Aamna Khan
Recently United States of America (US) blocked a scheduled United Nations Security Council meeting called by China (who is the current president of the UNSC) intended at addressing the ongoing Israel-Palestine situation. Additionally, Washington blocked a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
It is not the first time that the US has unequivocally supported Israel in the UN. According to the official UN data, since 1972, the US has vetoed at least 53 times resolutions critical to Israel. From 1991 to 2011, 15 out of 24 vetoes were used to protect Israel. In June 2018, the US vetoed the resolution drafted by UNSC that stated “grave concern at the escalation of violence and tensions” and “deep alarm at the loss of civilian lives and the high number of casualties among Palestinian civilians, particularly in the Gaza Strip, including casualties among children, caused by the Israeli forces”. The US called it one-sided and blamed Hamas for all violence.
In August 2018, mere months later, the US brought the issue of ill-treatment of Uighur Muslims in China to the UN. Moreover in the US, a congressional committee on China advised the Trump administration to take serious measures against China and called it “the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today” and “ongoing human rights crisis.” Further, the committee transcribed: “Muslim ethnic minorities are being subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, egregious restrictions on religious practice and culture, and a digitized surveillance system so pervasive that every aspect of daily life is monitored.”
Paradoxically, the same Congress has nothing to say for the atrocities going on in Gaza against the civilians including women and children by Israel. A similar attitude has been seen by American leaders as well. Current US Secretary of State for Biden administration Antony Blinken said, “Asserting domestic jurisdiction doesn’t give any state a blank check to enslave, torture, disappear, ethnically cleanse their people, or violate their human rights in any other way,” “On the Uighurs, I think we’re very much in agreement. And the forcing of men, women and children into concentration camps, trying to, in effect, re-educate them to be adherents to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, all of that speaks to an effort to commit genocide.”
These comments of the committee as well as of Blinken can be applied very accurately to the condition of Palestinians.
Further, most of the reliable Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are full of reports and data exhibiting Israeli’s atrocities towards Palestinians. One such evidence is the information extracted from Amnesty International’s website which stated, “Israel continued to impose institutionalized discrimination against Palestinians living under its rule in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). It displaced hundreds of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as a result of home demolitions and imposition of other coercive measures. Israeli forces continued to use excessive force during law enforcement activities in Israel and the OPT. Israel demolished 848 Palestinian residential and livelihood structures in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, displacing 996 people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).” Even B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories reported that “With the latest round of bombing in Gaza over, Israel’s claim it abided by international law in these attacks is based on a manipulative, unreasonable interpretation concocted to justify broad harm to civilians. Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. These must be properly investigated and the perpetrators held accountable to do justice by the victims and to ensure this intolerable policy is not repeated.”
Not just the American leaders, even its allies are on the same page, very vocal about human rights abuses in China or any other part of the world but shy to talk about Palestinians human rights. To illustrate this with another example, French President Emmanuel Macron on several occasions criticized China on the Uighur issue. In his words, “All these practices are unacceptable because they run counter to the universal principles enshrined in international human rights conventions, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms,” Macron said. Contrarily, after the recent wave of escalation and deadly violence in Palestine, President Macron called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and showed French support to Israel once again. He condemned Hamas’ attacks but didn’t condemn Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza which has killed 200 Palestinians including 40 children. Furthermore, the French interior ministry prohibited demonstrations in support of Palestine in Paris. The biased attitude of the French president regarding two similar situations is questionable.
Nonetheless, all these leaders are hesitant to condemn the violence against Palestinian Muslims by Israel. In the last 25 days of May 2021, at least 243 people, including 100 women and 40 children have been massacred by Israeli forces(Data from BBC). Even Muslim worshippers were attacked by Israeli police at the mosque on the occasion of special prayers which were taking place due to the Muslim’s most sacred and holy month of Ramadan.
Ironically, Western leaders do not condemn human rights violations when it’s by Israel against Palestinians. De facto, blaming Hamas for the violence and defending Israel by claiming it as its self-defense. Lately, Olof Skoog, Head of the European Union Delegation to the United Nations while talking at the Security Council Open Debate on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” said, “The EU is extremely concerned at the continued escalation of violence in Gaza and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities. The EU strongly condemns the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and militant groups in the Gaza Strip, directly harming civilians. While recognizing Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself against any attacks, the EU underlines that the Israeli military operation must be proportionate and in line with international humanitarian law. The EU stresses the need for protection of civilians at all times.”
China has always been a center of attention for western leaders and media. It has always been criticized and blamed for violating human rights. Western media outlets are overloaded with articles, documentaries, and reports castigating China proclaiming deep concerns regarding the situation of human rights in China. The so-called liberals, champions of the freedom of expressions, flag bearers of women and children rights are silent on the atrocities taking place in Palestine for years. Nevertheless, beyond the known truth and against popular opinion, the western leaders chose to stay silent and blind, or worse, willfully ignorant.
On the one hand, the entire west is standing for the human rights of Uyghur Muslims but on the other hand, Palestinian Muslims are left alone to suffer, to say nothing of the open air prison known as Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). This odd selection criteria for which human rights matter more than the others clearly establishes that the West does not believe in human rights, and is merely playing the geo-political game of protecting its allies and assets, and lamenting its enemies and rivals.
A freelance columnist and a PhD student majoring in International Relations at Jilin University, China
