The 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan, a renowned cine-screen actor too, was vatic as he once pronounced, “…this generation may be the one that will face Armageddon.” Though not to this day, the October 7, 2023, adventure (read misadventure) of Hamas has brought the world close to a literal showdown. Armageddon is a scriptural reference to the belief of divine obliteration of God’s enemies, and is prophesied as a battle during the end times on the plains of what is today a traumatized Middle East. A month down the line since Hamas embarrassed the state of Israel, as it found them sleeping on Yom Kippur (50th anniversary of 1973 Arab-Israeli War) by marching deep into the Zion-encroached territory adjacent to the beleaguered Gaza Strip, the myth of the ‘Dome of Iron’ has shattered for all times.
The Israelis were found pants down and unresponsive for hours. This gave the much-desired initial sweep to Hamas to consolidate itself for the next few hours, and take in as many prized Israeli officers and soldiers as captives, which in weeks and months to come will act as one of the most potential aspects for bargaining with the Jewish establishment in Washington and Tel Aviv, alike.
That was merely one side of the much-celebrated glory and off-the-cuff victory for the militia, which is suspected to this day for its ‘surprised offensives’ and blamed by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation as a ‘spoiler’ on the path of a diplomatic solution. Hamas’ bravado is now in the shadows and the limelight is back on the miseries of Palestinians. More than 5000 have died, and a million are uprooted as Gaza stands devastated by the sorties flown by Israel. Much more is yet to come in the form of a complete ground invasion of the world’s largest out-door concentration camp, and pushing out more than two million Gazans as refugees into Egypt and elsewhere for the second time in their lifetime.
The million-dollar question is, has Hamas’ escapade done any service to the Palestinian cause? Has it brought anywhere near to a “negotiated” or an “Armitage” solution for a Two-State solution? No. It has only highlighted once again the indispensability of the Palestinians, and stirred human sentiments as the democracy-preaching West, and now India too, are seen standing in unison with the aggressor. Notwithstanding Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, such as Hezbollah, and other splinter militias in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, the sovereign countries of the Muslim world did not bother to even rescript a lip-service memorandum. So much so for what happened in the name of ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’.
With little to add to the euphoric aspect of the conflict as there are no winners, and the only casualty are the stateless Palestinians, let’s view this recent turmoil from the perspectives of social-media and human-tendency.
Dr Hussain Nadim, a par-excellence Pakistani scholar and expert on digitization and presently a Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellow at the Jackson School of Global Affairs, Yale University, has come up with an interesting analysis of the conflict. Writing for CGTN, he rightly states that “…all wars are really about winning narratives.” He opines that “one thing unique about this conflict is that the narratives moved faster than the human ability to analyze them …the narrative fluctuated from the victory of Palestine and oppressed people taking the land back, to Israel being a victim of terrorism and international solidarity with Israel, back to criticism of Israel for bombing Gaza indiscriminately.”
This is so because we live in a tech-savvy world where there are billions of opinion-makers on social media, and they are at ease to project a narrative at a much faster pace than the Westphalian state-centric apparatus does!
Thus, the Hamas’ weaponized blitz this time around was accompanied by an impactful social media onslaught too, which not only surprised the world but worked successfully in igniting the street power, especially in the Arab states across the Mideast and North Africa. But that momentum was short-lived, as Israel and its allies came out of yawning to subside the social media thrust with state-driven prowess of brutality in the domains of diplomacy, arm-twisting and propaganda warfare.
Likewise, the human-tendency across the board to support the Palestinians’ this time around was an addition, as there were new constituencies of support.
To the surprise of the Jewish lobby proactive across the world, some of the great hats stood out for Palestine and were quite vocal in condemning the state of Israel for all its inhumane atrocities. A digital signpost in Manhattan surprisingly read, “Israel bombs innocent Palestinians. Biden pays for it.” Similarly, another billboard in New York displayed, “…this barbarism by Israel is not in our name: Jewish community.” These are small gestures but made up for a big turn of mindset as the world restlessly awes for peace after coming out of a supply chain crisis and an epidemic that had shut down the world in terms of logistics and economy. And now with one war already raging in Ukraine, another in the heartland of the Middle East is a precursor to a Third World War!
It will be a great injustice not to acknowledge some of the big names that campaigned for Palestinians.
