Dr Mahboob A. Khawaja
How to Distinguish Between Moral Beings and Beasts of War?
HUMAN beings as a species were created by God on the best “possible structure of creation”, as the most intelligent moral beings on this earth and given a choice of being righteous versus evil-mongering and therefore, recognised by our character and actions. Do the Israeli and American war planners know the consequences of their evil-mongering? Are they waging the war of insanity against the innocent people of Gaza and West Bank-Palestine as a revulsion against the phenomenon of change to avert their own end of history and inundation? If Israel and the US leaders ever claimed any moral and intellectual values, surely they are misinformed and delusional?
“Hell on Earth” – warns the conscientious global community from all spectrum of reason with more than 41,000 civilians massacred, more than 91, 355 injured, more than 16,000 children and women still buried under rubble and unaccounted for, and the rest of humanity under continuous bombardment by the Israeli war machines supported and aided by the US supplied weapons of mass destruction. Even the hospitals, places of worship, schools, graveyards and safe zones are not spared by the Israeli war agenda. Israeli leaders reportedly have dropped more than four equal to Hiroshima nuclear bombs on Gaza. International observers spell out the tragic events: words cannot describe the humanitarian calamities and sufferings of the besieged people of Gaza and the West Bank.
Are the global institutions of peace, security and conflict management fast becoming obsolete in a real crisis? And global humanity is captive of the US-Israel’s intransigence and plans never experienced in recent times. History is repeating the cruel insanity – the cursed evil of egoistic power – the unstoppable insanity of the war continues unabated. The professed animosity is against Islam and Israel spearheads the killings of Muslims throughout Palestine to end the freedom movement for an independent State of Palestine.
Evil is inseparable from the political agenda. When sinisterism and unacknowledged motives conduct the affairs of life, the people, societies and policymakers become abnormal, disfigured and lose the sense of rational direction. President Joe Biden and Secretary Antony Blinken continued to deceive the humanity of a ceasefire deal since May, except it was a delaying tactic to complete the crimes against humanity and open Gaza to new Israeli settlers.
It was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel not sure of a ceasefire and peace in the region. Thousands of concerned Israeli citizens march daily and hold continuous night vigils in Tel Aviv to demand peace, the resignation of Netanyahu and an immediate ceasefire for the safe return of 100 or so hostages. Netanyahu’s political goal was to flatten Gaza and he has done it without any challenge. The cycle of dreadful humanitarian crises unfolding in Gaza and across Palestine is baffling as if global humanity and institutions do not exist for other than Americans and Israel-allied Europeans.
The war scenario emboldens Netanyahu‘s political absolutism – an egoistic leader with a controversial profile will do his utmost to pursue his unbridled ambition whether by manipulation, violence, or new conflicts. The current paradigm links directly to Netanyahu’s affiliation with extreme Jewish ultranationalists to deny the Palestinian people their right to exist as an independent State and to dismantle the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israel-American Collaborative War
Against Earth, Muslims, and Humanity
The UK Government is one of the staunch supporters of the Israeli war against Gaza. British Prime Minister Starmer claims Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are at the epic centre of challenges and animosity towards democracy and liberal values. “UK politicians are whipping up an anti-Muslim panic. Where’s the evidence?” https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/uk-claim-muslims-threatening-democracy-dangerous-evidence — headline appears in the Middle East Eye magazine (UK), and The Sun:
* Our real problem is with Islam itself and will remain so because we have no choice but to confront the Islamic flow and Islamic thought in all ways……* Our differences are not really with the Islamic peoples or the ruling regimes, because the regimes revolve around us and derive their survival from us, and implement our policies that serve Western national security first, regardless of their national security….* Our real problem lies with Islam and Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam because it is a civilised religion that has detailed answers to all existential and civilisational questions, and it is a stubborn competitor to Western civilisation, which has begun to lose its brilliance, while Islam and Muhammad are becoming increasingly brilliant even within our European societies, which liberal values have allowed freedom of thought and weakened the authority of the Church, and this free and abstract thinking has led many elites and youth to embrace Islam, because they found in it all the answers to their psychological, spiritual, existential and social needs that our contradictory civilisation has drowned them in.
