First World War, the one they called ‘The War To End All Wars’ is over. We are in autumn or The Fall as Americans call it. Well named for us, the Arabs, because in 1916 in our quest for freedom from the Ottomans we fell, hook line and sinker, for false promises and lies of Britain and its allies and joined the war.

Yet, not only did that war fail to fulfill any of our dreams and aspirations for the Arabs, especially us, the Palestinians it was and is and will continue to be an unmitigated disaster for generations to come.

The British and their allies had no intention of honouring any of their promises. On the contrary, they were plotting to divide the Arab world into manageable, subservient units and to top it all inserted a Jewish state in our midst.

This treachery was known as the Sykes/Picot agreement, a secret pact between the governments of the United Kingdom and France with the assent of Czarist Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control in the Middle East. In my opinion that infamous treaty was the beginning of the decline of the moral fibre of western society.

This moral bankruptcy on behalf of Britain was further magnified by another infamous act of treachery in 1917 known as the Balfour Declaration in which an English Lord, Lord Balfour who had no deed or title to Palestine decided to gift it to another English Lord, Lord Rothschild, a banker who had no right to it.

I am sorry to say that as a result of that transaction we, the Palestinians, have been paying with our land, our blood and our treasure ever since. Yet, despite all this treachery and double-dealing, the western powers, until this very day keep on trying to flog to us in the Middle East their flawed values and way of life.

None of us could fail to notice that these so-called values have been thrust upon us over several years at the point of a gun. From Tunisia, Libya, Iraq, Egypt, the Yemen and Syria.

This moral bankruptcy of the western powers was totally exposed when the American four star general, Wesley Clark spoke out in 2006, describing the plan of the Pentagon to destroy seven nations in five years.

General Wesley Clark: "Wars Were Planned - Seven Countries In Five Years"

Shocking as it is, this type of military strategy from the USA is not new. Since WWII, the USA has been involved in over 35 unnecessary, unprovoked, devastating acts of aggression across the world:

I shudder to think of what would happen if they decide to take on Russia over the Ukraine.

This brings me neatly to the child that was born as a result of this moral bankruptcy and treachery, Israel. The Zionist entity which was spawned by the west in a marriage between racism and colonialism. It’s nurtured by the west; it’s armed by the west; it’s protected by the west.

No matter what Israel does it is cloaked in moral supremacy and presented as justifiable self defence. A totally immoral and bankrupt argument.

The recent genocidal attack on Gaza by the fourth most powerful army in the world on a defenceless, beleaguered and besieged civilian population was conducted in the full sight of the international community yet it was cheered on and applauded by western powers from Washington to London to Paris to Canberra to Ottawa as morally justifiable self defence.

Pray tell me where is the morality of an occupation force, the longest in history, exacting its vengeance with the state of the art machinery of war on a civilian population?

10,000 homes were totally demolished, 30,000 partially damaged, many schools, mosques and hospitals were razed to the ground. The only power station was rendered useless. The only water treatment plant was demolished leaving Gaza awash with sewage water and total devastation of the entire infrastructure. Not one of these was a barbaric act?

Gaza is only a matter of a drive away from the civilization of Tel Aviv and the bombs and the smoke can be heard and smelled in the capital. Yet there appears little repulsion amongst everyday Israelis. Instead many were seen dancing and clapping in the streets as the bombs exploded in the near distance and chanting,”finish the job”.

When the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia published a cartoon of Israelis watching the Gaza devastation from their armchairs as if it were a video game, the editor was forced to apologise. Yet the idea for the cartoon came from an actual photograph.

Despite the litany of crimes committed in the name of "morally justifiable self defence", a ceasefire has been reached. It’s been reported however that Mr. Netanyahu is not only going to ignore the ceasefire but does not intend to send a delegation for agreed forthcoming negotiations in Cairo. How moral is that?

Mr. Netanyahu enjoys 95% support from everyday Israelis for what he and his government are doing in Gaza. Is this determination to wipe the people of Gaza off the map barbaric? Or are the dead, the wounded, the homeless and the displaced just collateral damage?

Mr. Obama had the temerity to call the alleged kidnap of one Israeli soldier ‘a barbaric act’. It was later proved to be false. Yet the killing of over 2100 Palestinians, 70% of whom, according to United Nations statistics were civilian: 570 children, 450 women and over 300 elderly was not a barbaric act?

The same goes for Mr. Cameron in the UK, Mr. Harper in Canada, Mr. Abbott in Australia and M. Hollande in France. All have opted to cloak what is clearly genocide in a shroud of moral justification.

Are the separation wall, the intrusive humiliating checkpoints, the Jewish only roads, the Jewish only settlements and the continued land confiscation in the West Bank moral acts? Or total moral bankruptcy?

This is what Jewish scholar, Alon Ben-Meir, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Affairs/NYU, had to say about the recent theft of Palestinian land by Israel:

"The Netanyahu-led government's announcement of its decision to annex nearly 1,000 acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank between the Etzion settlement block and Jerusalem amounts to nothing less than a reckless and offensive act that only further undermines Israel's moral international standing and has dire future consequences."

Yet, as usual, the Zionist mass media continues to applaud the perpetrator of land theft and crimes against humanity and instead choose to demonise the victim.

Another prominent Israeli scholar, Zeev Sternell, who describes himself as a ‘super Zionist’ was moved to say when interviewed recently about the latest Israeli onslaught on Gaza in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, "The intellectual bankruptcy of the mass media in this war is total."

Malcolm X, American civil rights activist got it right when he said, "If you’re not careful the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing."

Jafar M Ramini is a Palestinian writer, commentator and analyst on Middle Eastern affairs living in London.

He was born in Jenin, northern Palestine, was educated in England and spent the early years of his working life in the Arabian Gulf and Saudi Arabia. He has traveled far and wide, searching for the answer to a question that still eludes him.

Why does the United States of America support the Zionist line in such a blind folded way while ignoring the legitimate rights of the indigenous Palestinian people? Particularly as the Palestinian people harbour no ill feelings towards America and its people nor has ever caused them any harm. It is, Jafar says, a conundrum.