Western Weapons and Money have Flooded into Ukraine, while Palestine Drowns in Western Commiserations

News:

After the killing of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by “Israeli” fire in Jenin, a press statement was released by the President of the UN Security Council on May 13, 2022 as follows:

“The members of the Security Council strongly condemned the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the injury of another journalist in the Palestinian city of Jenin on 11 May 2022.

The members of the Security Council conveyed their sympathy and deepest condolences to the victim’s family.

The members of the Security Council called for an immediate, thorough, transparent, and fair and impartial investigation into her killing, and stressed the need to ensure accountability.

The members of the Security Council reiterated that journalists should be protected as civilians.

The members of the Security Council stressed that they continued to monitor the situation closely.”

Comment:

The Security Council members agreed unanimously upon this useless statement that omits so much. The statement does not name Israel, despite it being extremely implausible that any other party was guilty. The New York Times headline about the killing of Abu Akleh was even more lacking, as it simply stated in its first edition that she “…dies at 51”, which is a strange way of describing the death of a reporter wearing clearly identifiable press credentials who was shot in the face while another journalist was shot and wounded and those who tried to rescue Abu Akleh were subjected to sustained fire for several minutes. The New York Times later changed its headline to acknowledge that she was “shot and killed,” although it also apologized for quoting Al-Jazeera’s attribution of blame to the Jewish entity.

The Western media were careful, perhaps, not to accuse “Israeli” forces of the shooting before there was firm proof, but they have not been so careful when it comes to accusations against Russian forces in Ukraine; where they have been quick to run headlines blaming the Russians for every bombing and civilian death. When criticized by Russia for reporting as fact what has not yet been proven at the International Criminal Court, there is a common response. The media and politicians have responded that this is ‘Putin’s war’ and by definition everything bad that happens is Putin’s fault, because if he hadn’t invaded Ukraine, then the crimes that his soldiers are accused of committing would never have happened. This same logic could be applied to Palestine too, but it is not being applied there.

The Jewish entity is punishing the whole of Jenin, where Shireen was killed, for being the source of attacks on Jews, much as the Russians may have been killing civilians in Bucha in blood lust for their military losses in that region. Furthermore, Jenin is an invaded city, no less than Bucha in Ukraine! To be fair and impartial, then, the Western press should say that Abu Akleh was shot and killed during an “Israeli” special military operation in the occupied West Bank. Such a statement does not go so far as to say who shot her, but that would be more compatible with the ‘Putin’s war’ language used by the press to describe Ukraine’s invasion.

Nevertheless, the Jewish entity did receive at least some condemnation for the police brutality at Abu Akleh’s funeral. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “We were deeply troubled by the images of “Israeli” police intruding into the funeral procession of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh,” and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated that: “The European Union is appalled by the scenes unfolding on Friday during the funeral procession of the American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in occupied East Jerusalem. The EU condemns the disproportionate use of force and the disrespectful behaviour by the “Israeli” police against the participants of the mourning procession…The EU reiterates its call for a thorough and independent investigation that clarifies all the circumstances of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death that brings those responsible for her killing to justice.”

Investigations and condemnations have for decades been the responses of Western governments to actions taken by the Jewish occupation forces in the West Bank, which contrasts the response to Russia’s occupation of parts of Ukraine. Billions of dollars-worth of military aid are flooding into Ukraine: Javelins, stingers, NLAW’s, howitzers, tanks, Neptune anti-ship missiles and much more. Additionally, unprecedented sanctions have been imposed upon Russia, to such an extent that European and American citizens are suffering higher prices and much worse is expected for fuel prices when winter approaches. Russian assets have been seized and are being sold to pay for the damage that Russia is inflicting upon Ukraine.

Are the assets of the Jewish entity being seized to pay for the damage inflicted upon the West Bank or Gaza? Is “Israel” being sanctioned for its illegal occupation? Is the West sending military hardware to help the Palestinians to defend themselves? The answer of course is ‘no’ every time, and worse than that; the defenders are called terrorists and weapons and financial support are bestowed in plenty upon the occupier. Even the meagre assistance that has been given by the UNRWA to help Palestinian refugees, displaced by the Jewish entity’s successive governments, is drying up. Perhaps, when Putin was considering the invasion of Ukraine, he looked at the West’s unjust wars and occupations and its support of occupiers and thought that only mild token sanctions would be applied against Russia for its invasion. If so, he underestimated Western hypocrisy as much as he underestimated and miscalculated other things.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Dr. Abdullah Robin