By Professor Hossein Askari
Some pundits say that Israel (and Hamas) has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. Others say that Israel is committing genocide before our very eyes. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has found plausible evidence to go forward with the claim of genocide against Israel and the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has filed for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.
You can choose what you want, but one thing is clear. What we are witnessing is horrific and must end with Palestinians having a country of their own and the global recognition that they were robbed of their land and their freedom by an occupying force supported by Western powers led by the United States. They need their rights restored and must be compensated for their years of suffering and the physical destruction that has ensued.
While the Western media and Hollywood “liberals” have been deceptive in their reporting of the events, Muslim and more glaringly Persian Gulf Arab leaders in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have done almost nothing to stop the carnage and restore Palestinian rights.
Let’s start by questioning their adherence to what they profess—Islam. Their conduct conveys the antithesis of what Islam preaches. To a believer, the oil and natural gas under the ground and sea were given to them by Allah. Such depletable resources must be used in such a way as to afford this and all future generations (collectively and individually) similar benefits. Yet, these rulers behave as if these resources were their birthright alone. This is theft.
Islam preaches modest lifestyles and the eradication of poverty. But Arab leaders live in grotesque luxury and care little for their disadvantaged.
In Islam, Allah gave humanity the freedom to choose even their religion. Yet freedom, especially for women, is but a mirage.
Islam at its core is a quest for justice. Justice is nowhere to be seen in most of these societies.
While all this points to Arab leaders’ hypocritical governance that supposedly rests on Islamic teachings, their indifference to the plight of their largely fellow Arab and Muslim Palestinians shows their indifference to injustice and their focus on hanging onto power with unimpeded access to their countries’ oil and natural gas revenues.
So what do they do? They forget the quest for more just societies and do whatever it takes to garner the support of foreign powers. In this case, they look away from Israeli crimes and hang onto the coattails of the United States. It was South Africa, a non-Arab non-Muslim country, that brought the case at the ICJ. By about a month ago, three non-Arab and non-Muslim countries—Belize, Bolivia and Colombia—had severed diplomatic relations with Israel (please note: many countries did not have diplomatic relations with Israel in the first place). Many, including three Muslim countries, have recalled their ambassadors to Israel—Bahrain, Chad, Chile, Honduras, Jordan, South Africa and Turkey.
These mini steps, while better than nothing, have done little to tip the scale of justice in support of Palestinian rights. The need is clear. Israel cannot continue this or any other carnage without the support of the United States. One emphatic telephone call from the U.S. president would end the slaughter. Support from the U.S. president and the U.S. Congress would restore Palestinian rights—a Palestinian country with reparations—and regional peace.
Countries of the GCC could exert the needed pressure on the U.S. President and Congress to bring this change about in a matter of weeks or months by announcing a set of steps that would automatically occur in two-week intervals:
1. Recalling their ambassadors to Washington
2. Closing down all U.S. bases on their soil and ending all intelligence sharing with the U.S.
3. Expelling all U.S. diplomats
4. Embargoing oil and LNG exports
But, they have done almost nothing and they have been timid in their support of Palestinians lest they offend the United States and lose its backing in their grip on power.
Sadly, not only have they not taken these steps, they have even rewarded those who have supported Zionist interests to the detriment of Palestinians. A few prominent examples:
President Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, making it more difficult to achieve a reasonable two-state solution. Yet, a Saudi Arabian company invited the Trump Organization to participate in a high-rise tower project in Jeddah and Saudi sponsored LIV GOLF played tournaments on Trump courses affording him millions of dollars. Oman invited Trump to take part in a number of lucrative business deals: “The project in Oman includes a Trump-branded golf course and hotel as well as Trump villas, in a development that Dar Global is building on land owned by the government of Oman on a cliff overlooking the Gulf of Oman. That one deal alone earned the Trump family at least $5 million, even before the construction started last year, financial disclosure documents show,” (NYT). The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), in reality Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), rewarded Jared Kushner (closely associated with Netanyahu) over the objection of PIF management team with an investment of $2 billion and Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury (Mnuchin) with a $1 billion investment. It has been also alleged that the UAE, steadfast in its diplomatic relations with Israel, may be indirectly supplying Israel with arms (https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/500629/Arab-states-tangled-web-of-deceit).
Arab rulers of the GCC should take a page from non-Arab countries—Malaysia that has not had diplomatic relations with Israel and South Africa that brought the case for genocide at the ICJ—and stand up for justice now. If they don’t, their days may be numbered and all Arabs will have to bear this shame for decades to come.
Hossein Askari is emeritus professor of business and international affairs, George Washington University
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