Those bombing and destroying the Earth and its life cycle are not normal human beings. Were the ancient people of the Stone Age more intelligent and responsible for not having destroyed the earth and environment in wars and kept mankind in safety and unity? The Earth is a Divine living entity and a trust to mankind. American-supplied weaponry massacred more than 41,000 innocent people of Gaza, 16,000 children and women and several thousand buried under the rubble; and Israel bombed and destroyed the habitats and its citizens for no other reason except intransigence and animosity against Arabs and Muslims. If the original population of Gaza and West Bank-Palestine had happened to be Jews or Christians, the bombing and destruction would have been unthinkable. “It is only wrongdoers stand as Protectors – one to another, but God is the Protector of Righteous” clarifies the Divine message (Quran 45:19). Another clarification spells out the truth: “We have not created the Heavens and the earth and whatever is between them in sport: We have not created them but for a serious end. But the greater part of them understands it not.” (Quran 44:38)
The Earth belongs to all humanity and is a living entity and rotates itself at a speed of 1,000 miles per hour at the equator and orbits the Sun at an average speed of 67062 MPH. The Quran 7:56 warns us: Do no mischief on the Earth after it hath been set in order, but call on God with fear and longing in hearts; For the Mercy of God is always near to those who do good. Earth is a trust to humanity and trust includes accountability. The Earth sustains all forms of living things (known and unknown), the essential foundation of our very existence. Pathologically wicked leaders and nations claiming to be most powerful start acting like God to challenge the sanctity and limits of the Laws of God; historically, they become an object of unthinkable natural calamities – earthquakes, wildfires, floods, deaths and destruction. “Say! Travel through the earth; And see what was the end of those who rejected Truth.” spell out the annals of human history. Those bombing and causing catastrophic events to destroy the planet Earth and mankind and all of its treasures and enrichments are not normal human beings. And the killing of innocent people is prohibited in the Ten Commandments (Torah): ‘Thou shalt not kill’ (Exod. 20:13; also Deut. 5:17). Jewish law views the shedding of innocent blood very seriously, and lists murder as one of three sins (along with idolatry and sexual immorality), that fall under the category of yehareg ve’al ya’avor – meaning “One should let himself be killed rather than violate it.
Arab-Muslim Leaders Waiting for the End-Game
Sigmund Freud (Civilisation and its Discontent, 1930) noted that “the inclination to aggression is an original self-subsisting instinctual disposition in man, and that it constitutes the greatest impediment to civilisation.” The Arab Middle East is no exception.
The war crimes and genocide in Gaza warranted swift action to safeguard human lives entrapped in the war zones – why did the UN not organise a force to protect the civilians in war zones across Gaza and West Bank?
Caitlin Johnstone (“Opposing The Gaza Genocide While Supporting Biden Is A Dishonest” 04/29/24), offers rational insight into many concerns:
You really couldn’t put together a more incoherent position if you tried. You can’t acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide without also acknowledging that the Biden administration has been actively participating in that genocide. If you acknowledge that Biden is guilty of genocide, then you are acknowledging that he is guilty of the most horrific crime a state leader can possibly commit short of initiating a nuclear exchange…Those who are supporting Biden while opposing the destruction of Gaza do not have any kind of integrity. They’re just wearing whatever mask is politically convenient based on the way the winds are blowing at a given moment while continuing to support the US-centralised empire which cannot be sustained without nonstop tyranny and bloodshed.
Animals live and do not reflect on the imperatives of life whereas, we, human beings, cannot act like animals as we are supposed to be intelligent and responsible species on this Earth. At the edge of reason, the notion of evil leads to the realisation that evil and the tyranny of war must be stopped by all means, and those responsible for the genocide and crimes against humanity must be held accountable to restore the manifestation of a sustainable human future.
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Dr Mahboob A. Khawaja specialises in international affairs — global security, peace and conflict resolution and has spent several academic years across the Russian-Ukrainian and Central Asian regions knowing the people, diverse cultures of thinking and political governance and a keen interest in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilisations.