Since the beginning of the ongoing war in Gaza, the gap between continents and geographic regions has widened, and tension and division within many countries have increased in an unprecedented way, which means that, unfortunately, we live in a world that is witnessing a clear decline in universal values and legal norms common to humanity.
With this introduction, the Media Part website opened an article from the blog of the Lebanese-French politician and university professor Ziad Majed. Its beginning presented a preliminary tally of the most violent war that was documented and broadcast live, including more than 30,000 Palestinians killed at the hands of the Israeli army, 60% of whom were children and women, along with It is accompanied by displacement, suffering, famine, destruction, water, fuel and electricity cuts, inhuman health conditions, and the plight of the sick, wounded and amputees who are treated with primitive means and are operated on without anesthesia.
Although these numbers, stories, videos, and testimonies are regularly published by various United Nations agencies, humanitarian organizations, and human rights organizations, as are brave Palestinian journalists and photographers, most governments and television channels in the West have issued a decision that this tragedy is merely collateral damage to the “self-defense” war that Launched by Israel in the wake of the deadly attacks launched by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
The silence of universities and professional bodies
It is not unlikely, in these circumstances – according to the author – that segments of Western public opinion – with little knowledge – will understand this discourse that condemns war crimes, crimes against humanity, and atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza.
It is also not surprising that South Africa’s trial of Israel before the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide remains incomprehensible to many Westerners, while it has raised great repercussions in Africa, Asia and South America, where tens of millions of refugees live.
But what is surprising – according to the article – is to see groups capable of discrimination and politicization, among those responsible for universities, research institutions, hospitals and press unions, sink into a kind of slumber and disavow their moral and civil responsibility towards the tragedy in Gaza, and remain silent or discuss it timidly in an informal setting. The massacres targeting fellow Palestinians.
Majid: How can we legitimately teach the humanities, international law, and journalism without having at least a legal or moral position on the daily killings of our fellow human beings?
Perhaps the most important – and perhaps the most challenging – is the silence of the majority of major university and cultural institutions in the face of the crimes that systematically target academics, researchers, and writers, in addition to the voluntary destruction, which is sometimes depicted and celebrated by the soldiers themselves. How can we teach the humanities, international law, and journalism in a manner Is it legitimate without us having at least a legal or moral position on the daily killings of our fellow human beings?
The writer asked with denial how the negative and silent stance could be explained, under the pretext of “scientific neutrality” of some European and American research centers specializing in the “Middle East” or international relations, at a time when Palestinian research institutes are being annihilated.
The writer pointed out that what is happening is not only silence and lack of discontent, but that universities, schools, and sports clubs, in several cases, have exerted pressure and threatened to take coercive measures against any initiative to “support the Palestinians.” Book fairs and artistic and sporting events have also witnessed a ban on programs and guests due to their critical stance. Of Israel’s crimes.
Gaza and the future of democracies
All of this indicates – according to the author – that we live in a world that is witnessing a clear decline in universal values and legal norms common to humanity, and that Western democracies, which are going through crises today, and whose societies are affected by increasing racist and populist political choices, have begun to lose their credibility and tarnish the attractiveness of their political model. Which harms it and the rest of the world.
Ziad Majed: The shameful position of the vast majority of the governments of these Western democracies regarding the destruction of Gaza and its people will remain an open wound that will be difficult to heal for hundreds of millions of citizens of this world.
The article concluded that the shameful position of the vast majority of the governments of these Western democracies – regarding the destruction of Gaza and its people – will remain an open wound that will be difficult to heal for hundreds of millions of citizens of this world, and therefore, after the war machine stops, they will have to show horror at the double standards and strip the Palestinians of their humanity. And unite their forces wherever possible, in order to overcome the existing division.
New citizen and political movements, networks, and alliances must also emerge, coming together to present a new global discourse and to combat “impunity for the powerful” and discrimination against victims of wars and massacres based on their affiliations and the places in which they live.