Notable among them are Americans: Actor John Cusack marched at a pro-Palestine rally in Chicago; Gigi Hadid with her proud Palestinian heritage took no qualms in calling out antisemitism; singer-songwriter Kehlani went on to ask, “…how are we allowing genocide to happen in real-time on social media, …choosing to remain silent out of fear?”; and likewise Mark Ruffalo, Lena Headey, and musician Roger Waters too were outstanding as they held a human heart out for the dispossessed souls under bombardment.
So were the men in Harvard University who categorised their unflinching support for the Palestine people at the cost of being victimized on disciplinary grounds by their alma mater. A salute goes out to these men and women from the West who proved that an egalitarian mindset is always pro-human and pro-justice, notwithstanding caste, creed or nationality.
Even Amnesty International too went on record asking President Biden to “cease unreserved support for Israel’s actions in Gaza” so that better sense can prevail.
Noam Chomsky – American Professor and Public Intellectual
Noam Chomsky, one of the greatest intellectuals of our times, perhaps had read the Israeli mentality in toto, as he said, “…Jewish fundamentalist groups, mostly rooted in the US, which, after all, is one of the most extreme religious fundamentalist societies in the world.” He went on to create a great historical parallel by saying, “…fundamentalists’ goals seems to be to rebuild the Temple, which means destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque… perhaps, in fulfilling the prophecy of Armageddon.”
The great American linguist and philosopher could have limited himself to that piece of divinity, but the genuine human-being in him went on to stipulate that this is why these lobbies, “strongly support Israeli power and expansionism, and help fund it and lobby for it; but they also support actions that are very harmful and objectionable…”
The ongoing crisis in Gaza and West Bank, this time around, is in need of being interpreted and disseminated in what and how a salient majority of non-Muslims, including Chomsky and his likes, look at. This will be one of the biggest game-changers of our times, and compel the centrifugal forces to remap their strategies.
With Americans going to poll and President Joe Biden on a weakest pitch of foreign policy ever, this is the time to tap both the above-discussed potential tools of social media maneuvering and change of heart very inside the West. Plus there are umpteenth immigrant lobbies in the US that go out to vote en-bloc, and Arabs, Pakistanis and naturalized Iranians form a decisive pie in it.
Josh Paul, a Director of Congressional and Public Affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, posted his resignation letter online by unequivocally condemning the Zionist transgression. He made history as he wrote, “…I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.” His subsequent distancing from such a high-profile public office is a rare case of dissent, and simply indicates how rapidly people are refusing to look from the prism of so-called exigency and proximity in American-Jewish affairs.
Now turning back to the zone of crisis, the silence of the lambs in the Muslim world is annoying.
It has once again exposed the wedge between the rulers and people on the streets. The pro-Hamas reaction in the Arab and Muslim states is gradually becoming a threat to the status quo. Countries as progressive and strategically sound as the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are feeling the heat.
Pakistan too is just on the tenterhooks and is able to sail smoothly to this day by gagging the Press, and repeating the seven decades old mantra of standing with the Palestinians. Where the heart rests as neighbouring Sheikhdoms go on to recognise the Zions is not hard to guess.
Qatar and Afghanistan are surprisingly yelling from the pulpit in support of Palestinians, and Taliban have even asked for land access via Iran onwards to Jordan through Iraq to fight alongside Palestinians. This is a worth-pondering strategic equation, and cannot be brushed aside as exaggeration.
Amidst such upheavals, there is a pestering question doing rounds in the public horizon, and social media is abuzz with it
Where is the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT), a proposed coalition of 39 Muslim countries, under the leadership of former Pakistan’s Army Chief, General Raheel Sharif? Nothing is heard of its utility as the Muslim world sits at the brink of an existential crisis at the hands of Israel! Are not Israeli atrocities ‘terrorism’, and if so, are not Palestinians a victim of it, as they sit hapless and cross-fingered at the verge of annihilation?
It seems the Hamas’ offensive has put down two myths down to earth: One, the Iron Dome invincibility of Israel; and Two, the peculiar utility of an Islamic military coalition.
Ebrahim Raisi – President of Iran
A silver-lining is still there and that is in the form of a debut understanding emerging between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The 45-minutes debut telephonic conversation between Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Salman and the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has set the ball rolling. Biden air-dashed to Israel in hours and has to an extent convinced Israel to let essential supplies get inside the conclave of death and destruction.
The Salman-Raisi duo can pave the way for a long-term diplomatic settlement, only if Zions agree to a ceasefire and Iran too holds back its wild horses in the region. The spotlight is on Muhammad bin Salman to get these sides on the table, and ensure that this time around Abraham 2.0 is on the Statehood of Palestine. Otherwise, Nakba-2 is in the making, if not an Armageddon.
